Terrific video of a tour at Grand Seiko
 

I know that some of the gang here may not know much about Grand Seiko, but to folks that really know horology and their watches, Grand Seiko is held in exceptionally high regard. Seiko has core competencies in watchmaking that virtually no other watchmaker on the planet has, and the Grand Seiko and Credor lines are exemplifications of this with respect Seiko's design, artistry, engineering, materials science expertise and capabilities when it comes to watch-making.

All Grand Seikos are built by hand by exceptionally experienced, gifted and skilled master watchmakers at their Micro Artist Studio in Shinshu Watch Studio in Shiojiri. Having seen a Grand Seiko assembled first-hand by a Japanse Cultural Treasure and Grand Seiko Master Watchmaker at Topper Fine Jewelers in Burlingame, CA in 2016, I've come to the conclusion that virtually no one, not Patek, Länge, Rolex, Vacheron, etc. has anything on Grand Seiko/Credor when it comes to making watches.

The finishing on Grand Seikos is something to behold, no one else I know makes watches dials that resemble "freshly fallen snow in winter" for their watches or uses complex enamel or exquisite Urushi lacquer techniques for dials. Even a $4500 "entry level" Grand Seiko has a level of finishing that a Rolex Sub can't hold a candle to, by comparison.

None other than Philippe DuFour, arguably one of the finest watch finishers living, has commended and applauded the quality of finishing that Grand Seiko puts into their watches. In fact, there is a small shrine to Dufour at the Micro Artist Studio. From A Blog to Watch: "One of the most honorable things about Philippe Dufour is his utter lack of protectionism. He's exchanged techniques and lessons with the master watch makers at Seiko in Japan who produce Grand Seiko and Credor timepieces. Dufour is incredibly impressed with their work and shares a story on how he helped Seiko discover a local plant similar to one in Switzerland that Dufour uses as part of the finishing process."

A few months ago, Hodinkee Editor-in-Chief Jack Forster (one of the best watch writers I've ever read), Creative Director and Chief Photographer Will Holloway, and a small team of videographers spent a week at the Seiko Micro Artist Studio in Shinshu Watch Studio in Shiojiri visiting, meeting, photographing and filming master watchmakers making Grand Seikos at the Micro Artist Studio.

For anyone interested in watches, I highly recommend checking out this article and video from Hodinkee:

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/in...ster-craftsman

A new article on Grand Seiko from Hodinkee, Part II of III:

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/in...drive-movement

Very cool, thanks!

Wow -- had no idea. As like all your watch threads, they are very enjoyable -- so thanks Stephen.

Best Sir,

Bob

Outstanding! :thumbsup:

:D

What is outstanding is the level of engineering, execution and finishing that is put into designing, manufacturing and assembling a Grand Seiko. I spent a full hour at Topper's watching Seiko's Japanese Cultural Treasure/Master Watchmaker assemble a Grand Seiko and it was....astonishing. Some of the parts are so intricately and precisely manufactured with incredible tight tolerances that Seiko uses MEMS manufacturing technology to make these parts. They also grow their own sapphires for making crystals, and have complete metallurgical and materials sciences departments. Their proprietary SPRON mainspring alloy has zero plastic deformation when stretched fully out and allowed to return to a resting state. The watchmaker did a comparison demo stretching of a Nivarox mainspring about 2/3s of the way fully out, and you could see the deformation in the spring after release. He then stretched the SPRON alloy mainspring even further, and there was virtually no plastic deformation. Amazing...

Some cool Hodinkee articles on Grand Seiko...

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/th...night-sky-dial

Some of Jack Forster's amazing writing...Jack, IMHO, is an exceptional writer.
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/gr...owflake-review

Or, how about a Grand Seiko Spring Drive with a diamond dust dial "meant to make the wearer think of the fresh snow seen in the Nagano region where the watch is born." :drool:

http://photos.imageevent.com/puma_ca...eiko8Day-2.jpg

Thank you..also had no idea! Great videos and writeups!