This is the story of Grand Seiko. It is a story of vision, determination, commitment, innovation and, most of all, of the quiet, calm and utterly single-minded determination of two generations of watchmakers to create watches that are absolutely as good as they can possibly be. The first Grand Seiko appeared in 1960 but the story started long before and continues to unfold and gather pace today. Who knows? Perhaps the best is yet to come.
The year was 1969. In this remarkable year for horology, Seiko created its first, and perhaps the world’s first, mechanical automatic chronograph and the V.F.A. (Very Fine Adjusted) movement, the company’s most precise mechanical movement to date. The most revolutionary development of 1969, however, was yet to come. On December 25, Seiko released the world's first quartz wristwatch, the Quartz Astron, and, with it, changed the way the world told time. It was perfectly in tune with its age. This was an era when rapid and dramatic advancements in science and technology enthralled the public and the Quartz Astron not only matched the zeitgeist but brought high technology within the reach of all.
Both before and after the launch of the Quartz Astron, the goal of ever greater accuracy drove the Seiko team onward. The Quartz Astron was far more accurate than any mainstream mechanical watch and to beat its precision rate of ±5 seconds a month was already a tough challenge. Thanks to the highly precise vibration rate of the quartz crystal oscillator, the Quartz Aston mechanism could be precise to a second, but the resonance frequency of quartz oscillators varied with temperature so this level of accuracy was not initially achievable in everyday use.
To meet this challenge, the Seiko engineers came up with an ingenious solution. Two quartz oscillators were set alongside each other; one was used to detect the temperature so that variations due to temperature change in the other oscillator could be compensated for. Completed in 1978, this movement, named "Twin Quartz," raised the bar once again. The Grand Twin Quartz delivered a precision rate of ±10 seconds a year, and the Seiko Superior Twin Quartz had an even higher degree of accuracy at ±5 seconds a year. The challenge was well and truly met.
As the company’s technological expertise in quartz watchmaking progressed throughout the 1980’s, new heights of watch accuracy had been achieved, but the Grand Seiko team was still determined to push back the boundaries in areas other than simple precision. The first step was the enhancement of other aspects of a watch’s performance, such as resistance to temperature, humidity, and shock. Further development of high performance quartz oscillators was undertaken, including the design of an ageing process to ensure their long term precision and reliability. A new IC sensor was invented to detect temperature information and adjust the oscillator’s performance for even the slightest variation. All these advances were integrated into the new Grand Seiko quartz caliber, released in 1988. It delivered an annual precision rate of ±10 seconds and was designed to fit within a thin, elegant case. There were four creations in the collection, priced from 120,000 to 480,000 yen.
The development team, however, had already set their sights higher still. Their goal was to achieve the same levels of design and technical perfection as had been achieved with Grand Seiko’s mechanical collection. It was decided that only the development of an entirely new movement would achieve this and the team at Suwa Seikosha (today’s Seiko Epson) set to work.
They looked to make radical enhancements to every aspect of the movement, from precision to the precise alignment of the hands. After three years of development, the result was the 9F caliber, released in 1993. It delivered an annual accuracy of ±10 seconds. It had a backlash auto-adjust mechanism to exactly align the seconds hand to each dial marker and a special mechanism that ensured that the date change was instantaneous. For the watch’s external appearance, too, 9F opened new possibilities. A twin pulse control system made possible the long and heavy hands that were already a Grand Seiko signature, something that had not been possible before. Durability and reliability were also enhanced. A protective shield construction was introduced to prevent dust from entering the wheel train during battery replacement and, by covering the pivots of the rotor with Diafix, Seiko’s original oil retention mechanism, a dramatic improvement in lubrication retention was achieved. It was a masterpiece of electronic engineering and was the most advanced quartz watch ever created. In harmony with the standards of Grand Seiko, the 9F movement was designed to be beautiful, with highly polished components some of which were finished in gold tone, despite the fact that there was no exhibition case back. A craftsman’s touch.