Looks like you may have missed the most recent 2023 AJHH limited model slga017 which has a blueflake dial in the Evo9 case.

 

Looks like you may have missed the most recent 2023 AJHH limited model slga017 which has a blueflake dial in the Evo9 case.

Added. Thanks!

 

You're missing loads.

Why don't you simply use the database Anthony Kable provides?

Plus9Time Grand Seiko Database — Plus9Time

www.plus9time.com

 

You're missing loads.

Why don't you simply use the database Anthony Kable provides?

Plus9Time Grand Seiko Database — Plus9Time

www.plus9time.com

I knew Plus9Time had a lot of good data on their site, but I wasn't aware of the search feature that you linked to. Thanks for that - it seems like a great resource.

The only search I could come up with was to search for "Nickname contains Snowflake". That searched failed to produce most of the models above, but it did produce 3 that I don't have:

1. SBGE243
2. SBGE297
3. STGF359

I'll do the required research, image gathering, etc. and add them to the OP.

You said "you're missing loads". What search criteria did you use? Did you find anything other than the 3 above?

Thanks!

 

Love the thread, keep it going please, bring these references on the surface.

 

GS official article on the snowflake dial ties it to Spring Drive, specifically the 9R family that included the 9R65 first automatic SD:

The very first Grand Seiko watch with the 9R Spring Drive movement was created in 2004. Its glide motion seconds hand reflected the continuous, silent and natural passage of time. The layout of the components from the train to the barrel was designed to echo the beautiful view from the Shinshu Watch Studio of the unspoilt Jonen mountains and, behind them, the even higher Hotaka range. Perhaps, therefore, it was inevitable that the design team would then ask themselves this simple question; could the dial of a Grand Seiko Spring Drive not also reflect the beauty of the natural world that surrounded them in the mountains of Japan?

So it was that, in 2004, a challenge was issued to the dial workshop of the Shinshu Watch Studio: they were asked to create a dial that, like the caliber itself and the layout of its components, would reflect the surroundings of the birthplace of Spring Drive and give tangible expression to Grand Seiko’s respect for the nature of time. The solution lay in plain sight through the window. The craftsmen and women in the dial studio decided to try to make a dial with the same uneven surface as the mountains that dominated the view they saw every day and to make it pure white to represent the crisp snow that covers the slopes for six months of every year. They set to work on a prototype, despite knowing that it would be difficult to marry the need for a pure white color with a heavily textured pattern. It was indeed a challenge.
The ‘Snowflake’ dial. One of the most celebrated faces of Grand Seiko. | The story of Spring Drive in nine chapters | Grand Seiko

This photo shows some of the steps in making a GS snowflake dial. I first got it from this thread. https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/grand-seiko-snowflake-dial.5383515/post-54720368

Therefore if you are hoping to see the snowflake dial on a non-SD watch, don’t hold your breath.

 

GS official article on the snowflake dial ties it to Spring Drive, specifically the 9R family that included the 9R65 first automatic SD:

The very first Grand Seiko watch with the 9R Spring Drive movement was created in 2004. Its glide motion seconds hand reflected the continuous, silent and natural passage of time. The layout of the components from the train to the barrel was designed to echo the beautiful view from the Shinshu Watch Studio of the unspoilt Jonen mountains and, behind them, the even higher Hotaka range. Perhaps, therefore, it was inevitable that the design team would then ask themselves this simple question; could the dial of a Grand Seiko Spring Drive not also reflect the beauty of the natural world that surrounded them in the mountains of Japan?

So it was that, in 2004, a challenge was issued to the dial workshop of the Shinshu Watch Studio: they were asked to create a dial that, like the caliber itself and the layout of its components, would reflect the surroundings of the birthplace of Spring Drive and give tangible expression to Grand Seiko’s respect for the nature of time. The solution lay in plain sight through the window. The craftsmen and women in the dial studio decided to try to make a dial with the same uneven surface as the mountains that dominated the view they saw every day and to make it pure white to represent the crisp snow that covers the slopes for six months of every year. They set to work on a prototype, despite knowing that it would be difficult to marry the need for a pure white color with a heavily textured pattern. It was indeed a challenge.
The ‘Snowflake’ dial. One of the most celebrated faces of Grand Seiko. | The story of Spring Drive in nine chapters | Grand Seiko

View attachment 18100594
This photo shows some of the steps in making a GS snowflake dial. I first got it from this thread. https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/grand-seiko-snowflake-dial.5383515/post-54720368

Therefore if you are hoping to see the snowflake dial on a non-SD watch, don’t hold your breath.

