The Nature Of Time: Grand Seiko

While the prestige sub-brand launched in the Japanese domestic market in 1960, Grand Seiko is still a new proposition globally. Its first international product was only introduced in 2010. But with such pedigree in watchmaking, along with fastidious attention to detail and hand finishing, a choice of highly accurate movements and designs inspired by nature, a Grand Seiko watch is every bit an item to covet for connoisseurs of finer things.

In Japan, the word Takumi refers to a craftsperson who is unrivalled in their particular field. It is applied to artisans who have been honing their senses and level of skill over a period of at least 25 years. The spirit of the Takumi lives deep within every Grand Seiko watch, practiced, and perfected as "the way" Grand Seiko’s artisans pour their heart and souls – their entire selves – into every detail of the watchmaking process.

One of the more technical representations of the Takumi’s touch on a Grand Seiko lives within the mechanism. There are three precision movements available, either mechanical, quartz or Grand Seiko’s own Spring Drive mechanism. Every component is manufactured in-house: even the quartz crystals are grown at the Grand Seiko facilities.

By 1964, Grand Seiko had won every chronometer competition in Japan, and in 1968 its movement was awarded the overall prize as the best mechanical watch in the Geneva Observatory Competition. But the spirit of the Takumi is in constant pursuit of perfection and Grand Seiko mechanisms continued to become ever more accurate.

In 1977, a young watch engineer believed he could realise the elusive dream of the ‘everlasting’ watch.

This brilliant engineer, Yoshikazu Akahane, was persistent in his pursuit. It took him over 20 years, during which he endured countless setbacks, creating over 600 prototypes in the process. But he and his team eventually succeeded. It required new technologies in every aspect of the watchmaker’s art, and they created them, one by one, year by year.

In 1999, Grand Seiko’s Spring Drive was born.

Spring Drive is a unique watch technology that generates energy via a mainspring, like every other luxury mechanical watch, yet combines this with an electronic regulator to deliver a level of precision no other mechanical watch can match. The development of Spring Drive was possible because Grand Seiko is one of the very few manufacturers capable of merging the mastery of both electronic and mechanical watchmaking artisans.

Grand Seiko’s design language is inspired greatly by nature and there is a spiritual connecting with the Takumi telling the story behind each design. The dial on the newest Grand Seiko diver’s watch ( model SLGA015), for example, is inspired by a particular aspect of the oceans that surround the Japanese archipelago, crisscrossed by water currents of great power. One such is the Kuroshio Current, also known as the Black Stream. It flows northwards past Japan towards the Arctic North Pacific and is one of the largest ocean streams in the world. The dynamic and sometimes violent tides caused by the Black Stream inspire the deep black color and richly textured surface of the dial of this new 200m diver’s watch.

With another model from within the brand’s Heritage collection (Model SBGY009), the Takumi drew inspiration from the moon, the mountains, and the serenity of the night sky. The dial, with its mesmerising deep blue colour, captures the beauty of the full moon in the night sky above the Shinshu mountains, as seen from the studio in Shiojiri where this and all Grand Seiko Spring Drive watches are created.

Grand Seiko are masters of combining exquisite materials with a relentless drive for the most accurate timepiece known to man.

And while the spirit of the Takumi behind their creations has been widely appreciated in their homeland, Grand Seiko has remained something of a secret to the global community. Now, these levels of craftsmanship, materials used, and precise movement accuracy deserves a place on any discerning aficionado’s wrist.