Review: Grand Seiko Mistflake SBGE285
Perhaps you saw the recent release of the Rolex Yacht-Master 42 in titanium and thought that it was a pretty impressive watch. Well, at £11,800, it should be. Well, before you do anything rash, take a look at this instead, the Grand Seiko Mistflake SBGE285. I’ll explain why.
Background
Titanium has been used in watchmaking since the 1970s, when Japanese brand Citizen used it in the X8. It’s not a common material in this business, but it’s been used enough to take it out of the exotic category and stick it more in the neato slot. Forged carbon fibre or solid sapphire, it ain’t.
At least, not necessarily in wow factor. Fact is, titanium as a metal makes steel look like it didn’t do it’s homework because it was too busy eating crayons. Titanium is just as strong but is 30% lighter, which is why it’s used in cool stuff like jet fighters and rockets.
It gets a bit of a bum rap because in watches, people want heavy, not light. Well, they did until Rolex suggested otherwise. So now people are rethinking how titanium can fit in with their life energy. Now they’ve had the decision made for them, it’s time to revisit a watch that Grand Seiko already had this whole time.
It’s called the SBGE285, or if you’re a romantic and not a robot, the Mistflake. As with all Grand Seikos, the dial is modelled after the epic beauty of the Japanese wilderness, in this case the morning mist in the wintery mountains of Nagano, where the watch is made. It’s actually the same texture as the OG Snowflake, but I suppose at some point the watchmakers have to stop looking out the window and actually get on with their work.
Unlike the Snowflake, however, this watch is part of the Evolution 9 series, a design ideal that seeks to bring Grand Seiko watches to the attention of a modern, more handsome audience like me. That means aggressive styling, fat markers and a general chunk that makes the watch a visually very pleasing thing the Snowflake never quite managed.
So how does it compare to the Rolex? It’s a millimetre smaller at 41mm, but the skinnier 24hr bezel compared to the Yacht-Master’s 60-minute bezel opens up the dial more and therefore gives it a similar presence. Despite the not unsubstantial size of the Mistflake, the wearing experience is made all the more universal thanks to stumpy lugs that don’t protrude too far.
Both watches are water-resistant to 100m—plenty for real world use and beyond—and both are fitted to a titanium, three-piece bracelet. Grand Seiko still has a ways to go in competing with the incredible adjustability of the Rolex clasp, lacking even basic micro adjustment, but it does at least have half links built into the bracelet.
And of course the Grand Seiko switches out pure mechanical for Spring Drive, a mechanical-quartz hybrid that uses the power of the wily spring to drive a quartz-regulated, electromagnetically controlled glide wheel. It gives the second hand a sweep smoother than Barry White after a sip of Baileys, with the added benefit of knocking Rolex’s four second per day variance into a cocked hat by a factor of two. Both have more or less three days’ power reserve.
Spring Drive is always going to be a matter of preference, so between the two the choice is always going to be split. The Grand Seiko’s calibre 9R66, however, gains the benefit only the most expensive Rolexes have very recently been privileged to have: a sapphire case back. It’s not Grand Seiko’s most visually impressive movement, but it’s a damn sight more interesting than a blank piece of titanium.
Review
So why am I so confident the Grand Seiko pips the Rolex in this battle of the titanium beasts? Well, because if you think about the customer who this watch is pitched at, I think the Grand Seiko offers a better package.
Let’s have a think about this a bit. Let’s say we side with Rolex and concur that the typical Yacht-Master owner is likely to be someone who is indeed a master of their yacht. What kind of functionality do you think that person will need? A 60-minute counter, for what? Checking when their boat shoes have dried out?
If I know anything about yacht owners, it’s that their yachts are often in different places around the world. Seems to make more sense to me then to slap that big, titanium watch full of a GMT complication instead, which is exactly what Grand Seiko has done with the Mistflake. Unlike the Yacht-Master 42, which sits there pretending to be useful with its rock hard titanium abs, the Grand Seiko is actually getting stuff done.
It’s not like the Grand Seiko is an uggo, either. Titanium is a tricky material to work with at the best of times, evidence by the fact that Rolex have minimised as much polishing as possible. I’m sure they’d say they were making the watch more rugged, but I see what they’re doing. In any case, there’s no such shirking over at Grand Seiko, the intense polish famously applied to its steel cases not just present here, but in such volume that it basically looks like showing off.
It's around the bezel, along the case edge, on the crown and on the bracelet. Big, thick lines of it, deeply mirror-finished despite the fact this titanium has actually been hardened. I mean, what else did you expect. This is the watchmaker that hand polished every hand and marker until it looks like liquid mercury.
And that for me summarises why I think the Mistflake is the watch a yacht-fairing sea-hero really wants. The Rolex is made to hit some numbers. It feels restricted in some ways by budget. It’s not an elaborate demonstration of the possibilities of its finest work. It’s just a titanium sports watch wearing a fancy crown.
The Grand Seiko, on the other hand, takes every opportunity to remind you you’ve bought a piece of luxury. Like the yacht itself should be trimmed with leather and teak, this is dripping in attention to detail that quite openly brags about how much effort went into making it. By comparison, I would say the Yacht-Master is less a watch for yachts and more appropriate for the captain of a battleship.
But as we all know, these watches aren’t really bought by yacht owners. They’re bought by all sorts of people who would just like a really nice watch. And so for them, there’s an added summary that demonstrates why the Mistflake should sit alongside the consideration of a Yacht-Master purchase: it’s £7,650 and the Rolex is £11,800. That’s a lot of money left over for yacht lessons.
What do you think of the Grand Seiko Mistflake, and how would you compare it to the Yacht-Master 42 in titanium?
