never did anyone think that five letters in that particular order could have such an astounding effect rolex fever seems to have come in at a close second for this generation's largest pandemic replete with its own political divide and even conspiracy so if you've had it up to here with rolex dealers telling you what to do then you're in luck because you're about to find out five reasons why you should probably get a grand seiko instead want to save money on your next watch the watchfinder price promise means you'll get the best price search watchfinder to discover more if you could take a moment to subscribe to the channel that would be amazing if you're already subscribed thank you so much it's a very bold claim to start this comparison by saying that the best thing about grand seiko and the first reason you should buy one over a rolex is the brand rolex isn't so much a brand these days as it is a religion with many a fervent worshiper traveling countless miles in pilgrimage to have their names inscribed upon the ancient tablets of waiting hoping to hear an all-powerful disembodied voice tell them that they've been chosen is that what all this is about don't get me wrong rolex make great watches and have a fantastic story but this particular chapter feels like i keep reading the same sentence over and over it's time for a pallet cleanser something fresh and uncorrupted from about as far away from the rolex hq as you can get japan it's ironic isn't it that where grand seiko once lay siege to swiss watchmaking it is now the purer choice i suppose when you think about it all founder kintaro hattori wanted was for the swiss watchmakers he so idolized to acknowledge that his work met the standards of his heroes the goal has always been the same to make watches the best watches and because grand seiko operates outside the heavily politicized arena of swiss watchmaking it can go about its business in a way that feels far more wholesome you won't find a grand seiko adorning a tennis player's wrist on the court and that's a good thing when you choose a grand seiko the only reason you have to do so is because you want a fantastic watch you can't talk about grand seiko without talking about dials what are typically to rolex simply a method of communicating the time executed in a clinically exact way and unchanged for many decades the dial of a grand seiko is something so much richer it's been described as a canvas but such artifact nonsense feels ill-fitting for what grand seiko has actually managed to achieve a grand seiko dial is more like a landscape an environment all bottled up underneath a dome of sapphire there are many brands including rolex that borrow inspiration from nature in their dials rolex has taken this quite literally in the past featuring stone wood and even meteorite in place of its usually black backdrop all very lovely i'm sure but the difference between those and a grand seiko is startling one is an exhibit of nature in a museum hanging in clinical isolation the other is like being right there amongst nature itself if that sounds like hyperbole it really isn't there is something magic in what grand seiko does in imparting breathtaking japanese landscapes in miniatures scale not just in form but in feel as well the icy tundra of the snowflake style really physically makes me feel cold i think what makes them so effective is that in contrast to rolex's very on the nose efforts grand seiko in true japanese fashion takes a far more abstract and holistic approach it's not obvious not in your face if we were to stretch an analogy to breaking point and wondered how both brands might approach a watch that were intended to inspire feelings of summer as a carefree child perhaps the grand seiko would use rich green gold colors and the textures of a freshly cut lawn the rolex would just have a picture of a kid playing football on it there's just simply a level of communication that transcends mere words that conjures feelings that happen almost instinctively let's see a rolex do that talking about technology when it comes to mechanical watches may seem rather like putting a spoiler on a horse and given rolex's tentative approach to revolutionizing watchmaking you can see why that attitude might have come about but grand seiko in contrast goes at it with a very different approach yeah with rolex you get some silicon here and there some anti-magnetic alloys all that kind of stuff but really it's all variations on a theme when it comes to technological innovation your money is better spent elsewhere take the white birch for example packing the grand seiko caliber 9s a5 a thoroughly traditional and very attractive looking affair that wouldn't look out of place inside the watches of some of the oldest swiss brands in the world but looks can be deceiving because this thing packs a punch that's about as innovative as watchmaking gets sitting snugly behind the 36000 vph balance a smoother and faster beat than the rolex is the dual impulse escapement this is no marketing gimmick it's an entirely new way of regulating a watch that manages to squeeze a whopping 80 hours out of the mainspring despite the faster beat it is the biggest step forward in watchmaking since the 1980s and if you're thinking that just fiddling with the tired old mechanical movement is nothing special wait until you see the caliber 9r65 this is a movement that combines all the best bits of what are otherwise competing technologies you get the accuracy of a quartz with the autonomy of mechanical a battery-less never-ending power source that means your quartz watch can finally sweep and not tick so far we're running a considerable lead on grand seiko but there surely has to be a point at which the penny drops with the arrival of a butt perhaps you might be thinking that rolex may be simple but its famous swiss quality will stand head and shoulders above grand seiko the grand seiko is after all built like a japanese watch i can understand why someone might think that but it could not be further from the truth rolex makes a cracking watch it really does but it's always been a simple brand favoring reliability and practicality over outright beauty and perfection the rolex watches of yesteryear were less rolls-royce and more steamroller as with everything the japanese watchmaker seems to touch grand seiko has a mentality that seems to belie what's possible when it comes to making a physical object the size of a watch where rolex might polish a facet to a mirror-like shine grand seiko pushes it to the extreme with surfaces so flat and bright they could be used to collect light in the hubble space telescope it's all in the tiniest details that contrasts rolex's that'll do approach with again a distinctly japanese good isn't good enough the brand goes to such extreme lengths to outdo its competition that it almost seems unfair grand seiko doesn't just push rolex hard on quality it absolutely humiliates them but the best is yet to come because for all this talk of grand seiko's unbelievable performance it would only seem justified for it to be matched with an unbelievable price except that's not the case an entry-level grand seiko costs less than four thousand pounds a price point rolex had to introduce an entirely separate brand tudor to compete in sure you can buy some very very expensive grand seikos but without exception you'll always find value falling in the favor of the japanese watchmaker so what's the cash well if you're looking for a great watch you can cherish and enjoy for being a great watch there isn't one sure the depreciation's not so great by comparison but if you choose a grand seiko well you won't be selling it anyway or you could take advantage of someone else's misery and buy one pre-owned and yeah it doesn't say rolex on it but given the swiss brand's ridiculous popularity it doesn't take much to swing that into a positive who doesn't like to be into something before it's cool a grand seiko really is the enthusiast watchmaker and that's reflected in the growing popularity the brand is beginning to enjoy there are dare i say it even grand seiko models that have generated such enthusiasm that they have appreciated in value better get in there before it's too late before you go thinking that this praise of grand seiko comes at the cost of rolex's reputation stop it doesn't rolex is a monumentally important brand in the watchmaking sphere and will never in a million years be replaced by a watchmaker like grand seiko it wasn't back in the 60s and it won't be now what grand seiko offers is an opportunity to enjoy these funny little timekeepers in a new unfamiliar and refreshing way something it feels the stifled frustration of many and enthusiastic needs at the very least it's something to enjoy until you get the call discover more exceptional watches at watchfinder thank you so much for watching this video if you enjoyed it please do 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