Great video!! Here are my comparative points. I have owned the Snowflake twice, and had the chance to spend some time with the Shirakaba. To me, the Shirakaba has a much more comfortable, legible, luxurious look and feel. Everything that Derek says about the case dimensions works to give it great ergonomics for the wrist. The Snowflake is much lighter, but it doesn’t sit as easily on the wrist. The Shirakaba is noticeably heavier, but the 22mm lug width and shorter lug length actually make the bracelet and non-titanium weight add to the stability on the wrist. These same lug and case dimensions would probably make the Shirakaba better looking and fitting on a strap. I had problems getting my Snowflake bracelet to fit. I could get it too tight or too loose, it not just right. So I tried to switch to a strap. It looked awkward, with a large gap between the strap-end and the 6 and 12 o’clock sides of the case. The dreaded “strap gap”! This will not happen with the Shirakaba’s shorter lugs. The Shirakaba’s dial and innovative hand-set work together to make time-reading clear and fast. This was definitely not the case with the Snowflake. Admittedly, my eyes are aging, and I found that, conditions of lower light, the dial and narrow, sharply pointed hands would lose contrast with each other, essentially washing out the dial. This the the main reason I ended up selling the Snowflake. With the Shirakaba, the hands are wider and have more area given over to matte and polished surfaces, which gives the eye more to look for. The hour hand is very wide, and has a flat, non-pointed end that matches the indices on the dial as it passes them. It also has the longitudinal matte channel down the center, which provides more visual surface for the eye to find. It also harmonizes with the channels in the indices. I tried looking at the dial in low light at the dealer, and it was much more legible than the Snowflake. Like Derek says, the Shirakaba’s dial can look shimmery, like platinum sparkles. This is how the dial looked to me most of the time, under the dealer’s very white lighting. It gave the watch a luxurious lapidary look I liked very much. In that light, I actually thought more about jewelry and precious gems, and not so much about white birch! For me, the Snowflake’s main attraction was the Spring Drive. Many people report their Snowflake’s accuracy at several seconds per MONTH, so it is amazingly accurate. But for look and feel, I was altogether impressed by the Shirakaba, much more so than the Snowflake.

Great comparison and review! Kudos for not resorting to clickbait titles and over-sensationalizing the SLGH005 release. SLGH005 and SBGA211 are both lovely watches.

Your videos just get better and better bro! Keep up the great work!

Thank you for making this video. It has really helped me on my decision between the two pieces. Amazing cinematography!

Great video, yet again. Keep them coming!

The new movement is amazing and even amazing under the hood with it's escapement movement but, nothing can replace the superiority of the Springdrive.

Beautifully shot and wonderfully informative video Derek! While the spring drive of the Snowflake is an excellent representation of the precision and innovation of Grand Seiko, I think the 9SA5 may be the brands crown jewel movement. The 9SA5 movement of the White Birch is an incredible technical achievement (not to mention beautifully finished). As far as I know, in the centuries of mechanical watch history, the dual impulse escapement is only the second mass production capable alternative to the classic lever escapment, the first alternative being Omega's coaxial. Surpsingly, there hasn't been as much buzz about this historic innovation as I expected. But in time, I suspect that the dual impulse escapement will receive just as much recognition, if not more, as the coaxial escapement.

Very nice video! I have both the White Birch and the Skyflake. Love them both. I just subscribed to your channel. High quality content.

Easily the best White Birch video I've seen so far!

This was a really good video. Kudos!

The new caliber rotor and architecture design is very interesting. It lets you thoroughly enjoy the movement without much obscurity.

This is the video I was looking for!!

Wished the white birch came with the spring drive, but totally understand why it didn't happened.

Nice review, man!

Great Channel - thank you!

the White Birch is truly a fine watch, on a new level for GS.... and putting them in the same league as the other great makers in Switzerland.

I like the indices of the snow flake. I wish GS would design more watches with this style.

Wearing my Snowflake! ICONIC!

Tried on a spring drive on Monday. 40mm too big. 38mm will be perfect. This is keeping me from buying my first GS!

11:23 I think snowflake was inspired by the powder snow, that settled on the mountains that are visible from the studio.

Do you have any SBGM235 in stock?

can you get the "grains of rice" bracelet on the white birch?

Do you think that the Grand Seiko SLGH005 White Birch is a good investment, do you think that it will keep its value or even increase in value if you decide to sell it in years to come.

Correction: There is , there is the LION EMBLEM somehow like sand blast on the sapphire glass. is only that you need to see it at a certain angle and under the correct lighting. Mind you, there is...

Hope GS will not get carried away with pricing in the future and go beyond what makes them a great horological proposition.

I have both & love both. The White Birch though is one of my top 3 watches overall in my entire collection. Simply stunning!

Two lovely watches (the white birch is a bit more attractive, IMHO). Thank you for the video.

I want the Snowflake. Where are you and how much?

