I must confess that I thought long and hard about whether I wanted a watch with someone else’s sabi on it… I mean, it’s not like I had any emotional investment in it. And having made some enquiries, I was surprised to find that Seiko wouldn’t/couldn’t help – not just here in the UK but even Seiko Japan, who will actually  send watches back unpolished if they’re returned to their birthplace for a spruce up. Something to do with the “grammar”, don’t you know.

Notwithstanding this conspiracy against me, I popped into my local watchmaker to chat about a couple of things, and he assured me that he could bring it back to near-original condition without losing any of the lovely sharp lines of the case and with complete respect for what he was dealing with; an old, somewhat rare and very beautiful watch. Still, my heart was in my mouth when I picked it up this afternoon.

It needn’t have been, as you can see… and what’s the only thing better than a vintage Grand Seiko? A vintage Grand Seiko that looks good as new, of course!