The Grand Seiko Snowflake

One of my ideal watches to have would look be like a Grand Seiko Snowflake. The sweeping movement of Seiko’s Spring Drive, the snow-esque dial, dauphine hands, and the blued seconds hand look amazing to me. But since it will never be worth it for me to spend 50k SEK on a watch, I will have to find a cheaper alternative. Luckily, there are a lot of quite similar watches available. At the moment, this page only contains Seikos. Since there are Seiko alternatives in all price classes, there is not really any need to include other brand.

Price ranges

The best place to find information on Seiko watches is Watch Sleuth, and they have this great page for comparing Seikos. As the page explains, there are really three price ranges for Seiko watches, where Grand Seiko is at the top, then the SAR line, and at the bottom the Seiko 5. So let’s go through them.

Seiko Presage + SAR

As far as I know, there are a few SAR’s that are quite similar to the Grand Seiko. So I will create a list of them below. Nowadays it seems like the SAR line has merged into the Presage line, as all new Seikos seem to be called Presage. As far as I know, there are actually two levels of Presage, grouping the more affordable, and less affordable into separate groups, but to make it easy for me, this group will contains all Seikos that begin with SAR, as well as the ones which are part of the Presage line. Since the SAR line is no longer produced, I will try to give the price for what they are sold for on ebay and the like, which usually is slightly used. All watches can be manually wound and are hacking, unless noted.

SARA

I have barely ever seen these on the internet. They are supposed to be really rare. Some kind of prototype watch which never got out of Japan maybe? They have the 4L25 movement, which is really high end - basically Credor-level (i.e. luxury watch-level). I think it’s basically impossible to get your hands on these, and even if you do, they should cost around the same amount as the Grand Seikos. I dunno why I even included them here to be honest. (Updated: I have actually seen some around, though I think is a re-release, for around 25-30k SEK.)

SARB

The SARB line has much in common, including their 6r15 movement, but not the type of glass. I think that the only watches here that are interesting are the SARB033-5, since they have the sapphire glass. In this price range, hardlex just feels a bit cheap for me. I really like that their size as well. 38x11mm seems like a perfect size for a dressy watch. The SARB033 and SARB035 are actually quite famous for being some of the best watches you can buy in that price range, but that was when they are in production. Nowadays, all SARB prices are very unstable, especially the more rare ones (SARB027, SARB031, SARB041). With some luck and patience, you can still get most of these for around 4k SEK; But prices have begun to rise quickly, and they are in many cases sold for closer to 5-6k SEK. You probably shouldn’t pay more than 4k for the more commons ones like 033 and 035.

SARX

The SARX are extremely similar to the SARBs, but are just a smidgeon larger and cost noticably more (around 5-7k SEK). They have the same 6r15 movement and all have sapphire glass, which is really nice, but is it really worth such a steep price increase? And at 40mm, you need to have quite large wrists to wear them as dress watches. But since they are still in production, and the SARBs are not, soon you won’t be able to compare these models anyways. If you have the cash, these are probably a really good buy.

SARY

With complications:

The SARY watches are very similar to the SARX watches, but usually have the not-as-good 4r36 movement, and usually cost half the price to purchase (around 3k SEK). They have the same problem, being too large for a dress watch. Some of them have interesting complications though, which may make up for it. For most people, there is no way the price difference is worth having a 6r15 over a 4r36, since it’s nothing most people will even notice. Many claim that the SARX have a much nicer finish and details than the SARY have, so you might want to watch a youtube comparison video if you contemplate buying one or the other. It seems to me that the SARYs are not worth buying if you can get your hands on a SARB instead.

SGDM (“Brightz”)

Another 6r15 watch. Looks very similar to the SARX, but has a textured dial. This version is also discontinued, but should be available online for around 8k SEK. I’d say that it’s an even more detailed version of the SARX (Really, the SARX is a mix of the SARB and SGDM). So if you got the money to spend, you might want something even more detailed. Same as for the SARX, it could be hard to argue for the price increase compared to the SARB.

Seiko 5

You can also go one step cheaper and aim for a Seiko 5. This will net you a less detailed piece, with a Hardlex glass and no hand winding or hacking. With some luck, you can find them on sale at Jomashop or similar page for between 500 and 1000 SEK, which makes them very affordable. They all (?) have the 7S26 movement, which must be one of the most common movements. It isn’t really glamorous because of the lack of hand winding and hacking, but it’s pretty famous for standing the test of time, and having a pretty cheap service cost per year.

Model numbers:

I think these are considered the most common cheaper alternative for SARB033/035, so their price seems to go up from time to time. SNKL15 isn’t really white, but more like silver, which may be a dealbreaker. The details at the edge of the dial are somewhat similar to the details on a SARB, which is nice.

Another good alternative. I think they look a bit more plain compared to the SNKL15/23, since it has less details. It seems like SNKL41’s dial is more white than SNKL15 though, even though it says it’s a silver dial.