Seiko

I think it would be appropriate to give encouragement to the seekers. 

Could those of us who HAVE FOUND the watches we were looking for share a bit about the process?

I'll start.

About 10 years ago I saw a mesmerizing photo of a Grand Seiko SBGW003 by SteveG, and immediately fell in love.

[NOTE: Stay away from his photos if you don't want to spend a lot of money and time searching. Over the years, I have had an orange Seiko diver, a Seiko Flightmaster, a Credor Spring Drive, a Seiko Kinetic Chronograph, a BlancpaiN 7002, a Halter Classic, etc etc PLUS this watch, all which he had posted on his site]

I started a hunt for one of the 300 beauties, but of course I was late to the game and they all had been sold long before I got on the trail.

So I searched through eBay, through Seiko fora of all sorts, and even one day wandered onto a photography forum. 

There I "overheard" a photographer in Singapore who was musing about selling his GS to buy a new camera body or lens. I chased him down by sending a flurry of emails, and we struck a deal. But it was a long ways away, and I wanted some reassurance that this was a decent piece for the price. So I asked a forum moderator in Singapore to meet with the guy to take a few photos. It turned out that several PuristS were involved in the assessment. They sent photos which showed some discoloration on the dial.

I was torn. Here was a watch. For sale. Within reach. But flawed. 

And this watch's beauty is heavily based on the dial and its appearance. I just couldn't go through with the deal as it was.

So I asked the seller if he would send the watch to Grand Seiko in Japan, to have it serviced. If it came back perfect, I'd pay his price for the watch and the servicing cost. If not, then he could sell it elsewhere but at least the watch would be ready to go. This was agreed between us and the watch went off to the spa for about 6 weeks. 

Finally I got new photos of the watch completely serviced, with new dial (amazing that they had one) and looking like a brand-new item. All that remained was to send the money, wait for EMS and take delivery (plus take care of the guys who evaluated it for me ... and were itching to pounce on it if I said no).

Here's my first photo of it:

I have a couple other successes which I will assemble as separate posts.

More posts: Grand SeikoSBGW003

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