How does a short and stubby hour hand helps more with reading the hour time? It's not like the pointed hand on the Snowflake makes reading the hour difficult. The stubby and overly fat hour hand is one aspect that I really dislike on the white birch.

I want them both. Do you have them in stock now?

I like everything except the chopped end of the hour hand. I much prefer the full point found on other models. My only complaint of an otherwise beautiful watch.

I have the Shirakaba and simply love it. I'd get a Snowflake as I want a Spring Drive but I'm not a fan of the power reserve subdial being on the front. I think it interrupts the falling snow.. it's not pure enough. If I could take elements of both designs I'd use the Dauphine hands and slimmer markers on the White Birch to give it a more classic simple design reminiscent of the original 44s. Is it possible to commission a Grand Seiko do you think?

There's no wrong answer with these two. It's all personal preference. Personally I'd prefer Snowflake the spring drive and titanium are unique There's nothing else like it. Also I like a power reserve.

If you have the funds, go for the slgh005. It's sportier and better for everyday wear imho.

If they would make a "Black Birch" Spring Drive, I'd die of happiness...

White Birch SLGH005 is TOP

I have the SLGH005 White Birch and the SBGA413 Spring Drive. The 9R65 Spring Drive movement has don’t nothing but blow my expectations out of the water. Grand Seiko claims that it is accurate to within +-15sec/month and their newest 9RA2 movement is accurate to within +-10sec/month and my lower quality 9R65 movement runs within the specs of the more expensive 9RA2! That’s a very pleasant surprise. So, perhaps I was expecting too much when I bought the White Birch with their new Hi-Beat 9SA5 and came to find that it was running outside COSC standards. It’s running at +11sec/day in every position. Grand Seiko‘s advice is to let the watch run for one week to 10 days to see if it settles in to their stated standards. And that’s the other thing- Grand Seiko purposely makes their accuracy standard opaque. When they refer to the “mean daily rate” of -3 to +5 seconds a day that is with the movement uncased and when it’s fully cased up, they quote -1 to +8 seconds a day for their Grand Seiko Standard target value.

I sold all my watches except for a g shock and a spring drive. If your only gonna have a one or two watch collection I think spring drive is the way to go. I you have multiple watches and are constantly changing watches throughout the week then it doesn't matter what movement it has, it doesn't even have to be COSC certified.

Beautiful watch. I just do not understand the choice of 22mm lug width which imo is way too wide. The bracelet does not taper enough either. But otherwise this is close to perfection and definitely the most beautiful movement under 10,000

Excellent bro!! ^^v

I have the snowflake beautiful watch i love it.

I’m lucky to have both in my collection and both are so different … the titanium snowflake feels light on the wrist and is such a nice daily wear, the sweep of the seconds hand is mesmerising… the white birch feels nicely weighed and is no doubt a very special watch.. the thermally blued hand with that cut hour marker makes it so easy to read… Now on the hunt for the latest spring drive version to add to the 4 GS’s I have so far 🤓

I love your jokes!

White Birch wins on case and movement, and draws on dial. I like the snowflake dial but the power reserve just ruins it for me. The White Birch dial is striking and works really well with the case.

How much,please!

I love my Snowflake, wouldn’t swap it for the Sliver Birch

To be honest the snowflake looks more balanced in case and bracelet design. The only drawback is its spring drive. Not pure in form from horological point of view. If only they could afford a high beat variation. For me snowflake all the way.

One thing I noticed that was also different between the two was the date box. On the Snowflake it appears to be a rectangular box and the number is slightly elongated, while the White Birch appears as a square and the number is not as elongated. Could be the camera angle but that is what it looked like to me.

For me the chopped hour hand and new indices are a step back from the previous designs. Its good they didn't change the second hand styling. No text on the counter weight would be better, but the movement is really something very well done.

Sad, still no micro adjustment.

Snowflake is my personal favorite

I don’t like the hour hand of the white birch. It seems like someone chopped off the tip, making it less elegant

If they taper the bracelet it’s game over for that price range

D.I.E. to Swiss watchmakers...too funny! 😂

the whitebirch with the snowflake dial would be perfect

I'm afraid the WB is much too blingy for the audience that's likely to afford/buy it.

GS needs to make a better bracelet, been saying this for years. Yes they made some improvements but they’re still far behind the competition (bracelet).

I don’t think there’s a need to repeat the model numbers so often.. maybe just flake and birch 🤦‍♂️.

The hour hand has a look of a broken tip.

At 41 mm the snow flake is too big for its design. At 38 mm it would have been perfect

I would not call Snowflake a mechanical watch. It is a hybrid, has a quartz oscillator. It is a quartz in core.

White Birch Hi-Beat is BETTER than Snowflake in every way! New beautiful movement, Bigger, better looking indices. Amazing Dial that dwarfs flake, a better size case that is best feeling sport/ dress of any GS . Improved bracelet great comfort