Grand Seiko 56GS

The 56GS first won me over through its everyday competence. I expected less of it than of the earlier Grand Seikos; a well-serviced example quickly corrected that assumption. Its light, easygoing character became a large part of its appeal.

The same family also changed how I looked at design. I initially resisted the folded tonneau of the 5010 and the spectacle of the more eclectic references. Handling them revealed a continuity that photographs had obscured: carefully controlled edges, surfaces and relationships, expressed with very different degrees of restraint.

Here the quiet 7011 sits alongside hammered gold and a faceted green crystal. These are distinct characters built around the same movement family. The pleasure is in looking closely enough to understand what each is doing.