With This Reissue, Grand Seiko Embraces the Spurned ‘Seiko’ Dial and Ignores Japan’s Micro Seasons
In our recent meditation on how postmodernism saved the Swiss mechanical watch industry in the 1980s, we noted that from that decade onward, recreating watches from the past (an artistic practice called pastiche) has become so common that its significance is easy to glance over. Many of today’s retro-watches aren’t faithful one-to-one recreations but homages that accommodate modern tastes in one way or another (typically with larger size). But, occasionally, a brand goes for the faithful one-to-one recreation, and in so doing will reveal the extent to which the brand has changed over the years.
The Grand Seiko Brand Since 2017
Grand Seiko just released two watches (SLGW004/005) that feel nearly shocking in how they reveal the extent to which the Japanese brand has recreated itself since 2017 when it dropped “Seiko” from the prominent location at the top of its dials and inserted an elegant “GS” in its place. It appears the word “Seiko” could not be spelled out on these elevated Japanese watches that swiftly went on to do serious battle with Rolex and Patek Philippe in the luxury watch market.
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This differentiation from Seiko was especially important in North America, where Seiko is often associated with inexpensive “mall watches.” And so at Baselworld in 2017, Grand Seiko announced with a-typical fanfare that it would form a separate entity called Grand Seiko America (G.S.A), which filed as a corporation in New York State in 2018. From that point forward in the U.S., Grand Seiko operated as a Japanese luxury brand with as little affiliation with the low-brow Seiko brand as possible. (Marking the decade similarly, in 2013 Tudor returned to the U.S. market re-logoed and re-invigorated with an updated brand position.)
With its new, elevated brand in place, Grand Seiko proceeded to inundate the global watch market with countless gorgeous dials celebrating the seemingly countless micro-seasons delineated in Japan. It brought out six-figure masterpieces like the Kudo, upped its in-house movement game repeatedly, crafted watches in gold and platinum, and then—while rushing up the luxury scale—Grand Seiko started recreating watches from its past. But it recreated without causing a noticeable clash between the new and old GS brands. Until last week, that is.
Back to the Seiko Roots
A few days ago, Grand Seiko unveiled the SLGW004/005 that recreate the acclaimed 45GS models so faithfully that the taboo name “Seiko” appears alone unabashedly across the top of the dial.
For those of us who collect vintage Grand Seiko watches and have studied Seiko’s intricate history, this move feels like a breath of fresh air, a relief from the relentless micro-seasonally themed dials, a clear acknowledgement of Grand Seiko’s authentic history rather than an attempt to brush it under the rug because cheap Seiko watches are popular in American malls. These new Grand Seiko watches feel more authentic than any other recreation Grand Seiko has offered to date, not only because they are, in fact, nearly one-to-one recreations, but because they authentically demonstrate the long and important history of Grand Seiko watches as Seikos—this without shame, but with a rightful pride.
This is all the more true when we consider that this re-issue includes the release of the new 9SA4 hi-beat manual movement. The focus on the mechanics is very much in line with Grand Seiko’s storied history creating some of the most precise mechanical watches in the world.
The new SLGW004/005 are the latest in a well-established line of historic recreation models. This latest example is an almost exact re-issue of the 1967 45GS manually-wound, high beat Grand Seiko.
In 2013, Grand Seiko re-issued the 44GS to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Seiko watchmaking. This was an exact replica in terms of the case style, dimensions, dial, hands and crown of the 1967 original. Inside, a thoroughly modern Grand Seiko 9S64 movement was used.
In 2015, another limited-edition, the SBGR09x recreated the later 62GS. With this watch, modern tastes were acknowledged with a small upsizing of the 36.5mm case to 37.6mm. Otherwise, the watch was a copy of the 1967 model, with the same case-shape, crown, dial design and hands combined with the Grand Seiko 9S65 movement.
It is worth noting that with the 62GS re-issue, the replica model was accompanied with a second ‘re-interpretation’ model line, with similar cases ‘inspired’ by the original. More liberties were taken with the movement and dials for these models, as well. For example, the SBGA125/SBGA127 featured the 9R65 spring drive movement with its ever-present power reserve gauge at 7:45 on the dial. This was a strong assertion of modern Grand Seiko branding onto a loose homage to the original.
The point here is that Seiko are well-aware of their own heritage with the 1960s Grand Seiko models, and they have proved they understand the distinction between a faithful reissue and a reinterpretation.
Reviving Grand Seiko’s Legacy of Precision
The new caliber 9SA4 is the first new hi-beat, manual movement from Grand Seiko for more than 50 years. Its inspiration follows directly from the caliber 4520 inside the original 45GS after a gap of 55 years. The 4500-series of movements was a technical marvel at the time. It was Seiko’s first 36000 VPH hi-frequency (or hi-beat) caliber, derived directly from hi-beat experimentation at in the Neuchatel time trials of the mid 60s. It was thin, and remarkably precise. It was so precise and tunable that it powered the first Grand Seiko Very Fine Adjusted (VFA) model, the 45GS VFA, to a precision within +/- 2 second per day, guaranteed for two years.
Back in 1967, caliber 45 was an all-new, technically-advanced movement developed in-house by the Daini factory. The balance wheel oscillated 10 times per second, twice as fast as the outgoing caliber 44, which improved the positional stability of the watch. Think of how a fast-spinning gyroscope resists sideways movement and you will understand the practical advantage of a hi-beat movement is to a watch getting knocked around.
At the time, Seiko had two sometimes-competing factories with different priorities. The Daini factory’s priorities were thinness and innovation. There was a distinct love for manually wound movements and the thinness they provided. The symbol of the Diani factory was a lightning bolt and we find it on the dial of the SLGW004/005 for the first time in modern re-issues. This is not a coincidence. Clearly, this re-issue is a celebration of what Seiko Daini achieved back then with their caliber 45 and establishes a direct line between the technical advances Daini were making in 1967 and modern Grand Seiko.
(Note that a post-war Japanese factory is a far cry from the artisan’s workshops lauded in modern Grand Seiko brand literature. The mechanical side of Grand Seiko’s history simply doesn’t fit the mold of the high horology that Grand Seiko aspires to compete with.)
The 9SA4 shares the 36000 VPH beat-rate of the original caliber 45, but it is more technically advanced, of course, as to be expected after 50 years of horological and production evolution. The movement has twin barrels and an efficient dual impulse escapement to provide 80 hours of power reserve, twice what was possible in 1967 even with a high-torque mainspring. The 9SA4 also exhibits the fine movement finishing of expected from modern Grand Seiko.
A Recreation for the Die-Hards
This re-issue is a recognition of those vintage, manually wound Grand Seiko watches from the past and the ground-breaking movements they contained. The reissue connects directly to those times when Grand Seiko watches were co-branded Seiko and were inspired by a quest for ever higher precision and quality. This aspect of technical innovation from Grand Seiko’s past, in particular Daini’s high-beat innovation, is long overdue from the modern Grand Seiko brand story. It is an aspect that is easily lost amongst talk of grammar of design principles and the inspiration of nature from fresh snow to the depth of Lake Suwa.
Such storylines directly derived from Grand Seiko’s ‘Nature of Time’ now overshadow the technical superiority of those mid-century Seiko-GS watches. However, for this model at least, the story told is differently. It is technical, and it is told by the double Seiko / Grand Seiko co-branding of 1967 rather than the brand separation of 2017. For us, this feels as it should be. Well done.
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