Grand Seiko Announce Sunrise Tentagraph Hi-Beat Chronograph Rose Gold Limited Edition

While we tend to think of Grand Seiko in terms of their dress watches, they have been steadily growing their luxury chronograph range at the same time. 2023 saw the debut of the landmark Tentagraph Hi-Beat which received a follow up earlier this year with a Snow Blue (that’s definitely just silver) colour. Half a year later we have another new colour being added to the collection, though this time one that radically alters the appearance and style of the watch, called the Grand Seiko Sunrise Tentagraph.

It’s the first Tentagraph to feature a warm tone dial, moving away from the cold blues and silvers of previous editions. Instead, it has a light pink Mount Iwate pattern base with a copper small seconds subdial and bronze chronograph counters. This also makes it the first Tentagraph with more than one colour of subdial, which gives it an asymmetric appearance. That’s what really makes it feel different to the previous editions visually despite each individual aspect technically being the same. With the name Sunrise Tentagraph, the various colours are representative of the gradient of the sky seen when the sun rises over the shoulder of Mount Iwate.

Beneath the dial is the Hi-Beat Chronograph movement 9SC5, which operates at a frequency of 36,000 vph, achieving an accuracy of +5/-3 seconds per day. It’s the movement that originated the name Tentagraph for the entire collection. TEN beats per second, Three-day power reserve, Automatic winding, chronoGRAPH. It’s definitely a techno babble kind of name that’s designed to sound advanced and cool though it falls short of the latter significantly. They should have taken a leaf out of Tag Heuer’s book and named it after a famous race or circuit, such as the Suzuka. The Sunrise Suzuka sounds way cooler than Tentagraph. However, that’s ultimately a small critique.

Less small are the proportions of the watch because at 43.2mm x 15.3mm thick, it’s a large watch. Fortunately, it’s produced in titanium, making it reasonably lightweight. Although this edition is weightier than its predecessors due to the addition of a bi-metal bezel, crown and pushers in rose gold. It builds on the more luxury vibe of the dial and makes it feel like the sunrise is bursting forth across the rest of the watch. The bezel insert with tachymeter scale remains black.

The Grand Seiko Sunrise Tentagraph Hi-Beat Chronograph is limited to 300 pieces at a price of £19,650. That’s more expensive than its older counterparts due to the addition of gold elements. It also puts it in competition with the entry level of vintage Daytona, which start from around £17,000 on Watchfinder & Co., putting it into the top tier of luxury chronographs.

More details at Grand Seiko.