There are brands that are well-loved by collectors, journalists and people generally enthusiastic about buying watches. We will all have different opinions of what those brands are, but perhaps we can agree on one name: Grand Seiko. The Japanese imprint only emerged as a fully-fledged brand from the shadow of Seiko relatively recently, in 2017. However, everyone had been aware of Seiko’s intentions to spin-off Grand Seiko as its own full brand since an announcement at BaselWorld sometime after the line became available internationally. Technically though, it helps to consider that Grand Seiko is really a deeply rooted part of Seiko’s grand history, and it earned its right to stand on its own merits. Those merits needed to be well-established for Seiko to commit to an independent future for it. One way to understand all this is to visit Grand Seiko’s production facilities in Japan, which is obviously what we did.

Uniquely amongst our manufacture tours in this Legacy annual, we have very recently published a story on Grand Seiko’s industrial and artisanal bases. Despite the excellent story that WOW Thailand shared with us, we felt there was more to add; the story in the Summer issue this year only focusses on the new Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi (GSSS) while also establishing the Seiko connection via Seiko House. That story will serve as the launchpad for this one, though you need not have read it to enjoy this latest chapter. This is primarily because, for this visit, we got to see and experience the Atelier Ginza in Seiko House Ginza, where the Kodo is put together, as well as the operations in Nagano, at Seiko Epson. In fact, we could have crafted this whole story on what the previous story did not cover, meaning just the new sites, but we have chosen to do things a little differently.

Just as a watch is more than the sum of its parts, Grand Seiko is far more than just an amalgamation of multiple production sites. To begin with, it is important to consider that Grand Seiko watches are made entirely in Japan and that the considerable resources of Seiko need to be taken into consideration. As matter of practical facts, it is simply impossible to avoid GSSS because it is the reason this tour took place at all. At the same time, we know that our readers and collectors in general are hungry for facts about GSSS and we must oblige. Before we move on though, we will reiterate that Grand Seiko, and Seiko for that matter, do not just have one or two or even three production sites. For example, while we saw movement assembly and casing up at GSSS, the components manufacturing facility was in another adjacent building.

Delectable Pieces

In fact, the best place to discover this fact is at Seiko House Ginza, where the Atelier Ginza opened just last year. A small workshop, there is space for fewer than half a dozen watchmakers here, and only one was present when we visited (Time + Tide reports that there is at least one other watchmaker working here). At present, we are informed that the watchmakers here only work on the 9ST1 movement, which of course belongs the magnificent Kodo SLGT003. The watchmaker we met was none other than Takuma Kawauchiya himself, the man who developed the movement and who has won over legions of watch lovers and journalists. He showed the prototype of the movement and explained that Atelier Ginza is where Grand Seiko will work on mechanical watches of the highest order.

Its location, in the heart of Ginza, is no accident with Grand Seiko CEO Akio Naito (see our interview with him in this issue) confirming that Atelier Ginza is meant to be a sort of working showcase of the brand’s capabilities. It is a subtle exercise in brand communication, and allows collectors to easily see how something like the Kodo gets lovingly assembled. While the location, on the 7th floor of the building, is only accessible by appointment, it is made for visitors. Reinforcing this fact are the large see-through panels separating the foyer from the workspace. In a way, this mirrors the set-up at GSSS, and has pretty much the same effect. Also deeply enticing here is an oversized chocolate sculpture of the Kodo, which looks every bit as delectable as the watch; we wonder how often Grand Seiko has to have it replaced.

Back For Seconds

Given that Grand Seiko has a number of disparate locations for its manufacturing activities, we will return to this subject towards the end. For now, we note for the record that we are not presenting information here in chronological order. Since Atelier Ginza is spiritually linked with GSSS, we will move straight into that location now. Technically, the Seiko facilities in Morioka (the largest city in Iwate Prefecture, where GSSS is located) includes a number of production sites, including Morioka Seiko Instruments Inc, alongside the close-to 2,000sqm Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi. There is a lot to say about the GSSS, which was completed in 2020 just in time for the 60th anniversary of Grand Seiko (the first watch in the family of watches, which was then under Seiko).

