One of the favorite pastimes of Grand Seiko fanatics is to play armchair quarterback, and conjure up the ?perfect? Grand Seiko watch, something they?ve come close to but haven?t yet made. It’s a game that works particularly well with a brand like Grand Seiko simply because there is so much variety in the collection, it?s easy to imagine what a watch would look like if you mixed and matched features of one piece to another. In a way, it feels like the newly announced SBGY007 could be the product of this kind of thought experiment that encourages us to remove date displays, make watches thinner, and cut out the limited edition nature of it all. This feels like a watch that a lot of us have been waiting for. 

Nicknamed ?Omiwatari,? the SBGY007 is inspired by the large cracks and ridges that form in the ice each winter on Lake Suwa in Japan?s Kiso Mountains. Japanese folklore tells us that these ridges are caused by the Shinto gods walking over the ice (Omitawari translates to ?God?s crossing?). The icey blue dial has a texture that?s created by the precise hammering of the dial?s mold, and if it?s anything like other textured Grand Seiko dials, it will be plenty rewarding when observed through a loupe, or in the right lighting condition. As is typical for a watch in the Grand Seiko Elegance collection, the hands and hour markers are polished to the brand?s exacting standard, and the finished product appears to be every bit as evocative as other Grand Seiko dia...