HiBeat
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SEIKO Iko Iko GDTRWS
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Post by HiBeat on Sept 10, 2014 14:28:35 GMT -8
I stopped into the newly opened Seiko Boutique on Madison Ave at 53rd St in New York City today. Very nice employees, very accommodating, nice upscale vibe. Read on and then go see it understanding it is not a copy cat of all the Swiss makers' corporate Boutiques. Great job by Seiko Marketing incorporating a touch screen display on the wall where you can swipe your way around Seiko breakthrough technologies, Seiko timeline and historical moments including the founding of various Swiss watch makers for comparison, an homage to the 36,000 bph history and the renewal with the 36Kbph Grand Seiko line, etc. Really well executed and a pleasure to investigate. They have all the available Astron GPS plus a travel case full of prototypes for the new ones being introduced later this month. I fell in love with the Titanium SSE003. It is now on a short list of Grails I must get some day. Great selection of Anantas, Prospex, Grand Seikos, etc. Some Premeir Kinetics and mechanicals too. Very small store, the size of a dining room or maybe a very large bedroom. That was a surprise. Should be bigger, period. One Pic below shows a new Marinemaster Automatic that is only available in the USA at the NYC Boutique. They had several models like this that are available in the USA only at this store. The other pic is a new Ananta line that pays homage to the Japanese Samurai. Notice how the exact curvature of the horns on the Samurai helmet is carefully reproduced on the dial from 5 o'clock to 11 o'clock. You may have to click on the photo to see it better. Really neat. This one in a very nice line of upscale mechanical chronographs, these are the Seiko TC78 movements that are copied for use by Tag Heuer as their Caliber 1887. You don't see these everyday. This section of NYC has a watch boutique for every brand and a ton of indie jewelers with great watches. Go there and spend some quality WIS time.  |
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HiBeat
Global Moderator
SEIKO Iko Iko GDTRWS
Posts: 8,684
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Post by HiBeat on Sept 10, 2014 14:29:19 GMT -8
Here is the Ananta pic showing the Samurai theme. Really cool touch, very Seiko.  Click on these pictures and they open up nice and clear and BIG ! |
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Post by Groundhog66 on Sept 10, 2014 14:51:42 GMT -8
Glad you finally got to stop in, the Ananta looks really nice!
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Post by SpinDoctor on Sept 10, 2014 14:54:53 GMT -8
Nice to hear they are accommodating. I love visiting the Omega boutique in short hills mall because it is hilarious. its so pretentious and stuffy with sales men in 3 piece suits it looks like a museum and people are milling outside intimidated to go in.
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HiBeat
Global Moderator
SEIKO Iko Iko GDTRWS
Posts: 8,684
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Post by HiBeat on Sept 10, 2014 16:02:42 GMT -8
Nice to hear they are accommodating. I love visiting the Omega boutique in short hills mall because it is hilarious. its so pretentious and stuffy with sales men in 3 piece suits it looks like a museum and people are milling outside intimidated to go in. Yes, you're right, been to that one in Short Hills and agree. There is a nice Montblanc boutique there too and they have some very nice pieces. Check out their mechanical fly-back chronos. Have you been to the Omega store in the Riverside Mall in Hackensack? Very nice, different feel to it, and right across from Lea Perla for other fine Swiss watches mostly dedicated to Rolex. |
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Post by 69ChevelleSS on Sept 11, 2014 5:04:39 GMT -8
Thanks for the review HB!
That exclusive Tuna looks VERY nice but it must cost a pretty penny . . . . definitely out of my budget!
I'm WAY up town (133) so I doubt I'd have enough time to check it out at lunch but do want to go see it.
Thanks again for the review and pics!