On that note, there is an interesting display of history here, which is much more niche than the museum at Seiko House Ginza. Not only is the first Grand Seiko piece from 1960 included, so is the first Seiko watch, all the way back from 1913. This was the Laurel, which was also Japan’s first wristwatch; it is accompanied in a little display by the Marvel (1956) and the Crown (1959). This unassuming showcase illustrates that Grand Seiko’s legacy itself is far longer than its 60 years implies. While this note does take up a bit of space in our already constrained pages, an issue called Legacy cannot ignore something like this.

Perhaps the most obvious thing to note about GSSS is not the most important though, and that is its relatively compact size and status as a Kengo Kuma-design. If you visit, and the GSSS does accept visitors, the building itself will imprint itself onto your imagination and you will not soon forget it. As we have written in the aforementioned story in issue #69, everything in the GSSS is arranged on two levels, of which the ground level (seen here, opposite) is most prominent because this is where watchmaking work happens. Again, bear in mind that high complications such as the Kodo are not assembled here; on the other hand, the Tentagraph SLGC001 movement was assembled and finished here, as was the 9AS5 high-beat calibre. Casing up and testing also happens right here.

Springing Forward

Despite having much more to say about this, we must move on to our final stop before we run out of space and have to end abruptly. This last stop, at the Nagano facilities that produce the Spring Drive watches, turns out to be the most complicated. To begin with, the Seiko Epson production facility is not part of the Seiko Group or the Seiko Watch Corporation. As the name states, this is effectively a joint venture between Seiko and Epson. For collectors and enthusiasts, the key thing to keep in mind here is that Seiko Epson is all about Spring Drive, and quartz too. That means that it is also about another Seiko imprint, Credor, as well a brand that has nothing to do with Seiko, and everything to do with Epson: Orient.

Now, having said that, work on Grand Seiko watches happens in dedicated spaces that are not used for anything other than Grand Seiko. Helpfully, for an article like this one, there is a single name for this area: the Shinshu Watch Studio. With Credor and Grand Seiko, there are overlaps just as one might find at Ulysse Nardin and Girard- Perregaux (see elsewhere in this section). This is most evident in the Micro-Artist Studio, where special dials (the Credor Eichi II) and things such as the Credor chiming model come to life.

The Shinshu Watch Studio is the most manufacture- like set-up that we have seen on this visit, with finishing and assembly happening in separate areas. It is also the sort of space that showcases the industrial approach to making and finishing parts. Production of hands and indices are a great example here, with steel hands getting that signature blue colour through heat treatments that are standardized (an open oven, effectively, that allows many sets of hands to be blued at the same time). The polishing of indices is a revelation, for anyone who has ever ogled the little appliques on the dial and wondered if these are all individually polished. Well, they are and they are not; a batch of these, which are all equal after all, are loaded into a little housing implement that allows a machine to polish all the relevant surfaces. This means that batches must be tracked and subjected to multiple rounds of polishing, one of which you can see here (opposite page, bottom).

The above description has taken a good bit of space, and the reason for that is that it can be applied to virtually everything that happens at Seiko Epson for Grand Seiko. This includes everything from movement assembly and finishing (opposite page, top), to the making of cases and dials (including the Snowflake and of course Lake Suwa), and special touches such as Zaratsu polishing (creating the famed distortion-free reflection on the case surfaces, seen below). It is all traditional, but all done with the rigour and precision of contemporary machining techniques and technology. Movements made here include calibres 9F and 9RA5, and we think it only fitting that Spring Drive movements are still made in the facility (back when it was called Suwa Seikosha) that developed it more than 20 years ago.

If nothing else, the final section of this story simultaneously reveals how complicated Grand Seiko’s production regime is. On the other hand, this is part of a pattern, with the Kodo calibre not produced in Shizukuishi but Ginza; this has resulted in unfortunate but understandable publication errors (where images of SLGT003 have been used to illustrate stories on GSSS). Indeed, we are more wary of unforced errors in this story than anywhere else, but we are certain the more knowledgeable amongst you will not hesitate to point these out! As the closing story in this section on manufacturing sites, the narrative here ought to have convinced you that no manufacture is really the same as another because there are often strong variances even within the same brand. If you are not convinced yet, well come back next year and we will try again...

This article first appeared on WOW’s Legacy 2024 issue

For more on the latest in watch reads, click here.

