Before getting to my Grand Seiko SBGE245 review, a bit of the back story. After knocking the bezel of my mahoosive 17mm tall SBDB001 again, I decided it was time to consolidate a couple of my Seiko into a Grand Seiko to cover all bases. Great excuse right! The SBDB001 has a Spring Drive GMT which I was in awe of, and my Katana case Ananta 8r28 (the original shape) had so much style I wanted a looker. Enter the SBGE201.

Having spent weeks trawling the interweb I ended up feeling the SBGE201 was just a little bit less special than the two watches I was going to trade in, less unique at least, so I started looking for variants. I’ve ditched umpteen Subs and a Sea Dweller in the past as every dad in the playground was wearing them, so wanted to make it something I’m unlikely ever to see in the wild on another wrist. . . and then, I found it. Limited to 600 pieces, the dark red sunburst dial and bezel of the Grand Seiko SBGE245 just captured my eye and held it. And 2 years later is still holding it! It’s not a bright colour and from a distance may even be mistaken for the 201 but up close it’s just got that “I don’t know what”.

I immediately went about finding a strap that complimented the dial, and found a maker in the highlands of Scotland who studied the pictures and nailed the match. John from Black Isle Leather Work. The Grand Seiko SBGE245 comes on a stainless steel oyster style bracelet with polished edged centre links. There is no micro adjustment on the buckle, a real pain for getting a perfect fit and a frustrating oversight on a high end watch. It has a 21mm lug, but a 22mm will squeeze in and in leather will adapt, but when going to the effort of making a drilled lug, why not give a universal 22mm?

The finishing on case and bracket is as you would expect, and the detail on the dial, hands and batons is breathtaking. The date is at 4 and the Spring Drive power reserve indicator is between 8 and 9. I’m always confused why the red end of the scale is indicates full, and the black empty, and full at the bottom and empty at the top?

The dial rehaut of the Grand Seiko SBGE245 has the 24 hour markers of the GMT function, so along with the bezel you can see 3 time zones at a glance. The second and 24hr hands are a light gold, which at first seems a strange choice, but works well. It shouldn’t, but like apple and cheddar it blends beautifully.

The 9R66 GMT Spring Drive keeps to +0.06 seconds a day according to watch tracker, the smooth sweep of second hand is mesmerising and has 72 hours of power reserve. This is my 6th spring drive, (I have 2 currently) and I won’t be without one again.

The Grand Seiko SBGE245 is 44mm accross , 50mm lug to lug and the sides sweep inward which with the dual curve Sapphire crystal feels elegant. Brushed surfaces compliment the outrageous Zaratsu polishing, and the bezel has a sapphire Crystal over an insert which reflects light and gives depth. It has great lume making the 24 scale visible along with the hands and batons at 12, 3, 6 & 9.

The whole package weighs in at 177g on my kitchen scales, which plonks it 20g over a Rolex sub, 35g less than a DeepSea and slap bang in the middle of my Seiko stable.

The crown is smaller than most of the diving watches I own at 6mm, but is at 4 o’clock which means no digging into the wrist. It’s still very easy to grip, screws down and is stamped GS.

With 200m of water resistance the Grand Seiko SBGE245 has the same rating as the SBGA 229 and the SBGX335 so actually it’s no less of a sports watch than either of these offerings. I suppose without the timing bezel it can’t be considered a Diver, but it has the ability to do so. Where the GS divers fall a little short of the 300m Submariner rating, the SBGE doubles up on that of the GMT Master so full marks there.

So all in all for me the SBGE245 is a do anything, go anywhere, rare, super accurate GMT Diver that ticks so many boxes it’s silly. Brilliant!