In Depth · Grand Seiko

Can Grand Seiko’s gem-set Red Lion stay legible?

The eight-piece SBGD228 places 267 diamonds and 26 garnets around a calm red dial, backed by an eight-day Spring Drive movement.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 4 min read · 20 October 2026

• Grand Seiko uses its lion emblem as the theme for the eight-piece SBGD228 Masterpiece Collection jewellery watch in rose gold.
• A wine-red mother-of-pearl centre keeps time reading separate from 267 diamonds and 26 garnets around the dial and case.
• The 44.5 mm Spring Drive watch is listed in Australia at A$388,000 through Grand Seiko boutiques and salons.

A watch with 267 diamonds and 26 garnets sounds as though reading the time might be an afterthought. It is a fair concern, particularly when the stones cover a large case and crowd the dial. Grand Seiko's SBGD228 offers a useful test of that assumption. This eight-piece Masterpiece Collection watch is unashamedly a piece of jewellery, but its gem setting is arranged around a relatively calm centre. The question is whether the brand's usual attention to legibility survives the spectacle.

A red dial with a readable centre

The dial's central field is wine-red mother of pearl, not a wall of stones. Rose-gold-coloured hands cross it without competing with the diamonds around the perimeter. Taper-cut diamonds and garnets sit in rails along the dial's outer arc, with larger stones at three, six and nine o'clock and three garnets marking twelve. The stones therefore do some of the work of hour markers. Grand Seiko also gives the dial a circular 18K white gold base beneath its decoration.

The watch takes its theme from the brand's lion emblem, which appeared on the caseback of the first Grand Seiko watch. Here the red palette and outward-reaching lugs evoke the animal rather than depicting it literally on the dial. Diamonds cover the lugs, which the brand likens to claws. That might sound excessive in words, yet the dial itself has been left space. The eye can travel from the hour markers to the hands before it meets the case's brightest surfaces.

Those surfaces are considerable. The 18K rose gold case measures 44.5 mm in diameter, 52 mm from lug to lug and 14.4 mm thick. This is a substantial watch before the stones are counted. The sapphire crystal is dual curved with an anti-reflective coating on its inner surface, and the caseback is both see-through and screw secured. Water resistance is 10 bar. None of those numbers makes it modest, but they show that the jewel work has been added to a fully specified watch case rather than a decorative shell.

Eight days beneath the gemstones

Inside is the manually wound Spring Drive calibre 9R01, developed by the Micro Artist Studio for Grand Seiko. Three barrels in series deliver about 192 hours of reserve, or eight days, with quoted accuracy of plus or minus 10 seconds per month. A power reserve indicator is part of the movement's listed functions. The long reserve is especially relevant to a watch this specialised: it can spend several days off the wrist without demanding an immediate rewind and time correction on its return.

Grand Seiko says the 9R01 is finished by the artisans of the Micro Artist Studio, and the movement can be viewed through the caseback. That choice is important on a watch whose front makes such a strong visual demand. Turn it over and the owner can inspect the work that delivers the eight-day reserve and stated accuracy, rather than finding an anonymous sealed back. The technical achievement is not eclipsed by the jewellery. It is the part that prevents the piece from becoming only an exercise in setting gems.

Grand Seiko states that the watch contains 267 diamonds totalling 5.98 carats and 26 garnets totalling 0.87 carat. A diamond also appears on the crown; the brand does not break down the total count by component. Precise counts are useful here because the photograph alone cannot tell a reader how much of the effect comes from stones and how much from polished metal. The deep red mother of pearl carries its own shifting colour without adding to the gem count, giving the centre some life when the surrounding setting is out of direct light.

The listed strap is crocodile leather with a folding clasp and push-button release. Grand Seiko includes a second strap made by KYOTO Leather, using a stamping treatment intended to recall a lion's mane, plus an 18K rose gold clasp. That extra option matters more than it might on a quieter watch. A different texture beneath the case can either reinforce the red lion idea or give the stones more room to speak. The band width is 23 mm, so changing straps is not a casual rummage through a standard 20 mm drawer.

Can it still be called legible? The answer depends on the light, but the design has made a serious attempt. The broad hands sit over a dark centre; larger stones punctuate the quarters; the bright case is kept outside the timing surface. Nothing about that makes the watch discreet, and its 52 mm length will matter on a wrist. It does mean the jewellery and the time display have separate jobs. For the collector considering an eight-piece Grand Seiko, that distinction is more interesting than the total carat count alone.

Grand Seiko SBGD228 pricing and availability

Grand Seiko's Australian product page lists the SBGD228 at A$388,000 and limits it to eight pieces. The page identifies Grand Seiko boutiques and salons as the sales channel; it does not provide a live stock count for Australia. The listed watch comes on crocodile leather with the additional KYOTO Leather strap. This is the Australian brand price for the specific reference, not a converted overseas figure.