If you know anything about the practical side of making watches, you know that production is a sensitive topic. You might, for example, see news about some massive new structure that watchmaker A is building, and naturally wonder how many more watches will be made under that roof. Now, if you know a little more about watchmaking, it will not surprise you to learn that more watches are not on the cards – at least not right away, but certainly never to the extent that production will suddenly double.

While visiting the new Patek Philippe facility in Geneva’s Plan-les-Ouates neighbourhood (affectionately known as Plan-les-Watches or Plan-les-Watch), we are shown a staggering number of CNC (computer numerical control) machines. It was literally a show-stopping moment for the press tour, organised for Southeast Asia media, especially for those of us who understood that CNC machines can run 24/7. For a moment, this writer considered just how many brass movement blanks could be produced at the new PP6 facility with the multi-axis CNC machines. That foolish moment passed quickly though because Patek Phlippe helpfully informed us that gears, pinions and arbours (also produced here, with different CNC machines in a process called bar-turning, where the raw material bars turn but the tools are fixed) needed to be finished by hand. Anything with teeth, really. To be blunt here, this literally means that every spoke of every wheel gets some individual attention, however miniscule it might be.

Pulling back a little from this specific close-up, the reality of watch manufactures is often surprising because these sites are often huge – the new facility we visited stands 34m high, with 10 storeys (four are underground, which Patek Philippe literally describes as subterranean, in good old secret lair style) for a total of 133,650sqm. Obviously, the site is massive yet Patek Philippe’s production volume of 70,000 watches (that is the top-end estimate; Patek Philippe does not disclose specific production numbers) seems relatively low. What is required here is an establishing scene, so let us take you back to 2019, in the Before-Times – let us go back even further than this, for a bit of context.

In The Beginning...

Patek Philippe has been on a mission to expand and enhance its capabilities since the firm came to life in 1839, and certainly since the Stern family took over in the 1930s. In all this time, wealth has become more democratised, and timepieces found themselves on the wrists of more people than ever before. Bear this in mind when you visit the Patek Philippe Salons in Geneva – one of three owned and operated by the brand itself – because this space used to house the watchmakers. When the advent of quartz technology put paid to many a storied name, and even sent the watchmaking trade into decline, those firms that soldiered on – Patek Philippe amongst them – found that they had to take steps to protect the entire industry. As a matter of fact, the Patek Philippe Museum occupies a space formerly used by one of its suppliers, now turned in-house division – the famed bracelet-maker Ateliers Reunis. While both Salons and Museum are impressive, they cannot compare with the most recent addition to Patek Philippe’s manufacturing facilities.

By the time Thierry Stern succeeded as President of Patek Philippe, he was building on the work of his predecessor, his father Philippe. The elder Stern had announced the building of a manufacturing site at Plan-les-Ouates in 1996, and that was ready by the time the younger Stern took over in 2009. To make a long story somewhat shorter, Patek Philippe decided that even more workspace was needed, but had to fit in the existing footprint of site; the existing facilities were contemporary but simply not keeping pace with future needs. The solution unfolded in multiple stages, and work on the building known as PP6 (the subject of this story) began in earnest in 2015. Obviously, Thierry Stern wanted something big, and PP6 fits the bill. While this itself is a great story, we are more interested in what might enlighten collectors and those still waiting for their shot at a Patek Philippe watch.

Returning to the CNC machines and the shaping of parts with teeth, this is actually where one can learn something interesting and possibly specific to Patek Philippe. Not singularly distinctive because the manufacture is the greatest and best or whatever but just a rational method of working that the Geneva brand has adopted. The gist of it is this: the base plates made here are not meant for complicated movements, but the parts with teeth are shared between all types of calibres. Different machines produce plates and bridges for complicated watches. Why should this be so? The explanation given, and what we know ourselves, is that complicated movements components, including plates and bridges, are thicker than normal. These are filed down to the appropriate dimensions (still thicker than standard movements) because the skilled hands of a craftsperson can handle more complex and delicate actions than even CNC machines can.

