Messages: 18911 Location: South East England
Registered: September 2004
Salon QP 2012 - A conversation with the folks from Grand Seiko...
Thu, 15 November 2012 08:52
Timezone Interview Friday 9th November
SBGH022
To those unacquainted with the Grand Seiko, what are your brand values?
The goal that inspired the creators of Grand SEIKO half a century ago was hardly a modest one. They were determined to create nothing less than the best luxury watch in the world. In order to create this watch a standard had to be set for it to reach, the Grand SEIKO standard. This standard was set higher than SEIKO had ever achieved before and higher than all the international chronometer standards. After years of research, new technologies and new skills being refined the first Grand SEIKO watch was launched in December 1960.
Today, just as then Grand SEIKO is focused on the pure essentials of watchmaking. Grand SEIKO strives to provide lovers of fine watches with the ultimate, functional watch.
Traditionally, Japanese watch design has differed from European counterparts over the years with more slightly vibrant and, some might say, quirky styling. Grand Seiko tends to eschew the above for a more traditional look. What specific themes and inspirations do your designers look to when styling GS watches?
Each and every Grand SEIKO is as accurate, as reliable, as legible and as comfortable to wear as can be achieved. Grand SEIKO is everything a luxury watch should be, with no unnecessary elaboration or undue decoration. Just pure, simple and basic watchmaking, raised to the level of an art form. We would say that these watches are known and loved for their understated elegance.
Dial view SBGM029
The grand SEIKO style will remain constant, it is not like the other collections that will be styled to the time in which they are created, if Astron was made 10 years ago or 10 years from now it would look totally different, GS will stay the same. Elements of creativity are given to different pieces, for example the dial on the spring drive (SBGA011) was inspired by the snow outside the Shizuki-ishi watch studio (in the woods of northern Japan) where the watches are crafted, but this is kept within the classic styling.
Timezone has seen a great deal of interest in Grand Seiko watches over the past decade, what with our members enjoying the ability to buy GS over the Internet. Since branching out into Western markets, are Seiko encouraged with the reception from watch buyers in these areas, and will we see an expansion of the range?
Rotor view SBGM029
We know that Grand SEIKO is popular with watch collectors and there has always been a strong demand for it's sale outside of Japan. We were thrilled to be able to offer GS for sale in the UK and the reception has been fantastic. Those that know and love SEIKO continue to do so, and those that find out about our watches and technology soon become fans. So in that sense attitudes are changing, SEIKO is becoming recognised for the quality of workmanship and technology in their watches.
One part of this is winning the 00:24 watch of the year award with the Grand SEIKO hi-Beat.
The grand SEIKO range in Tokyo is vast and we are taking on a lot of the new range. Currently in the UK we are dealing with just over 20 different Grand SEIKO watches, we do not see the need to increase this in the near future. There are some vastly popular pieces in this collection and more than enough to meet the needs of our UK retailers and consumers.
What is currently the biggest selling GS model a; domestically and b; internationally?
This is not split how you would imagine, it is not the entry price models that are the most popular either in Europe or Japan. The mechanical and SD models that sell for £4 to £5k do very well one of which is the snowflake dial mentioned previously. We have seen particular success with this in Europe along with a promising start to the limited edition GMT and 130th models, both of which retail at over £5k.
Are you seeing attitudes change toward the Seiko brand as a whole now that GS are being offered for sale through authorised dealers?
As mentioned previously the attitudes towards the brand are changing because people are becoming more aware of the capabilities of SEIKO, as the watches are now available in the UK. We still do very well with our core SEIKO collections, but it is great to be able to offer something to the high end market. Thinking back 10 or even 5 years ago many could not imagine a SEIKO selling in Europe at over £1000. First with Ananta, Grand SEIKO and this year with Astron we have shown the value in the products we provide and customers have bought into this.
Are we going to see the addition of Thermocompensation circuitry on a Spring Drive timepiece in the near future?
Spring Drive is already 10 times more accurate than any other mechanical watch so we would not see the need to. Spring Drive has up to 80 parts similar to a mechanical watch but with improved accuracy, reliability and the smooth movement that represents the real movement of time.
SBGH019
What direction will the brand be taking in the next ten years? For example, will we see a solar powered GS quartz model similar to the recently introduced The Citizen by Citizen?
No. Grand SEIKO will continue to grow outside of Japan, we have enjoyed significant sales growth over the last 3 years. We have decided to make Spring Drive exclusive to the Grand SEIKO collection; we feel that it sits well with the brand so we hope that this collection will grow over the next few years. As a manufacture we have the ability to continue to innovate and grow our collections, and we will do this as we did this year at Basel with the introduction of the new Astron.
As ever perfecting the art of watchmaking is our long term focus and working to refine and innovate our collection of watches and technologies. Current Stores outside Japan 70 stores, 20 in Europe. First Year of Sales outside Japan was in 2009 this doubled in 2010, 60% up in 2011 and projected as 40% up in 2012.
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Many thanks must go to Kirsten, Mark and Seiko UK for giving their time for the interview and the chance to view some beautiful watches.
Lastly, thanks for looking.
Best,
Alex
"The knee bone's connected to the something, the something's connected to the red thing, the red thing's connected to my wristwatch..." - Dr. Nick Riveria
- Fatpants