If you're a fan of the best watches on the market, you'll know just how convoluted the market is. Gone are the – arguably simpler – days when you'd simply purchase a dress watch for the office and a dive watch if you fancied yourself a bit of an outdoorsy type.
These days, even buying a luxury watch isn't easy. You start off with Rolex and Omega, with their iconic ranges, but can quickly find yourself wanting for more. If your pockets are deep enough – and your connections and status worthy – you can start shopping in the catalogues of Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe and A Lange & Söhne.
But nestled in amongst them all is a brand which has soared in popularity of late. Grand Seiko were once simply viewed as a tarted up version of the more affordable Seiko watches. Fortunately, the watch industry has wised up. Stunning finishing, sublime dials and pure innovation – Grand Seiko are a brand worthy of your respect and your cash.
I recently had the opportunity for a chat with a member of staff at Grand Seiko. And he's not just any member of staff. Rob is a Master Watch Technician at Grand Seiko, with a really enviable CV.
He's worked with the Seiko group overall for a whopping 39 years, and has been part of the Grand Seiko team since 2013. He's also one of the first certified Grand Seiko watchmakers outside of Japan – safe to say he knows a thing or two about the brand, then!
Of course, when you chat with anyone about Grand Seiko, the first thing you mention is Spring Drive. For those unaware, this is the brand's piece de resistance.
Think of it kind of like the ultimate hybrid of mechanical and quartz movements. While parts of both kinds are used, the genius of the design hinges on something called a Tri-Synchro Regulator. No, that's not the thing which powered the Delorean in Back to the Future, but it's not far off.
Effectively, this creates an electromagnetic field around the glide wheel. Combined with an IC, the device can detect and adjust how that spins for impeccable accuracy – +/-0.5 seconds per day. As a happy byproduct, it also produces the smoothest sweeping seconds hand of any watch on the market.
But by Grand Seiko standards, anything powered by the Spring Drive movement is pretty well-known. I was keen to get under the radar to find something which doesn't get the love and attention it deserves.
"Anything with a quartz movement is underrated," Rob tells me.
"They never get the love they deserve – perfect accuracy, perfect timekeeping," he adds.
It's certainly a fair assessment. After all, this isn't any old run-of-the-mill quartz watch. These movements retain the absolutely sublime decoration and design of their mechanical counterparts.
If you're looking to buy a quartz watch, there are few you'll find on the same level as the Grand Seiko models.
