Wearing a tree

Specs 
Diameter: 40mm 
Lug to lug: 47.9mm
Thickness: 11.8mm 
Lug width: 22mm 
Movement: Grand Seiko 9RA2, 5 day power reserve, Spring Drive, +/-10s per month

TLDR

Actually I haven’t evolved much to be honest. I still think most Grand Seiko sports watches are too big. This watch is stunning but overall disappointing for me. The movement is an absolute beast, the dial is breathtaking, the case finishing is superb…but it’s just too chunky for my taste and wrist size. In photos it looks perfectly elegant and refined, but on my 6.5″ wrist it feels cumbersome. It’s not too big for a 6.5″ wrist, but if you like smaller watches like me it won’t feel right.

Darwinian design

I was never particularly drawn to the design language of Grand Seiko’s latest and greatest collection. Evolution 9 was released in 2020 to great excitement that quickly gave way to disappointment when the upgraded watches were displayed next to their “upgraded” price tags. “Essential. Exploratory. Ever-evolving.“ in Grand Seiko’s own words, the collection birthed all new modern case designs, impressive new movements with extended power reserves, and perhaps even a new flagship, the White Birch. It also seemed to push the value into a range more set on competing with Rolex than Omega.

I first saw the original automatic White Birch (SLGH005) at the GS boutique in LA and was not impressed. It was touted by some as the new Snowflake, but unlike the delicate, gentle, fresh powder of the OG king’s dial, the SLGH005 by contrast seemed to display a garish, overbearing texture on its face and the color made it more of a Silver Birch. Like the Snowflake, however, it felt too large for such an elegant design. Nevertheless, I was happy to learn of the subsequent SLGA009 White Birch Spring Drive, which featured a slightly more subtle dial texture and a truer white color to match the name.

While I didn’t find the E9 series all that alluring, I did have a modern Rolex to trade and figured I’d stop by the higher end Grand Seiko range on my journey down market to see what all the hype was about. And so, just in time for Christmas, I found myself sporting the brand’s new wintery flagship watch.

Down right gosh darn good looking

I have since traded this watch for another Grand Seiko (how predictable). While I generally didn’t connect with the White Birch, editing and uploading the photos here makes me think I’m crazy to have parted with it. This is a down right gosh darn good looking watch. Look at that photo! It’s icy sizzling hot. The dial is groovy in more ways than one, the heat blued seconds hand adds the glacier ice pop to the Aspen birch backdrop, the doubled-up indices and handset jump right off the dial making a surprisingly legible silver on white combination, and the case finishing is what we expect from Grand Seiko and then some. Why the heck would I be so stupid as to get rid of such beauty?

Ok, I remember, but we’ll get to that later…

Let’s focus on the good, perhaps great, before we get to the bad and the ugly. It’s not just the outside of the White Birch that makes my eyes water like I’m cutting onions after my goldfish died. Turn this beauty over and take a peak at what’s beneath through the display caseback and bam! the watch porn intensifies. We are now privy to the sexy secret behind this watch’s Olympian power, the 9RA2 Spring Drive movement. If you thought the previous Spring Drive movement was impressive (it was), this generation takes things to the next level. With a higher stated accuracy of +/-10s per month, compared to the previous +/-15s, and a power reserve of a whopping 5 days, this movement has taken its place at the helm of Grand Seiko’s movement lineup. Sure, people will deride the Spring Drive as a quartz movement (which it is), but let’s not forget that this is an automatic winding, spring powered engine. With stats like these, it’s hard to beat the 9RA2 with any other mechanically powered movement.

The problem with automatic Grand Seikos

Now, let’s turn to the ugly. It’s hard to use that word with a straight face when talking about this watch. It’s anything but ugly. But the SLGA009 does have some significant quirks that I think are indicative of a larger issue I have with GS and that I had hoped Evo 9 would deal with. Let’s start with a favorite past time of GS fanboys by throwing the usual shade at the bracelet. This is not the bracelet that we are used to, to be sure. It’s new and improved but…well it’s new. Improved? I suppose a little bit. It certainly feels more solid than what we’re used to on, for instance, the Snowflake or the Shunbun. I actually appreciate that it’s entirely brushed on the topside, as opposed to the more common 5-link brush/polish alternating style of the last generation. The edges also feel sharper, a necessary change from the soft, rounded edges of yesteryear which seemed out of place next to the razor sharp lines of the case.

But, this bracelet has two fatal inherited flaws from its progenitor, as well as one more unique mutation. One, no micro-adjust. Still. We’ve been begging for it for years. Our pleas fall on deaf ears. Two, minimal, almost negligible taper. This latter issue is exacerbated by the fact that, three, Grand Seiko decided to increase the lug width on their new lineup to 22mm. Many people complain about the common (for Grand Seiko), but rare (for most modern watches) 19mm of many Grand Seiko bracelets, but I happen to have a drawer full of 19mm straps as a result of all my vintage Rolex, Tudor, and Seiko collecting. I loved the 19mm lug width. I, of course, understand why people would prefer 20mm, but 22mm? It just feels too large. One positive effect of the increase in lug width is that, as with the latest Rolex models; say the Submariner 124060, the space needed for such an increase is taken from the lugs, resulting in sharper, slimmer bat-ears at the end of the case. But the negative side effect that comes along with this is a larger bracelet that, for whatever reason, has no noticeable taper. It feels like wearing a heavy steel version of the 90’s slap bracelet I wore to the Backstreet Boys Millennium Tour at Rupp Arena in 1999.

While not necessarily too thick at 12mm, it somehow still feels bulky for a non-complicated (watch complication wise) watch and wide, in my taste, for a non-tool watch at 40mm. Perhaps that wouldn’t be such an issue for me if the bracelet gracefully trimmed off that visual heft by tapering. But it doesn’t, and as a result the SLGA009 seems much too bulky on my 6.5″ wrist.

Different strokes

All this being said, I can’t really knock the White Birch without feeling hesitant. It is stunningly beautiful, incredibly accurate, and has an entirely unique, modern design. The size issues are probably not issues at all for many, certainly for those with 7+” wrists. In fact, I would highly recommend this watch for anyone who comfortably pulls off larger non tool bezel watches. But for those of us who feel much better in smaller watches, it’s quite disappointing. Grand Seiko does have an awesome selection of sub 38mm watches, but the large majority are manual wind and many are limited edition. So here’s to hoping for a future where one of my favorite watchmakers creates a non LE line of small, thin, automatic Spring Drive beauties. Until then, I’ll keep trying out these dinner plates whenever I find a good deal online.

-G