As longtime readers of WatchTime well know, Grand Seiko is a brand that has become known for turning to nature as an influence for its timepiece designs. This past month alone, we saw the latest display of the watchmaker’s affinity for natural phenomena, the forest-inspired Heritage Hi-Beat ?White Birch? Ref. SLGH005, and before that a pair of releases celebrating different elements of Japan?s Mt. Iwate.

As part of its 2021 collections unveiled this week, and in commemoration of parent company Seiko’s 140th anniversary, Grand Seiko continues the trend with the release of its largest nature-inspired collection to date, comprising four new Elegance GMT watches (an example below), each celebrating a segment of twenty-four seasonal phases observed in Japan.While at first glance this inspiration might seem complicated, in Japan it is common to break down each of the four traditional seasons ? that is spring, summer, fall, and winter ? into twenty-four total seasonal phases, or sekki, with each of the traditional seasons composed of six total sekki.
The new watches, each using the now familiar Elegance GMT base design, are the Shunbun Ref. SBGJ251 (for the spring equinox),the Sh?sho Ref. SBGJ249 (for the summer solstice), the Kanro Ref. SBGE271 (for the autumn equinox) and the T?ji Ref. SBGE269 (for the winter solstice). The Shunbun and Sh?sho are fully mechanical, containing Grand Seiko?s Hi-Beat 36000 GMT Caliber 9S86, while the Kanro and T?ji use the ...