Worked By Hand

The tourbillon bridge is a great and commonly used example, because the rough part is worked over by hand quite intensely. Extra material also helps ameliorate minor errors, which are inevitable. Gears and pinions, on the other hand, can be made to one standard specification. Not that any brand discusses matters like errors but they do happen because if you take off too much while bevelling, for example, there is no going back; this writer knows that from experience, given that tolerances here are beyond what the naked eye can apprehend. Suffice to say here that those who are looking for reasons why Patek Philippe might be production-limited – even with automated processes in the mix – can find one important point in the hobbing process, and what follows after. Hobbing is the technical term for the production of teeth on parts.

Unfortunately, space-constraints limit us as much as they do a watchmaker such as Patek Philippe, so we must move on for a little bit to bracelets and metiers d’art. We would have loved to tell you more about movement assembly but that was not on the cards on this occasion, and this operation actually takes place in another building here at the Plan-les-Ouates manufacture. On that note, we would be remiss not to mention the Advanced Research department at Patek Philippe, which is on the third floor of PP6. Unfortunately, this was not part of the tour this time, although we hold out some hope that it will be in future. Having a reason to return to the Patek Philippe manufacture is no reason to complain.

And so, on to bracelets we go, and this one will be popular with the broader watch enthusiast world. Of course, the bracelets we saw in production were for the Nautilus, which might be tied for most exclusive and most famous watch bracelet in the world – the GOATs of bracelets, one might say. It is always amazing to see bracelets taking shape, link by link, although it must be said that the raw material here arrives in the form of a bar that is in the rough dimensions required (complete with a groove in the middle). Famously, there are 55 steps involved in making the Nautilus bracelet, and Patek Philippe did set aside quite a bit of time to get into this. Now, you might wonder why all the fuss over bracelets but of all the manufactures we visited this year, Patek Philippe is alone in showing the world how it makes its bracelets in its own manufacture. Indeed, most watch brands outsource the production of bracelets to a specialist, but Patek Philippe acquired its own supplier many years ago (as noted briefly above).

Case Study

To continue with the making of bracelets, the shaped bars are sent into the bar-fed machining centre to form individual links. This is a milling process, to keep things succinct, and involves many quality-control steps as well as hand-correction, but these are not part of the 55 steps. As you know, there are two main parts to the bracelet links – the H-shaped bit and the centre link – and these are individually worked before being assembled (with pins). Even after being assembled, there is still buffing and chamfering to be done, and the centre links are actually polished further to achieve the signature mirror polishing. This is done by protecting the H-links with perforated masking tape and polishing the length of the assembled bracelet.

Moving on to case-making, we have just about enough space to get into another famous Patek Philippe signature, the hobnail case- middle decoration (which also appears on bezels sometimes). This is a Clous de Paris guilloche technique done with a hand operated comb and plane lathe. You will have to imagine the technique required to maintain the right amount of pressure here (the part moves while the lathe remains still). On the making of the cases themselves, this is pretty straight-forward, with bar-turning (just as movement components are made), milling, stamping and polishing in the mix. We note for the record that Patek Philippe is also amongst the few watchmaking firms that produce their own cases, and have invested heavily to bring this know-how in-house.

Finally, we will spare the last word for Rare Handcrafts, even though it means we must leave complications prematurely here and have just a word or two left for gem-setting in captions. Our tour included a demonstration of champleve enamelling, which is only one of 12 techniques that all enamellers at Patek Philippe are proficient with. The champleve technique involves painting inside the lines, which are basically cavities carved into a dial, and this technique is particularly suited to letting enthusiasts have a go, as you can see here.

A demonstration of all techniques would either be cursory or take days (if you visited the Grand Exhibition [in Tokyo or in Singapore in 2019], this part of the tour is a bit like that segment), and one must bear in mind that Patek Philippe also has other artisans working on dials at specialist dialmaker Cadrans Fluckiger in St. Imier. It also engages external specialists such as Anita Porchet, whom some of you will have met or seen in action in Singapore, while also allowing other artisans to work from home on their own machines.

On that note, the Patek Philippe manufacture is a sort of home for watches, where they are lovingly prepared to be sent out into the world. Spare a thought for this the next time you look at your own Patek Philippe because someone at home in Geneva is trying to imagine you finding immense pleasure in said watch. If a Patek Philippe is still on your horizon, we hope this story plays its part in convincing you that it is worth inching towards that imaginary line.

This article first appeared on WOW's Legacy 2024 issue

For more on the latest in watch reads, click here.