British GQ - 04.2020

Heritage

At the Micro Artist

Studio in Shiojiri,

where each part of a

Grand Seiko watch is

assembled, skilled

craftsmen train a new

generation in the art of

Japanese watchmaking.

Innovation

Here, an 18-carat

gold case undergoes

“zaratsu” polishing,

creating a distortion-

free surface that is

only achievable with

a machine unique

to Seiko.

Handcraft

During Japan’s Sengoku

era, samurai used

“urushi” lacquer to coat

their armour due to its

strength and colour.

For its Presage Urushi

Collection, Seiko paints

urushi onto the dial.

Talking to GQ at company headquarters in

Tokyo’s upmarket Ginza district, Seiko Watch

Corporation COO Shuji Takahashi explains the

situation: “It is a fact that the quartz watches

are being affected by the IT gadgets.” Indeed,

the smartwatch now dominates the lower end

of the market and it’s only going to get tougher.

Yet the luxury end remains healthy. Last

summer, sales of men’s watches priced above

$3,000 (£2,300) were up 16 per cent on the

previous year, according to analyst NPD. Little

wonder, then, that the company

is throwing its weight behind

Grand Seiko, but Takahashi

admits he faces a challenge.

“In Japan, our home country,

Grand Seiko was already estab-

lished, so we were always ranked

among the top three luxury

watch brands. But until 2010,

outside of Japan, because of the

quartz success, people tended to

regard us as being in the mid-

level of the market.” A campaign

is underway to fix this. In 2017,

Grand Seiko was declared an

independent brand and dedicated Grand Seiko

boutiques have been springing up everywhere,

from London to Los Angeles. The Grand Seiko

range is also expanding to more price points

and moments such as the brand’s 60th birthday

this year have presented opportunities to

release limited-edition models (such as the

upcoming re-creation of the first Grand Seiko

from 1960) that allow the wider line-up to bask

in their reflected hype.

Grand Seiko has plenty to boast about, as

a tour of its facilities in

Morioka and Nagano throws

into relief. These are fully

integrated manufactures.

Take the jewel in Seiko’s

crown, the spring drive “9R”

calibre. This is an automatic

movement that’s regulated

electronically using a charge

generated by the mainspring

(the upshot: a smooth second

hand sweep and precision of

+/- one second per day). Or

look at the high-precision

quartz “9F” calibre, which is

finished to the same standard as an automatic

and uses hand-selected aged quartz crystals (+/-

five seconds per year). Every single component

in both calibres – as well as in its mechanical

“9S” movement, which achieves higher than

chronometer accuracy – is made in-house.

The watches that contain them lean in to

a distinctly Japanese notion of beauty. The

cases, for instance, undergo “zaratsu” polish-

ing to achieve a distortion-free mirror finish.

And there’s a gentle lyricism to the dials,

which reference the natural scenery nearby

• the famous Snowflake watch has a textured
  dial redolent of newly fallen snow, inspired
  by the designer’s childhood walks with his
  grandfather in Wakasa.
  But, for all their defiantly un-Swiss innova-
  tions and aesthetics, a big question remains:
  if I had up to £10,000 to spend on a watch,
  why would I buy a Grand Seiko rather than,
  say, a Rolex? “I think what I would say is:
  strap on a Grand Seiko and it will talk to you,”
  says Takahashi. “You’ll get the idea what we
  are about.” G

For 60 years,

Grand Seiko

has leant in

to a distinctly

Japanese

notion of beauty

Nobuhiro Kosugi,

Grand Seiko’s chief

watch designer

AVAILABLE FROM JUNE. GRAND-SEIKO.COM

GQ^ WATCHES

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