Grand Seiko Baselworld 2019 Preview Event Re-Cap

Grand Seiko Baselworld 2019 Preview: What an Event!

Thank you to everyone who traveled both near and far to learn about and explore the Grand Seiko timepieces and 2019 novelty collection! As you know, seeing, holding, and trying on a timepiece is unmatched compared to the images you see online. We had a great time getting these amazing works of art on your wrists!

Joe Kirk is an expert when it comes to the Grand Seiko brand, history, and timepieces. During his speech he touched on all 3 of these topics + much more. Driving the importance of craftsmanship, and the “Three Pillars of Grand Seiko” Precision, Beauty, and Legibility…those who didn’t know before really got the understanding of how much these aspects mean to the brand.

Another thing that he really “Spring-Drived” was the fact that Grand Seiko is a Vertically Integrated Manufacture. Every movement is an in-house movement, they make all the parts, main springs, hair springs, hands, markers…all in house. If you had never heard of Zaratsu Polishing before, you had it memorized by the end of the speech after numerous mentions to the importance. Zaratsu is a polishing technique that is hand finished, and extremely difficult to execute. It leaves flat surfaces polished to a flat mirror-like finish with sharp contrasts between mirror and hairline finishes.

Heritage, Elegance, Sport collections…9F Quartz, 9R Spring Drive, 9S Mechanical movements…all touched on and explained.

Nature in Japan is a crucial element to the inspiration behind most if not all the Grand Seiko Timepieces. Whether it’s the snow referenced in the snowflake, the sky, or the mountains, Grand Seiko ties in these natural elements in either the names, dial color, texture, placement of movement parts.

If you ever get a chance to see Joe speak, I suggest you take it. You will learn a tremendous amount, in a short time.