About
We are passionate about vintage Grand Seiko, and focus solely on making available to connoisseurs worldwide the largest possible range of these increasingly collectible watches.
Quite simply, you will not find a more comprehensive range of product anywhere else in the world – our launch offering is the result of thousands of hours of research and has taken three years to put together. More than 50% of all vintage men’s Grand Seiko references are available for purchase on this site.
Whether you are a seasoned collector of vintage Grand Seiko looking for something out of the ordinary – perhaps that ultimate “grail” piece, or you are just starting out and have a modest budget, we have a watch for you.
In addition to listing the watches available for purchase, we have also uploaded details of every other vintage Grand Seiko reference that ever existed. Where possible, data on these watches is accompanied by scans from Seiko catalogues and newsletters from the 1960’s and 1970’s.
This makes The Grand Seiko Guy the only online resource that accurately documents all vintage Grand Seiko references. If it is not on this site, it almost certainly never existed (the 19GS women’s series will be added to the site in early 2018).
Purchasing
Given the relatively low stock volume that we envisage carrying, and in anticipation that most collectors will probably want to inquire further about a watch prior to purchasing it, we have taken the decision not to implement a fully integrated on-line order placing system.
If there is a watch that you are interested in purchasing, then please – after reading the description and checking this FAQ to make sure any questions you may have haven’t already been answered – complete the inquiry form that can be found on the tab conveniently marked “Inquiry Form” that appears on each watch’s listing. Whilst we are happy to discuss any watch privately through other channels, priority will always be given in chronological order of received inquiry forms.
We are also of course happy to source watches for you that we currently do not have in stock – just fill out the inquiry form for the watch in question, and we will get back to you to advise on likely time-frame and cost to acquire the reference.
Currently, the only payment method we are accepting is via international bank wire.
Pricing
All prices are in US dollars and are firm – we will not enter into any price negotiation. Pricing for all watches includes worldwide courier shipping via FedEx, with the watch declared at full value for shipping insurance purposes. We will not in any circumstances under-value a shipment, and you are responsible for all duty and tax charges levied by your country and collected by FedEx prior to delivering the watch to you.
Selected items are marked as “Price on application”. To inquire about these items, please use the inquiry form.
Warranty and guarantee of authenticity
The movement carries a one year warranty from the date of purchase that is limited to the operation of the hands, dial and movement. Please note that given the age of these watches we are unable to provide any guarantee as to the ongoing chronometric performance. The timekeeping mentioned in the individual watch descriptions is for indicative purposes only.
Specifically, the following are not covered under the warranty –
- Case, crystal, crown, strap or bracelet
- Damage resulting from improper handling and lack of care
- Damage caused by water ingress
The warranty will be considered void if the case back of the watch is removed for any reason.
In the unlikely circumstance that your watch develops a fault within a year of purchase, please contact us for details as to how to resolve the issue.
We are meticulous in our presentation of every watch, with detailed photographs provided so that you can assess for yourself the condition of the piece you are interested in from a cosmetic perspective. If you require additional images or video of a particular watch in order to assess its condition, please do not hesitate to ask.
Whilst it will almost always be impossible to guarantee 100% the authenticity of every component in every watch, where we are aware of any potential issues (such as a “redone” dial, or incorrect crown), we will take pains to highlight this in the description.
Description
You will see two descriptions for each watch.
The longer description under the “Description” tab towards the bottom of each listing is intended as a brief guide to the series that the watch comes from. You may find this guide useful in order to understand the watch being offered in the context of what else was available. This description is common to all watches in the same series, and nothing written here should not be taken as relating directly the condition of the watch on sale, nor any accessories with which it may or may not come.
The shorter description – found alongside the price of the watch – is specific to the watch on offer, and will detail the condition of the watch, highlighting any issues you should be aware of prior to making your purchase, along with details of any accessories other than just the watch head that are included in the price. Please note that unless otherwise explicitly stated in this section, it is only the watch head that we are selling.
At the end of each description is a timing result as shown on an electronic timegrapher where the watch is positioned dial-up. This is provided for relative informational purposes only, and cannot be taken as a guarantee of timekeeping performance on receipt of the watch.
Finally, in a tab towards the bottom of the listing marked “Additional Information”, you will find detailed information relating to the watch such as its movement number, year of production (don’t hesitate to ask us for a specific year-month production date if you are looking for that elusive “birthday” watch), case diameter, lug width, etc etc.
Photography
Each watch offered for sale on this site is extensively photographed from all angles to give you the best possible indication as to its condition.
Please note that the “beauty” shot that leads each listing may be from our archives, and may have been “touched up” in Photoshop – possibly including editing cosmetic blemishes. In addition, any strap, bracelet, or buckle shown on this “beauty” shot is not necessarily included in the sale of the watch. Please refer to the individual watch description to understand what is included.
The exact condition of the watch should be inferred from the remaining “catalogue style” images, where the watch is shot from the following angles –
- Dial straight on
- Caseback straight on
- Movement
- Inside caseback
- Side profile – 3 o’clock
- Side profile – 12 o’clock
- Side profile – 9 o’clock
- Side profile – 6 o’clock
There has been absolutely no retouching of these images – what you see is exactly what you will get.
Further images are provided where the watch comes with accessories, such as buckle, manual, box, rating certificate, etc.
On desktop, hovering over a selected image will turn the cursor to a + symbol, which will allow you to pan around a zoomed-in higher resolution image (it may take a few seconds for your browser to cache this image before it automatically zooms in).
On mobile, simply long press on the image and select to open it in a new window to examine the image at full (published) resolution
Whilst the resolution of each image on the website should be sufficient to enable a full examination of the watch, we do hold significantly higher resolution images off-line. If you do wish to see a particular image in greater detail, do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to provide it. Additionally, if something is not quite clear from the images provided, and you need to see the watch from another angle, just ask.
Copyright
All original images and text appearing on this website are copyright protected and registered with the US Copyright Office. Under no circumstances may any content on this website be reproduced elsewhere without prior written permission, unless such use is covered by “Fair Use” guidelines as detailed in Section 107 of US Code Title 17, Chapter 1.
Copyright infringements will be vigorously pursued to the fullest extent of the law.
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our sincere thanks to Anthony Kable for his enormous assistance in providing scans of historical Seiko catalogues and newsletters, and help with validating much of the product data contained on this site. Anthony’s website can be found here.