Snowflake (SBGA211, 2017+)

The Snowflake is a titanium Grand Seiko with a white textured dial and a Spring Drive movement. It looks like a fairly conventional automatic watch until its blue seconds hand begins to move: the hand travels smoothly, without the small steps of an ordinary mechanical watch.

The dial design first appeared in 2005, before this SBGA211 reference. Grand Seiko's watchmakers took their inspiration from wind-shaped snow on the Hotaka mountains near the Shinshu studio. Collectors supplied the Snowflake nickname; the company says it does not know who first used it.

The white surface is made without white paint. Special silver plating gives the textured dial its color.

Straight polished markers and broad hands sit above it. The date has a metal frame, and the power-reserve gauge cuts a small sector from the lower left. I would prefer less interruption of the dial, but the gauge has a real use. It shows the remaining energy in the mainspring, up to about 72 hours.

The case is 41 millimeters wide, with a matching titanium bracelet. Grand Seiko lists the complete watch at approximately 100 grams. That figure says more about its weight than a photograph can: the metal has the appearance of a substantial bracelet watch without steel's density.

Spring Drive supplies the other important difference. The mainspring turns the gear train and generates enough electricity to run a quartz reference and a regulating circuit. An electromagnetic brake controls the movement's speed. The result is the continuous passage of that blue hand across a surface made to look like snow.