Interestingly, to me anyway, for quite some time there was only one pattern for the Snowflake dial. Every watch that was made with a Snowflake dial had the same pattern, no matter what the color or reference was.

At some point we noticed that Grand Seiko had quietly replaced the die that they use to make the Snowflake dial. To my knowledge all current manufacture watches with a Snowflake dial, including the SBGA211, use the new die.

For this reason, when validating that a given reference does or does not use a "Snowflake" dial there are two different sets of landmarks I have to look for.

 

This is the continuation of the list. The forum only supports 50 pictures in a post. The beginning of the list is at this link.

26​	SBGE285	2022​	NA​	Evolution 9 GMT Mistflake 9R66-0BJ0	​	​
27​	SBGX353	Dec. 2022​	NA​	HAQ 9F Blue Snowflake 9F61-0AR0	​	​
28​	SLGA017	Jan. 2023​	LE of 255​	AJHH 2023 LE 9RA2-0AE0	​	​
29​	SBGA483	Mar. 2023​	LE of 100​	Oomiya Exclusive 2023 LE Sunshine on the Snowfield at Dawn 9R65-0EL0	​	​
30​	SBGE297	Nov. 2023​	LE of 65​	Thailand GS9 Shinshu Snowflake 9R66-0BB0	​	​
31​	SBGX355	Feb. 2024​	NA​	37mm HAQ (9F) "Snowflake" 9F62-0AR0	​	​
32​	STGF385	Feb. 2024​	NA​	Ladies "Snowflake" with diamond bezel (HAQ 4J) 4J52-0AK0	​	No case back photo yet. Have one? Please PM me.​
33​	SBGA497	Mar. 8, 2024​	LE of 1500 (650 in Japan)​	9R Spring Drive 20th Anniversary Sunrise over Hotaka Mountains 9R65-0EP0	​	​
34	SBGE311	Feb. 3, 2025	LE of 500​	AJHH 20th Anniversary 9R66-0BB0​

 

SBGA497

Spring Drive SBGA497 SBGE305 "Hotaka Peaks" | GS9 Club | Grand Seiko

Grand Seiko marks the 20th anniversary of 9R Spring Drive with SBGA497 and SBGE305, both inspired by the "Morning Glow of Hotaka Peaks."

grandseikogs9club.com

 

In the text, only the SBGA497 is denoted a “Snowflake” by GS. Though, given names are not dispositive to us for judging watches for this thread.

LE of 1500 and 1300, respectively

 

Upon @Mandaue reporting it to me I verified the dial on the SBGZ001, added it to the list as entry #18, and shifted all existing subsequent entries by one (as I want to keep the list in chronological order of release).

@Mandaue also reported that at the same time GS released the SBGZ001 they also released the non-LE SBGZ003 which GS claims (on their website) has the "Snowflake" dial.

From their website:

The dial features the celebrated "Snowflake" pattern which is inspired by the beauty of the snow in the Shinshu region.

Mandaue disputes that claim and I concur with his analysis. I cannot find one single picture that indicates that the SBGZ003 has a Snowflake dial. At first I thought that this might be a situation similar to the SBGE243. The SBGE243 is claimed to have a black Snowflake dial, yet nearly every picture makes the dial appear to be a matte black. However I was able to find one picture of the SBGE243 that showed the texture and I was able to verify the Snowflake (dial pattern #2) texture.

For now we're not including the SBGZ003 in the Snowflake Reference. If someone comes up with a picture that shows a Snowflake texture on the SBGZ003 then we will re-evaluate it.

Here's the SBGZ003 (appears to not be a Snowflake despite GS claims to the contrary):

And the SBGZ001 (verified Snowflake dial pattern):

 

The SBGZ001 was released in 2019 to mark 20 years since the debut of Spring Drive. Ad such it is fitting to have a Snowflake dial. This watch is from the elite watchmakers at the Micro Artist Studio.

The movement is the manual wind 9R02 with an amazing 84 hours of power reserve from a single barrel, when similar slim dress watches hardly reach 60. 12 hours of this are harvested from the mainspring at full wind onto a secondary spring, which stores the energy until the mainspring is at lower state of wind, then released by a mechanical clutch.

The case is the first GS I have seen with hand-hammering on its platinum case. The popularity led to a similar treatment for the SBGZ007 and 009, improved with a bit more randomness, but the 001 will forever be the first.

The more affordable variants of the SBGZ are the SBGY series, with a similar but simpler 72 hour manual wind 9R31.