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scubarob99
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Post by scubarob99 on Sept 11, 2014 6:16:35 GMT -8
Nice to hear they are accommodating. I love visiting the Omega boutique in short hills mall because it is hilarious. its so pretentious and stuffy with sales men in 3 piece suits it looks like a museum and people are milling outside intimidated to go in. You frequent the Short Hills mall? I'm in Maplewood, maybe 10 minutes away. Rob |
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Post by SpinDoctor on Sept 12, 2014 3:52:10 GMT -8
Nice to hear they are accommodating. I love visiting the Omega boutique in short hills mall because it is hilarious. its so pretentious and stuffy with sales men in 3 piece suits it looks like a museum and people are milling outside intimidated to go in. You frequent the Short Hills mall? I'm in Maplewood, maybe 10 minutes away. Rob Only when I'm pretending to be wealthy. ☺ I do live in Jersey but short Hills is out of my regular bubble. |
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Post by 69ChevelleSS on Oct 21, 2014 6:21:39 GMT -8
I had to go into midtown yesterday evening and had some extra time so I decided to stop in and visit the boutique. They had an amazing selection of watches from Seiko's high end collections. The sales staff was very accommodating and let me handle sll the models that I liked, even though I made it clear to them that I wasn't a buyer. The Spring Drives were amazing and the Prospex Marine Masters were woodie inducing!  It's a relatively small shop but boy do they pack in some great stuff. It's a recommended stop for anyone who likes the high end Seikos and wants to see them in the flesh. One thing that I did notice, was that the guy who helped me didn't really know much about anything besides the watches that were in the cases. He was really just a salesman who was probably hired and trained to sell specific watches. Not a big deal but I would have thought that they would have trained the sales staff on some of the history of the company. |
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Post by Dr.Godzilla on Oct 21, 2014 11:07:11 GMT -8
What is so special about the "exclusive" Marinemaster tuna? It looks like the run of the mill SBBN015.
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HiBeat
Global Moderator
SEIKO Iko Iko GDTRWS
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Post by HiBeat on Oct 21, 2014 11:33:38 GMT -8
69Chevelle, glad you made it down there and glad it was worth the trip !
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solex
Timekeeper
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Post by solex on Oct 21, 2014 11:48:50 GMT -8
I went a few weeks ago, and was really happy that GS now has a presence here. I found the staff ehh... They do also offer Credor but you need to ask
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Post by 69ChevelleSS on Oct 21, 2014 12:30:04 GMT -8
I went a few weeks ago, and was really happy that GS now has a presence here. I found the staff ehh... They do also offer Credor but you need to ask Actually there were two on display and the sales guy boasted that they are the only two in the US. I didn't even bother to ask them to touch them since I know I'd be paying for a hundred years if I broke it! |
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Post by 69ChevelleSS on Oct 21, 2014 12:31:13 GMT -8
What is so special about the "exclusive" Marinemaster tuna? It looks like the run of the mill SBBN015. I believe they are saying that you can only get them through the boutique in the US. No other stores offer these models as they were formally JDM only. |
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Post by bobbymike on Oct 21, 2014 15:16:53 GMT -8
What did they run?
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Post by saul on Oct 21, 2014 15:27:06 GMT -8
The question is...what does one wear for such a visit? Next time I am in NYC I will have to stop in but it will definitely influence my choice of travelin' watch.
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Post by Dr.Godzilla on Oct 21, 2014 16:00:35 GMT -8
That makes sense, thanks. I though they were saying that the watch was made exclusively for their boutique. |
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Post by 69ChevelleSS on Oct 22, 2014 4:59:51 GMT -8
Depending on the watch, anywhere from $1,100 (for a Quartz Tuna) to $5K plus for the Spring Drives to $12K (IIRC - could have been $8K) for the Credors. |
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Post by 69ChevelleSS on Oct 22, 2014 5:01:59 GMT -8
The question is...what does one wear for such a visit? Next time I am in NYC I will have to stop in but it will definitely influence my choice of travelin' watch. It was a last minute decision to check the store out so I had my Stargate on a Bond NATO on and the guy really didn't have any idea as to what it was (not that it's anything special but it is a nice watch). As I said above, he was a salesman, not really a Seiko enthusiast. |
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scubarob99
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Post by scubarob99 on Oct 22, 2014 5:37:04 GMT -8
Shit! In a store of this caliber, a salesman should be an enthusiast.
Rob
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