The Grand Seiko 95GS and Other 1990s Developments
Grand Seiko ref. SBGS005 in platinum / Credit: John Kaufman, Watchuseek
When people talk about the first Grand Seiko quartz movement, they always refer to the Cal. 9581 (no-date) or 9587 (date), ‘95GS’ as some may call it. I’ve always found it strange as the Grand Quartz, released in 1975 and produced until 1980, is clearly older than this early 1990s Seiko quartz movement, and obviously meant to be the ‘Grand quartz’ version to the Grand Seiko made in the same decade. Hence the ‘GQ’-signed clasps and such. In fact, in many cases Grand Quartz was more expensive than Grand Seiko back in the day; even King Quartz was more expensive than many Grand Seiko models. Moreover, if you consider that the King Quartz and Lord Quartz were clearly meant as the quartz counterparts to the King Seiko and Lord Seiko lines…well my confusion becomes even greater.
I think it’s clear that the first ‘Grand Seiko’ quartz was the Grand Quartz, that’s not to discredit the 9581/87, which sits comfortably between the 9F quartz and these 1970s quartz movements in the annals of Grand Seiko history.
Seiko Grand Quartz 9943-7000 ref. QGB080 / Credit: pgnodde, The Watch Site
The Cal. 9581/87 first appeared in the late 1980s (1988) and shared a key feature with the previous Grand Quartz movements, namely that it was also accurate to +/- 10 seconds per year. Impressive but not quite the same as reaching a similar or higher level of accuracy in the 1970s…
Nonetheless, the 95GS movements were were up there, with their high accuracy, 7 jewels, and 3-year battery life.
While these were excellent quartz movements, there are several articles already describing the first references of watches powered by these calibers. I’d instead like to mention my favourite, one that really flies under the radar but stands out to me for its elegance and simplicity. This favourite is the reference SBGS005 (9587-7000). This is a platinum and white gold dress watch, featuring the 9587 (date) movement, measuring 34 mm in diameter, and on an alligator strap with a platinum ‘GS’ buckle. One of the few platinum watches ever produced by Grand Seiko or Seiko itself for that matter. Classic in style and powered by the accurate and reliable 95GS. A number of different references were powered by the 9581 or 9587 but this platinum version always stood out, quite literally positioned alone in the catalogues throughout its production life.
Grand Seiko ref. SBGX017 with the Cal. 9561 / Credit: Shiba Store, Rakuten
The 95GS was discontinued by the mid/late-1990s, with no trace of them in the 1998 Seiko catalogue. Conversely, the 9F first appeared the in the 1994 Seiko catalogue. Along with the 9F series of calibers, Seiko also produced the seemingly more accurate 8J movements to replace the 95GS. These started slightly later than the 9F, appearing in the 1996 catalogue. Meanwhile, the ref. SBGS005 first appears in the 1993 catalogue but was produced for a shorter timespan, ending in 1996 or 1997. Subsequently the SBGS005 was replaced by the platinum SBGX017 that featured the 9F61 movement.
Ultimately, while less well known than the 9F, the 95GS was certainly a great continuation of the 1970s Grand Quartz movements and remains among the more accurate Seiko creations of modern times.
By: Andres Ibarguen
Read more:
See 1970s and 1990s Seiko catalogues.
McArthur-Christie, Mark. “INTRODUCING THE GRAND SEIKO 9F 25TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITIONS, REFS. SBGV238 AND SBGT241.” Worn and Wound, February 18th, 2018, https://wornandwound.com/introducing-grand-seiko-9f-25th-anniversary-limited-editions-refs-sbgv238-sbgt241/.