I have never seen this watch on eBay or c24, although one may been sold thru Watches of Mayfair. All 30 pieces sold out virtually instantly, including 12/30 to collector Mark Cho, auctioned for about $65,000 in November 2022.

Without a doubt this is the highest end Snowflake watch yet made.

 

The SBGZ001 was released in 2019 to mark 20 years since the debut of Spring Drive. Ad such it is fitting to have a Snowflake dial. This watch is from the elite watchmakers at the Micro Artist Studio.

The movement is the manual wind 9R02 with an amazing 84 hours of power reserve from a single barrel, when similar slim dress watches hardly reach 60. 12 hours of this are harvested from the mainspring at full wind onto a secondary spring, which stores the energy until the mainspring is at lower state of wind, then released by a mechanical clutch.

The case is the first GS I have seen with hand-hammering on its platinum case. The popularity led to a similar treatment for the SBGZ007 and 009, improved with a bit more randomness, but the 001 will forever be the first.

The more affordable variants of the SBGZ are the SBGY series, with a similar but simpler 72 hour manual wind 9R31.

I have never seen this watch on eBay or c24, although one may been sold thru Watches of Mayfair. All 30 pieces sold out virtually instantly, including 12/30 to collector Mark Cho, auctioned for about $65,000 in November 2022.

Without a doubt this is the highest end Snowflake watch yet made.

Correction: SBGZ001 case is engraved with a handheld tool, not hammered

 

Nice video showing the SBGA497 gradient pink dial.

 

You are looking at, respectively, the Seiko QT ref 38-7030 and the Seiko ref 4130-8000.*

Both have what may be described as 'snowflake' dials, but are patently not Grand Seiko Snowflake watches.

@BrianBinFL and I also give weight to the principle that the first Snowflake is the SBGA011, a name bestowed by the collector community and not the maker. Thus you could say that it would only be by revising history that any watch made prior to the SBGA011 can be a 'Snowflake watch'.

The 38-7030 has Seiko's 2nd generation quartz movement, the at-the-time top-of-the-line caliber 38, dating it to the early-70s. The 4130-8000 contains a 41xx family movement, dating it somewhere in the latter half of the 1970s, 1980 or 1981.

The small logo below the quartz logo indicates that both came from Suwa Seikosha, sharing the place name with the lake which GS fans know from innumerable dials to be the home of GS.

Peaking of history, it is important to be aware of these watches when reading accounts of the SBGA011 dial creation, which say that the texture of a 1971 Seiko 5641-5000's champagne dial was rendered in pure white by a new process. While it may be true that the SBGA011 dial team invented a process, they seem not to be the first in Seiko to render a snowflake texture in white by some process.

*As commercial links are prohibited, I will just give credit for the photos: Veteran Times International and Carousell.

 

Additional non-GS with a similar looking dial is the Grand Quartz 9256-8000 of 1978.

Unlike the 2 above, this comes from Daini Seikosha, housing its first Twin Quartz caliber.

From other angles, the dial looks like paper fibers:

(images from TokeiMedic dot com)

 

maybe it was listed & I missed it..but what about the manual wind SBGY013...I've seen and worn the SBGY007 in the flesh...just exquisite....I can imagine how the ...013 is...

SBGY013G | Grand Seiko

A Spring Drive gem inspired by Omiwatari

www.grand-seiko.com

 

I think this ‘Omiwatari’ texture is different. It’s also very nice but it’s not a snowflake texture. It’s a frozen surface of a lake texture.

 

maybe it was listed & I missed it..but what about the manual wind SBGY013...I've seen and worn the SBGY007 in the flesh...just exquisite....I can imagine how the ...013 is...

SBGY013G | Grand Seiko

A Spring Drive gem inspired by Omiwatari

www.grand-seiko.com

I think this ‘Omiwatari’ texture is different. It’s also very nice but it’s not a snowflake texture. It’s a frozen surface of a lake texture.

@Mandaue is correct. Though "ice inspired", the references you mentioned are not the Snowflake dial. There are (presently) only two dial patterns that are "Snowflake". The original Snowflake dial that began with the SBGA011, and continued through many different models, with different dial colors, even persisting into the post-2017 branding change, and then the replacement Snowflake dial that Grand Seiko started using in place of the original at some point.

Now that I write that sentence it seems like it would be nice to know roughly when they switched to the new Snowflake pattern. We sort of stumbled upon the new Snowflake dial here during COVID boredom, but I don't know that anybody has ever pinpointed a cut over point. Might be a fun endeavor sometime.

