A short while ago Grand Seiko announced that their Seasons Collection of four watches (two Spring Drive, two hi-beat) would now be available globally instead of being exclusive to the US market. I wrote at the time that Grand Seiko shouldn’t have launched something as a regional exclusive and used that as a selling point, only to have back tracked. To my knowledge my AD had never used that as a selling point with me, so I’m now not sure if I was thinking of specific instances of that claim, or if it was misplaced ire. I felt real salty because of what I had done a short while before Grand Seiko’s announcement: I had fallen in love, at first sight in the metal, with the Grand Seiko SBGA413 Shunbun, ordered one and received it a week or so before this news broke.

Since then, however, I’ve been wondering if I’m an asshole for being salty and it’s mostly because I haven’t seen anyone say this online, and I wish someone had, or that I’d seen it being said: regional exclusivity, unless the product has something to do with that region itself (I’m thinking of various Middle East specials, for instance) is kind of pointless and hostile to collectors elsewhere.

I’m actually happy, I realize, that everyone who can get to a GS dealer anywhere in the world now has the chance to maybe buy one of these stunning timepieces. Production quantities may also go up, but so what? Am I really going to let the potential downside on value (totally fucking speculative) sour my mood? Also, I thought I told myself I don’t buy watches I think I’m going to sell later, so what do I care about value anyway?

I know that I put the Grand Seiko SBGA413 on my wrist (titanium! so delightfully light! such a richer, deeper metallic hue!) and have to tear my eyes away from that dial and seconds hand every time I glance at my wrist to tell the time, and my brain goes, ah shit, here we go again, drop everything else, we’re going for another philosophical joyride on the nature of time. I can now relate to the feeling of falling in love with a watch at first sight, and it’s been an absolutely delightful experience unlike those with any of my other watches. I’m not really sure why it happened with this Grand Seiko SBGA413 for me, but I hope every enthusiast and collector gets to experience this feeling because it’s awesome. My only other time with a watch on my wrist where my jaw dropped for an unhygienically long amount of time was a Royal Oak, but that’s a story for another time.

One final observation: pink dials are great, and I’m glad more people are making and buying them. October is breast cancer awareness month, so ladies and gents please wear your pink watches to show love and support, educate yourselves on this disease for yourself and your loved ones, and…oh sorry, I’m staring at the Grand Seiko SBGA413 Shunbun dial again and getting distracted.