With Grand Seiko releasing next generation versions of both their Spring Drive and high beat rate movements over the past year, a lot of fans have been wondering if the brand would do something special with their quartz calibers. Quartz is special for Grand Seiko, and a logical entry point for many into the brand given the lower price point and super convenient nature of these watches. While we don?t have a fully re-made quartz caliber from Grand Seiko to discuss here today, we do have what might be their most exciting quartz release in years, the SBGP017. Released as part of the brand?s ongoing celebration of the 55th anniversary of the 44GS case design, the SBGP017 features a specially tuned quartz movement and a beautiful blue dial with a texture that is making its debut in a quartz powered watch. 
Drawing inspiration from the clouds that form in the mountainous Shinshu region of Japan, Grand Seiko has applied the same texture found in SBGA413 ?Shunbun? from a few years ago, but in a soft white-blue color that really does evoke a cloudy sky. According to Grand Seiko, the humid air in the Shinsho region causes clouds to overlap one another and stretch as far as the eye can see. This is hardly the first watch dial meant to evoke a sky scene (it?s not even the first for Grand Seiko with this dial texture), but even someone like me who is at times leery of connecting these designs too closely with natural phenomenon has to admit that they nailed it here.

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