Spring Drive Chronograph Titanium / Ceramic / Blue / Bracelet / Black Ceramics Collection

Spring Drive is Grand Seiko's most original contribution to watchmaking — a movement technology that exists nowhere else in the industry. Invented by Yoshikazu Akahane and developed over 28 years before its 1999 debut, Spring Drive combines a traditional mainspring with an electronic regulator: the mainspring drives the gear train, but instead of a mechanical escapement, a tri-synchro regulator converts the mechanical energy into electrical energy to drive a quartz oscillator that governs the speed of the hands. The result is a perfectly smooth, gliding seconds hand — no tick, no sweep — and accuracy of ±1 second per day, an order of magnitude better than mechanical movements. It is simultaneously mechanical and electronic, and entirely neither.

The Grand Seiko SBGC219 is a limited edition of 500 pieces created in the context of Seiko's Black Ceramics Collection. It features a case in titanium & ceramic and a matching bracelet, while the dial is done in 'Grand Seiko Blue'. The hands and indexes are 18k pink gold.