 

In this topic @Mandaue and I are attempting to collect all of the known Grand Seiko watches using the "Snowflake" dial. I'd like to invite the community to scrutinize this list, correct any errors in the data below, and offer additional references using the Snowflake dial, but that are not represented. In some cases it was difficult to find "official" renders - especially for case back views. If anybody has a better image please PM me so I can get the image from you, update the gallery, and update this post.

Note that the forum only permits 50 pictures in a post, so this post contains the first 25 references and then the list continues in Post #18.

#​	Reference​	Released​	LE?​	Description / Case Code​	Front Render/Image​	Back Render/Image​
1​	SBGA011	2005​	NA​	Original SGS "Snowflake" 9R65-0AE0	​	​
2​	SBGA059	2010​	NA​	SGS "Golden Snowflake" 9R65-0AE0	​	​
3​	SBGA061	2011​	LE of 30​	Wako "Snowflake" LE 9R65-0AY0	​	​
4​	SBGA089	2013​	NA​	White gold special accuracy 9R15-0AC0	​	​
5​	SBGA090	2013​	NA​	Yellow gold special accuracy 9R15-0AC0	​	​
6​	SBGA092	2013​	NA​	Rose gold special accuracy 9R15-0AC0	​	​
7​	SBGA121	2014​	LE of 30​	Roman Numeral Snowflake 9R65-0BV0	​	No case back photo yet. Have one? Please PM me.​
8​	SBGA129	2015​	LE of 369​	AJHH "Redflake" LE 9R65-0BX0	​	​
9​	SBGA139	2015​	LE of 25​	Blued seconds/PR, gold GS logo 9R65-0CC0	​	No case back photo yet. Have one? Please PM me.​
10​	SBGA153	2016​	NA​	6, 9, 12 SGS "Snowflake" dial 9R65-0CH0	​	​
11​	SBGA157	2016​	LE of 28​	Takashimaya Osaka LE 9R65-0CL0	​	​
12​	SBGA211	2017​	NA​	Updated GS "Snowflake" 9R65-0AE0	​	​
13​	SBGA259	2017​	NA​	Updated GS "Golden Snowflake" 9R65-0AE0	​	​
14​	SBGA289	2017​	NA​	White Gold "Snowflake" 9R15-0AC0	​	No case back photo yet. Have one? Please PM me.​
15​	SBGA290	2017​	NA​	Yellow Gold "Snowflake" 9R15-0AC0	​	​
16​	SBGA292	2017​	NA​	Rose Gold "Snowflake" 9R15-0AC0	​	​
17​	SBGE243	2018​	LE of 20​	"Black Snowflake VIP" LE 9R66-0AV0	​	​
18​	SBGY002	Mar. 2019​	NA​	Yellow Gold Snowflake 9R31-0AA0	​	​
19​	SBGZ001	Mar. 2019​	LE of 30​	Spring Drive 20th Anniv. LE Platinum, hand carved 9R02-0AB0	​	​
20​	SBGA407	June 2019​	NA​	"Skyflake" 9R65-0AA0	​	​
21​	SBGA421	Feb. 2020​	LE of 390​	AJHH LE "Red Snowflake" 9R65-0DL0	​	​
22​	SBGA441	Feb. 2021​	LE of 38​	Oomiya "Black Snowflake" 9R65-0DX0	​	​
23​	STGF359	June 2021​	NA​	Ladies "Snowflake" (4J HAQ) 4J52-0AL0	​	​
24​	SBGA473	2022​	LE of 73​	"Citrus Snowflake" 9R65-0CB0	​	​
25​	SBGA475	2022​	LE of 50​	Yabuuchi Tokeiho 150th Anniversary LE 9R65-0EH0	​	​

Note that the forum only permits 50 pictures in a post, so this post contains the first 25 references and then the list continues in Post #18.

Hi guys, nice project.

I was just wondering, how did you come up with the name "Citrus Snowflake" for my Seibu - Sogo Department Store Exclusive Limited Edition SBGA 473 (73 pcs) "Sunrise" Snowflake?

 

Hi guys, nice project.

I was just wondering, how did you come up with the name "Citrus Snowflake" for my Seibu - Sogo Department Store Exclusive Limited Edition SBGA 473 (73 pcs) "Sunrise" Snowflake?

Back when I was doing an image search for the SBGA473 I found at least one site that called it a "Citrus Snowflake". But that term isn't really coming up much now other than an old Google cache hit for a Carousell ad for an SBGA473.

