Take a moment to think about the characteristics that would make the perfect everyday watch; what would you come up with?

The list would probably include things like maximum precision, minimum weight, an agreeable size with good ergonomics, and a design that is at home in both formal and casual environments. It also wouldn’t cost a fortune. That might as well have been the design brief for the new Grand Seiko Evolution 9 Spring Drive Ultra Fine Accuracy (UFA) SLGB001 and SLGB003, which ticks about as many boxes as any single watch can.

In fact, just about the worst thing you can say about the UFA is that the design isn’t taking any risks, but that’s the cost of chameleon-like versatility. While the watch is also available in an 80-piece limited edition in platinum (the SLGB001, pictured above), the primary focus of this review will be the more crowd-pleasing titanium version with matching bracelet (the SLGB003), which is a regular production model and priced right.

The SLGB003

Initial thoughts

Putting it bluntly, the UFA is an absolute spec-sheet monster. If you’re onboard with the idea of a quartz oscillator in an otherwise mechanical watch, there’s very little to nitpick. It’s simply one of the most accurate, wearable, and well-made watches on the market. 

In true Grand Seiko style, the UFA is fitted with a nature-inspired dial motif that is modeled on a hillside of frost-covered trees. It’s a fairly abstract representation, which means it will look like different things to different people, making it a versatile design.

While I would normally prefer a simpler no-date format, the date window is nicely finished the the font choice on the date wheel, which features tiny serifs, reminds me of vintage Grand Seiko movements. That said, the font choice for “Spring Drive” and “UFA” is painfully bland, and stands out from an otherwise meticulous dial.

At a distance, the dial colour is the only way to distinguish the platinum and titanium models; the platinum SLGB001 offers a deeper shade of blue and a silver-tone seconds hand, while the titanium SLGB003 features a dial in a very light shade of blue that at some angles appears almost white.

In both models, the tip of the seconds hand curves toward the dial, which is the kind of high-effort detail we rarely see in contemporary industrial watchmaking. A pleasing detail on the latter model is the blued steel seconds hand, which I prefer since it makes sense to draw attention to the seconds hand in a watch that is all about to-the-second precision.

And precise it is, rated to +/- 20 seconds per year, an extraordinary claim that goes far beyond COSC and Master Chronometer certifications. This is possible thanks to the new Spring Drive cal. 9RB2, which combines elements from the brand’s famed cal. 9F quartz movement and the latest generation spring drive movements like the cal. 9RA2.

Grand Seiko built its reputation outside its home market on the basis of value, offering watches that were low key, high quality, and priced right. Though many of the brand’s latest 9S-powered watches have tested collectors’ tolerance for price increases, the SLGB003 is a lot of watch for US$10,900.

On the other hand, US$39,000 is rather a lot for its platinum sibling, the SLGB001, but I expect all 80 of them will find willing buyers. 

Wearing the UFA

The 37 mm size might sound small, but the UFA wears big enough to have presence on a bare arm while remaining sleek enough to look at home under a shirt cuff. The case is made of what Grand Seiko calls Brilliant Hard Titanium, which means the watch is both fairly durable and effortlessly light weight. The thickness is 11.4 mm, which might sound thick for a 37 mm watch but this helps give it presence, while the sleek Evolution 9 case design ensures good weight balance.

And about that bracelet – Grand Seiko has gotten the message about micro-adjustment, which we now see for the first time from the brand. This means that when your wrist expands on a hot day or contracts in the cold you can quickly adjust the length of the bracelet across three small steps to get a comfortable fit.

This is not revolutionary by any means, in fact Grand Seiko is something of a laggard in adopting this convenient feature, but their execution of it is elegant and effective without any additional buttons or pushers. Simply rotate the bracelet relative to the clasp, push in, and slide.

As if that weren’t enough, the UFA is water resistant to 100 m. Of course, I don’t suspect anyone will test these limits, but it’s reassuring to wear an overbuilt watch that can keep up with its owner no matter their lifestyle or climate.

Overall, the UFA offers a level of fit and finish that befits a luxury product, but the design is quiet enough for it to stay under the radar. Like other models in the Evolution 9 collection, the dial markers feature polished grooves that catch almost any light, giving the dial a radiant look.

A new level of precision

Let’s be precise. The cal. 9RB2 is a spring drive movement, which means its rate is governed by a quartz oscillator and an integrated circuit (IC). The IC controls a small electromagnet that regulates the rotational speed of the glide wheel, the last wheel in an otherwise mechanical gear train.

Like other high-end quartz movements from Grand Seiko, the cal. 9RB2 uses a home-grown quartz crystal that has been aged and tested for at least three months to ensure predictable performance. For the UFA, the quartz crystal and IC have also been redesigned and vacuum-sealed to minimise the effects of temperature fluctuations on the rate of the watch. These small changes have resulted in a movement that is accurate to +/- 20 seconds per year, making it an order of magnitude more precise than any mechanical watch.

While the brand has been fairly tight-lipped in its explanations of these improvements, it seems to incorporate the vacuum-sealed oscillator and fine adjustment screw from the quartz cal. 9F along with the latest architecture from the Spring Drive cal. 9RA2. The step up in performance is quite dramatic, roughly six times more precise than the next most accurate spring drive caliber.

That it remains less accurate than the best quartz movements from Grand Seiko and Citizen is quite interesting, but we might never know for sure whether this is due to variations in mainspring torque or the the ability of the electromagnetic brake to perfectly harness the motion of the glide wheel.

The cal. 9RB2 is finished in a style that is consistent with the latest generation spring drive movements, with frosted surfaces and machined anglage. It’s industrial, but it’s clear that attention was paid to its visual presentation. The movement’s three-day power reserve is conveniently reported on the movement side, which Grand Seiko has started doing recently with both its mechanical and spring drive movements.

The UFA designation is also notable, a clear reference to Grand Seiko’s Very Fine Adjusted (VFA) models introduced around 1970. These movements were painstaking adjusted and guaranteed to run within one minute per month. I anticipate that we will see other UFA models in the future, likely positioned as the flagship model in each collection.

Concluding thoughts

The UFA was without question one of the standout novelties from Watches & Wonders 2025. It proves that Grand Seiko has not run out of road in the pursuit of its core principles of precision, beauty, and ease of use, and shows the brand can still deliver good value even with higher pricing.

Grand Seiko Evolution 9 Spring Drive UFA
Ref. SLGB003 (titanium)
Ref. SLGB001 (platinum)

Diameter: 37 mm
Height: 11.4 mm
Material: Titanium or platinum
Crystal: Sapphire
Water resistance: 100 m

Movement: 9RB2
Features: Hours, minutes, seconds, date, and power reserve on the movement side
Frequency: Spring Drive
Winding: Automatic
Power reserve: 72 hours

Strap: Titanium bracelet with micro-adjust clasp or alligator with folding clasp

Limited edition: SLGB001 is limited to 80 pieces
Availability: At Grand Seiko boutiques and retailers starting June 2025
Price: US$10,900 (titanium), $39,000 (platinum) excluding taxes

For more, visit Grand-seiko.com.