The editorial team of the watch magazine Chronos Japan covered Watches & Wonders 2024, a trade fair for new watches in the watch industry. This article, which was featured in the magazine as a "Revolution in Exteriors," is being republished on webChronos. This time, we're focusing on Grand Seiko, a Japanese watch brand with a global presence.
Photographs by Yu Mitamura
Masamasa Hirota (this magazine): Interview and writing
Text by Masayuki Hirota (Chronos-Japan),
Text & Edited by Yukiya Suzuki (Chronos-Japan)
Edited & Text by Chronos Japan Edition (Yukiya Suzuki, Yuto Hosoda)
[Article published in the July 2024 issue of Kronos Japan]
Watches & Wonders: See Grand Seiko's new 2024 models announced at Geneva!
Even without being biased, Grand Seiko was one of the most talked-about brands at Watches & Wonders Geneva 2024. Thanks to a redesigned booth with easy access, the booth was always packed with people. This was all thanks to the attractive products on offer. Watches like the hand-wound Hi-Beat, which was unveiled for the first time, and the twilight-themed Kodo, attracted the eager attention of watch enthusiasts looking for something new. According to a source, the former was popular with Asian collectors, while the Kodo, with its emphasis on silver, garnered support from European retailers. While neither is cheap, this is proof that the brand has the power to overcome that.
Grand Seiko presents a new era of dress watches. Despite its sophisticated design, featuring a high-frequency manual winding movement with a smooth winding feel, it offers a surprisingly well-rounded package. This year's best watch. Manual winding (Cal. 9SA4). 47 jewels. 36,000 vph. Power reserve of approximately 80 hours. Brilliant hard titanium (diameter 38.6mm, thickness 9.95mm). Water resistant to 3 bar. Exclusive to Grand Seiko boutiques and salons. 1,529,000 yen (tax included).
Gold version of the above model. The large movement can be housed in a 38.6mm diameter case by eliminating the spacer and attaching it directly to the case. Manual winding (Cal. 9SA4). 47 jewels. 36,000 vph. Power reserve of approximately 80 hours. 18KPG case (diameter 38.6mm, thickness 9.95mm). Water resistant to 3 bar. Limited to 80 pieces worldwide. Exclusive to Grand Seiko boutiques and salons. 6,050,000 yen (tax included).
The Kodo, a unique design that pairs with its predecessor, has been unveiled to the world. The hole jewel is a blue sapphire. Manual winding (Cal. 9ST1). 44 jewels. 28,800 vph. Power reserve of approximately 72 hours (approximately 50 hours with constant force). Brilliant hard titanium and platinum case (diameter 43.8mm, thickness 12.9mm). Water resistant to 10 bar. Limited to 20 pieces worldwide. Exclusive to Grand Seiko boutiques. 49.5 million yen (tax included).
The Ref. SBGC275, which uses structural color on the dial, is also interesting. It features vibrant colors, typical of Grand Seiko, which has become known for its unique dial expression.
This model features a dial with optical multi-layer coating, depicting a summer morning glow over the Hotaka mountain range. Its technology is extremely cutting-edge. Automatic Spring Drive (Cal. 9R96). 50 jewels. Power reserve of approximately 72 hours. Bright titanium case (diameter 44.5mm, thickness 16.8mm). Limited to 700 pieces worldwide. Exclusive to Grand Seiko boutiques, salons, and master shops. Water resistant to 20 bar. Price: 1,837,000 yen (tax included).
Grand Seiko has left no stone unturned, but if they are going to focus on overseas markets, perhaps it's time to reconsider the price of their gold models.
Interview with the CEO: "We are thinking about the future of Grand Seiko on a global scale"
Born in 1960, Hattori joined Seiko (now the Seiko Group) after graduating from university. He served as President of Seiko Australia, General Manager of Legal Affairs at Seiko Holdings (now the Seiko Group), Managing Director, and President of Seiko America, before becoming Vice President of Seiko Watches in December 2019. He has held his current position since April 2021. When he became President of Seiko America, he overhauled distribution and marketing, helping to develop Grand Seiko into one of the top brands in the American market. He is currently working on deepening Grand Seiko's global brand strategy.
Grand Seiko made its first appearance at W&WG in 2022. This year, in its third year, the excitement was even greater. This was due to the fact that, in addition to major works such as the Hi-Beat hand-wound watch and the "Kodo" watch, which is a companion to the previous model, the booth had been remodeled into an open space. Many people came to see the new products and listen to the explanations. Akio Naito, President and CEO of Seiko Watch, said:
"Our participation has resulted in an increase in the reaction from Europe each year. For the third year, we thought about how to present the brand and decided to make it an open space." Grand Seiko is clearly very conscious of the overseas market.
"Grand Seiko established a sales company in Europe in 2020 and in Singapore in 2022. These are separate from the Seiko network. This year we also established one in Shanghai. And going forward, we will be expanding into the Middle East. We want to make Grand Seiko a recognizable brand."
One way to help with this is the Grand Seiko Museum, located on the sixth floor of the Seiko Museum in Ginza. Amazingly, there are over 100 Grand Seiko watches, both old and new, on display here. "Grand Seiko originally started out as one of Seiko's collections, but the general public probably doesn't know about it. So we wanted to show the entire Grand Seiko brand in the context of Seiko's history. And since it's in Ginza, customers from overseas will also be able to see it."
Another initiative to strengthen brand value is improving customer satisfaction. In recent years, Grand Seiko has made it clear on its website that it accepts maintenance regardless of the year of manufacture. This will undoubtedly raise brand value. "Grand Seiko has always had no set repair response timeframe, and instead takes in each watch, checks its condition, and does its utmost to repair it. However, it is difficult to guarantee the quality of the repair. That is why we continue to research what we can offer through our repair services. Asset value is important for a brand, and this is an issue that we must address in order to improve customer satisfaction."
Seiko's new internal structure, which began on April 1st, is likely to further accelerate the improvement of its brand value. Seiko has set up a separate headquarters for its Grand Seiko division, and has begun to operate the brand as a unified entity both domestically and overseas. This may be the first attempt by a Japanese manufacturer to undertake a global strategy for each brand.
"This decision is based on a long-term strategy. The measure of completely separating marketing and distribution by brand, rather than by region, has been successful in the United States since 2018. If it were just within Japan, there would be no need to go this far. However, in order to make the Grand Seiko brand mainstream in the luxury market, we want to dig deep and specialize in it. We are thinking on a global scale in the future."
