TOTAL PRACTICALITY The ceaseless pursuit of beauty
Right from the start of the project, long-lasting precision was just part of the vision that the team had for Grand Seiko. They wanted Grand Seiko to be as "practical" as any watch could be. By "practical", they of course meant easy to wear, legible and with a low level of maintenance but they also meant Grand Seiko to be practical in the sense that its beauty should be as long lasting as the watch itself. The aesthetic was to be sober but striking, mainstream but recognizable. Once again, the team had set itself an exacting task.
Just like the movement, the exterior design of Grand Seiko was influenced by the two important watches that had been such successes before it, the Lord Marvel and the Crown. The Lord Marvel was born from a design concept that focused on practicality, and featured sleek hands and hour markers. The Crown, on the other hand, coupled the pursuit of precision with slender hands that created a delicate and elegant look. Grand Seiko combined these two elements into a design that was both practical and refined.
The diamond-cut multifaceted hour markers and hands were made possible thanks to Seikoʼs fifty years of accumulated expertise in in-house manufacturing. The markers were set in a domed dial, which requires a high level of skill to make, but which had long been part of Seiko’s expertise. Work to enhance the quality of the glue used to affix the crystals as well as upgrading of the gold-plating technology was also initiated to raise the quality and durability of every aspect of the watches. Proprietary technology was used to strengthen the solder used to attach the solid lugs to the case, and all the finest details were polished to perfection.
Right from the start of the project, long-lasting precision was just part of the vision that the team had for Grand Seiko. They wanted Grand Seiko to be as "practical" as any watch could be. By "practical", they of course meant easy to wear, legible and with a low level of maintenance but they also meant Grand Seiko to be practical in the sense that its beauty should be as long lasting as the watch itself. The aesthetic was to be sober but striking, mainstream but recognizable. Once again, the team had set itself an exacting task.
Just like the movement, the exterior design of Grand Seiko was influenced by the two important watches that had been such successes before it, the Lord Marvel and the Crown. The Lord Marvel was born from a design concept that focused on practicality, and featured sleek hands and hour markers. The Crown, on the other hand, coupled the pursuit of precision with slender hands that created a delicate and elegant look. Grand Seiko combined these two elements into a design that was both practical and refined.
The diamond-cut multifaceted hour markers and hands were made possible thanks to Seikoʼs fifty years of accumulated expertise in in-house manufacturing. The markers were set in a domed dial, which requires a high level of skill to make, but which had long been part of Seiko’s expertise. Work to enhance the quality of the glue used to affix the crystals as well as upgrading of the gold-plating technology was also initiated to raise the quality and durability of every aspect of the watches. Proprietary technology was used to strengthen the solder used to attach the solid lugs to the case, and all the finest details were polished to perfection.
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The story behind the birth of
the Grand Seiko logo, the brand’s symbol
The debate about the Grand Seiko logo was long and complicated. Of the many options, none immediately commanded a consensus so the discussions were held with the team at the main company and several branches. Predictably, opinions were divided but, interestingly, both the Osaka and Nagoya branches supported the most traditional Gothic lettering. Democracy won the day.
COLUMN
The platinum version of the first Grand SeikoThe first Grand Seiko that the world knows today had a gold-plated case. Less well remembered is the platinum version that accompanied it. Priced at a then challenging 140,000 yen, which was over five times higher than the main Grand Seiko collection that followed, it found immediate favor and demonstrated that the Japanese watch buyer already had great faith in what the team had set out to achieve. The high reputation of Grand Seiko had begun to spread.
*Photograph of the watch from a personal collection