I updated the nickname to "Sogo Seibu LE".

Thanks!

 

​

SBGE243

2018LE of 20​

"Black Snowflake VIP" LE
9R66-0AV0

​

Oh my God..... The fact that this didn't get a general issue release in steel or titanium is almost a crime. Absolutely stunning.

 

Yeah, that's a rare one. Only 20 made. I'm sure all 20 went to a very short list of VIPs. Finding real photos of this one is pretty difficult.

At first it really didn't look like it had a "Snowflake" dial - it just looked matte black. But I saw one actual photo that confirmed it had a Snowflake dial.

 

The newly released AJHH 20th Anniversary Limited Edition of 500 Spring Drive GMT with Snowflake dial, reference SBGE311, has been added to the registry. Thanks to @Mandaue for the heads up.

I like this watch very much. Obviously it has some similarities to my SBGE297 except of course the AJHH is very fond of having red in their LE watches - and this one is no exception.

I note with some interest that although this is an LE of 500, the caseback only denotes Limited Edition, but nowhere does it say the number of units released. Most LE's will either say "One of 100", or "001/500", or something like that. But not the case here.

Also, Grand Seiko almost always creates a unique case code for each Limited Edition even if the case is the same as other non-LE variants. But this watch is 9R66-0BB0, as are several other watches, some LE (SBGE297, SBGE299) and some not (SBGE253, SBGE255, SBGE257). I like to think that Grand Seiko has some rhyme or reason for this apparent inconsistency.

 

This year is the 20th anniversary of the SBGA011 Snowflake!

An official Seiko description (which mistakenly states that SBGA211 was created in 2005, when it was in fact the SBGA011) contains details of the dial's creation and execution:

This Grand Seiko watch, known by fans as the “Snowflake” was introduced in 2005. The nickname was derived from the textured surface of the dial, which resembles the surface of snow driven by the cold wind. The designer, who was born in a snowy land, created this form by recalling scenes from his childhood. After repeated trial and error to create the texture of snow, he arrived at the complex process of shaving tiny grooves into the dial mold with a fine grinding tool called a leutor to create the unique texture, and then applying various processing techniques. The deep blue tempered steel second hand is reminiscent of the sky above the snow. This model, with its refreshing sense of translucency, has been loved for many years.

from 2005 Grand Seiko Heritage Collection SBGA211 (known as the Snowflake) | Seiko Design 140

P.S. Adding more SBGA011 archival photos, mostly from a July 2013 blog entry of AZ Fine Time, one of the pioneers in stocking and selling GS in the US market.

I like this one from WikiMedia. Is it official Seiko? The date is 25 not 6:

 

On this 20th anniversary year of the SBGA011 Snowflake, another photo of the SBGA211 for the archive, from Dials inspired by nature_The “snowflake” dial | GS Story

 

On this 20th anniversary year of the SBGA011 Snowflake, another photo of the SBGA211 for the archive, from Dials inspired by nature_The “snowflake” dial | GS Story
View attachment 19239228

You and Oz28 are going to end up costing me some money. 😅

Post like this and his keep making me ask myself "why don't you have an A211 yet?". Yes, I have some Snowflake watches, but I don't have the Snowflake watch. Feels like a gap to me. I'm going to try not to think about it for now. 😁

 

The designer of the SBGA011 Snowflake is now documented: Shinichiro Kubo

In an interview, he says:

One of my favorite designs is the Spring Drive Snow Flake that I designed a number of years ago. At that time I wanted the dial to depict my own personal sensation of snow from memories of long ago. These memories were not of just snowfalls or soft newly fallen snow itself, but the powdery snow blown by strong winds that whirled the snow about to eventually become snow banks that I used to see when I went out with my grandfather when I was a kid living in the Hokuriku region of northern Japan.​

​

At the time the snow effect was not considered to be particularly beautiful, but as I grew older I became more drawn in by the special look of the snow. And I wanted to replicate the beautiful allure of the snow from those long past memories.​

​

After repeated trial and error attempts with our technicians we were still unable to come up with anything that ideally expressed the real sensation of the snow. We finally ended up using a fine grinding tool called a leutor to replicate the desired texture, and with some further surface processing we were able to produce the proper snow effect.​

​

The uneven surface texture is only about 0.04 mm thick. In conjunction with the overall theme of “a bug’s-eye view,” I guess this could be called “a vast snow field as seen by a tiny bug.”​

