Who says the best luxury watches have to hail from Switzerland? Conceived within the hallowed halls of Le Locle or the Vallée de Joux? Some watches, as we saw for ourselves at this year’s Watches & Wonders, take their inspiration from natural surroundings further afield – or, if you’re one of Australia’s many Grand Seiko aficionados, a little closer to home.
The Japanese watchmaker has always looked to the inherent beauty surrounding its Shinshu Watch Studio, where the changing seasons influence the Spring Drive collection, seen across the colourful, textured dials, and even the signature sweeping second hand, meant to reflect the uninterrupted passage of natural time.
So when you’re looking at giving one of your popular dive watch collections a contemporary refresh, you don’t have to reach for the nearest lookbook of 2026 trends; you simply need to wheel your chair over the window and take it all in.
RELATED: Grand Seiko's New Dive Watch Is Smaller, Lighter, & More Accurate Than Ever
Translating to “tide” in English, Grand Seiko’s “Ushio 300” Spring Drive U.F.A. Diver watch (ref. SLGB025), with its textured green dial, captures the waters that ring the Japanese coastline, invoking the many tide pools and shallows that have shown up in Japanese art and craft for centuries.
We were fortunate enough to see the all-new Ushio 300 for the first time back in Geneva, in a room perfectly suitable for the occasion. But one that had nothing on Grand Seiko's own boutique in Sydney, where we recently got reacquainted with the collection over a glass of aged Nikka. Whisky notwithstanding, the watch continued to hold its own – and that's largely down to what's happening both inside and under the dial.
Housed within the Ushio 300’s 40.8mm case sits Calibre 9RB1, hand-assembled by the craftspeople at the Shinshu Watch Studio in Nagano, and the younger sibling to the 9RB2 that Grand Seiko unveiled last year in Geneva.
It was the first to carry the brand’s new U.F.A. designation (Ultra Fine Accuracy, if you're wondering), which isn’t something that GS hands out lightly. Though for this spectacular line of watches running guaranteed to ±20 seconds a year, it's the most accurate mainspring-powered watch movement Grand Seiko has produced, full stop.
As it’s a diver, it still carries many of the innate features that attract fans to this special vein of horology (myself, included): increased legibility, 300m of water resistance, a glossy new ceramic bezel, and my absolutely favourite detail, a bracelet that has a new locking extension clasp with micro-adjustment, allowing an additional 18mm adjustment for dive suit wearers.
But where the Ushio 300 pulls ahead of its dive-watch peers is in its new case, forged from what the brand is calling ”High-Intensity Titanium.” It’s roughly 30% lighter than steel, and at just 40.8mm, it’s the smallest case Grand Seiko has ever put on a diver. That's a genuine departure from the wrist-swallowing dive watches that have dominated the category for decades in the name of legibility – and it means the Ushio 300 sits comfortably on wrists that would otherwise be locked out of a proper tool watch.
Priced at AU$17,700, the Ushio 300 hasn’t yet been on the boutique shelves for more than two months, but after spending significant time with this reference in the metal this week, I can see why the brand has already been welcoming a host of enquiries – a worthy winner of our latest Watch of the Week.