Grand Seiko’s welcome as a contemporary and equal of Switzerland’s finest watchmakers is complete this year with its acceptance into Watches and Wonders Geneva, home to only 38 brands; all but two of them, in the main arena, Swiss.
That puts Grand Seiko in the company of A. Lange & Söhne, W&W’s only other interloper, and completes an ascension to the top table of fine watchmaking that is a timely recognition of the engineering, art, vertical integration and craftsmanship that the Japanese maison brings to the world.
Another notable step on Grand Seiko’s journey came last year when its Hi-Beat 36000 80 Hours watch won the coveted Men’s Watch Award at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève; the Oscars of the Swiss watch industry.
It might help that the jury of GPHG is drawn from all over the world, and is under instruction to focus on the watch, the watch and nothing but the watch in its deliberations.
The Hi-beat 36000 80 Hours watch offers a new perspective on Grand Seiko’s philosophy, The Nature of Time.
Its dial is inspired by the slender and strikingly beautiful white birch tree forests that thrive in northern parts of Japan, and that grow in profusion near the Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi where this and all Grand Seiko mechanical watches are made.
Its design is true to the Grand Seiko Style defined back in 1967 with the celebrated 44GS, but its heritage is combined with a powerful contemporary feel that points towards a new era.
The watch is powered by the revolutionary Hi-beat Caliber 9SA5, which has a precision rate of +5 to -3 seconds a day and achieves a long power reserve of 80 hours. The precision, power and slimness of Caliber 9SA5 are the result of the radical re-design of key structures including the entirely new escapement and free-sprung balance developed in-house. Caliber 9SA5 will be the foundation upon which a whole new generation of Grand Seiko mechanical watches will be created in the future.
In an acceptance speech for the Men’s Watch Award at GHPG Akio Naito, president of Seiko Watch Corporation, said: “This watch exemplifies Grand Seiko’s never-ending pursuit of watchmaking excellence in every aspect. We are honored that the tradition of quality and spirit of Grand Seiko’s watchmaking is recognized at our industry’s most important award ceremony.”