​

Although hard to distinguish by the human eye, if you stare at it for some time you will see that really is how it appears. It’s perhaps right at the very edge of the visible world. But, I’m sure it is this dedicated attention to the utmost detail as represented by the “bug’s-eye view” approach that is what really resonates with the sensitivity of the wearer of the watch.​

​

The second hand is in a vivid blue color. This is to make it more clearly visible, but there is one more aspect that has been incorporated. I mentioned earlier the beautiful snow of my past memories that was adorned with wind patterns. I designed this blue to superimpose my image of the blue skies of the Hokuriku region where I grew up. This does not apply to every watch but, as a designer, I have to admit that on occasion I let my personal feelings influence the design of some of our products.​

Vol.1 Designing watches from a bug’s-eye view. | Page 2 of 3 | by Seiko Design
A magnifier tool is included:

Shinichiro Kubo is also believed to be the designer of the SBGA001, SBGE001, SBGC001 and SBGA029/031 diver, as documented here. (His senior in the design department at the time was Nobuhiro Kosugi, creator of the 9S5 case design. But as this thread is all about there is more to a watch design than the case.)

Here is Kubo-san:

 

The designer of the SBGA011 Snowflake is now documented: Shinichiro Kubo

In an interview, he says:

One of my favorite designs is the Spring Drive Snow Flake that I designed a number of years ago. At that time I wanted the dial to depict my own personal sensation of snow from memories of long ago. These memories were not of just snowfalls or soft newly fallen snow itself, but the powdery snow blown by strong winds that whirled the snow about to eventually become snow banks that I used to see when I went out with my grandfather when I was a kid living in the Hokuriku region of northern Japan.​

​

At the time the snow effect was not considered to be particularly beautiful, but as I grew older I became more drawn in by the special look of the snow. And I wanted to replicate the beautiful allure of the snow from those long past memories.​

​

After repeated trial and error attempts with our technicians we were still unable to come up with anything that ideally expressed the real sensation of the snow. We finally ended up using a fine grinding tool called a leutor to replicate the desired texture, and with some further surface processing we were able to produce the proper snow effect.​

​

The uneven surface texture is only about 0.04 mm thick. In conjunction with the overall theme of “a bug’s-eye view,” I guess this could be called “a vast snow field as seen by a tiny bug.”​

​

Although hard to distinguish by the human eye, if you stare at it for some time you will see that really is how it appears. It’s perhaps right at the very edge of the visible world. But, I’m sure it is this dedicated attention to the utmost detail as represented by the “bug’s-eye view” approach that is what really resonates with the sensitivity of the wearer of the watch.​

​

The second hand is in a vivid blue color. This is to make it more clearly visible, but there is one more aspect that has been incorporated. I mentioned earlier the beautiful snow of my past memories that was adorned with wind patterns. I designed this blue to superimpose my image of the blue skies of the Hokuriku region where I grew up. This does not apply to every watch but, as a designer, I have to admit that on occasion I let my personal feelings influence the design of some of our products.​

View attachment 19250956

Vol.1 Designing watches from a bug’s-eye view. | Page 2 of 3 | by Seiko Design
A magnifier tool is included:
View attachment 19250955

Shinichiro Kubo is also believed to be the designer of the SBGA001, SBGE001, SBGC001 and SBGA029/031 diver, as documented here. His senior in the design department at the time was Nobuhiro Koguri, creator of the 9S5 case design. But there is more to a watch design than the case.

Here is Kubo-san:
View attachment 19250961

Eh, not for once he mentioned that he and some others together named it "snow white" first......
I need to ask my JP in-laws to find his magazine interviews from 2004/2005.

 

@Mandaue, found one of his interviews from 2012.

SEIKO　セイコーウオッチの「ダイナミックレンジ」を感じるデザイン | デザインのチカラ | デザイン情報サイト[JDN]

www.japandesign.ne.jp

 

This seems the perfect topic to mention the SBGA473 again, that was featured in earlier listings.

Grand Seiko “Sunrise” SBGA473 Spring Drive (LE 73)

Only 73 were made, and they were sold exclusively through the Sogo & Seibu Department Stores in Japan

The image above is taken from a nice introductory article here that has a few more exceptional close-up images that show off this rare beauty to great effect. Open those images in a new browser tab/window and zoom in to the max.

Update: we now have a video

 

I'm surprised the red snowflake isn't more popular

 

Assuming you mean the SBGA421, it's a neat looking model, kinda sporty, but there were only 390 made, so it probably doesn't come up much.

 

Thank you for this amazing reference.