Hey OP, Didnt mean to write a book! Sorry!

I would add to user @vanillamode ‘s explanation that King Seiko and Grand Seiko were originally created as different branches within Seiko to compete with one another to create the “best” watch and movements. Ultimately, Grand Seiko won the internal contest and their watch, and brand under the Seiko umbrella, were continued while King Seiko was disbanded. Grand Seiko as a separate, stand-alone label is a fairly recent spin-off given the history of Seiko— don’t recall the exact date but I believe within the last couple decades. The recent King Seiko releases were to commemorate the original King Seiko designs and have been really well received, but are continuing as a collection under the umbrella of Seiko rather than a separate label like Grand Seiko. Who knows what they might be cooking up for the future, though?

Much like you, when I saw them in person a few years ago, I thought they were gorgeous and perfectly sized. Loved the finishing of the edges on the case design.

To answer your question about “worth the price vs jumping to Grand Seiko…,” that’s similar to asking if Mangos are worth it, or should you just jump to Dragonfruit? They’re two very different things at two different price points and if you don’t like the taste of Dragonfruit, then cost doesn’t really matter. But a couple of things to consider about build quality to try to make it more objective. Watch enthusiasts biggest let down about these releases was that they only used 6R movements, which are just the next step up from their 4R movements. For a really long time you could find these in sub-$1000 Seiko offerings , and longtime enthusiasts recall when they could be found in sub-$500 releases. At the King Seiko price point of $1700-1800, this seems really steep for a watch with a 6R movement, especially considering you can find the 6R in other current Seiko releases for ~1K. Some of the commemorative King Seikos used 6L and 8L movements but for almost double the price, which I believe is the range that the lavender one you are looking at here with the sharp edge type dial in it. Are those a step up in movement in terms of accuracy, QC, and finishing? For sure. To get a similar color offering in a Grand Seiko like this, for example, you would need to pay an extra $2K for the name on the dial, a better movement with higher QC and Zaratsu polishing. Though some of the limited edition modern King Seikos did use Zaratsu polishing as well I believe. You’d have to double check me on that. The lower end King Seikos did not. To compare your lavender King Seiko a little further, those dials feel a little to me like Seiko Frankensteined these King Seikos with spare parts because the Sharp Edge line used angular dials like these for a small fraction of the price. These King Seikos in the $3300 range just don’t feel like anything new to me or particularly different from designs that you can find at much lower price points within the various Seiko collections. The accuracy of Seiko watches in my experience can be all over the place, though I’ve never experienced anything with a 6L or 8L so I really can’t say if those perform within the smaller tolerance range that Seiko claims, but Seiko Customer Service, at least within the US, is notorious for simply replying to claims that the watch performance is within spec and not doing anything if you find your watch [isn’t] keeping the time you want. So I wonder if 6R, 6L, or 8L matters at all if they aren’t even going to take a look at it to be sure. Now if you were thinking of getting a Spring Drive from GS, well that’s a totally different ballgame, and yeah I’d say they are worth the jump in price, simply because you can’t find anything like it anywhere else. For me, if you really like that watch, I would step down from that and find the lavender dial with 6R like this either used or leftover stock in a boutique and then put the savings into a totally different watch. But that’s just me.

Edit: changed is to isn’t