Grand Seiko: the shaping of a brand

Grand Seiko, the first non-European watchmaker invited to participate in Watches & Wonders, has garnered an epic following in a very few years. We talk to Mr Akio Naito – President of Seiko Watch Corporation, and Chairman & CEO of Grand Seiko Corporation of America – about the Grand Seiko marque and its move away from parent brand Seiko

You’ve been at Seiko now for 40 years; can you tell us how your life with Seiko started and your milestones there?
After graduating from university, I joined Seiko as a member of the legal department – as an in-house lawyer. I spent almost 15 years in the legal department and then I was transferred from the legal department to the business side, the watch business. Soon after, I was assigned to be the Managing Director of Seiko Australia, where I spent four years managing the Australian market.

Seiko is very well known in Japan for a very long period of time, but it is only in the last 7-8 years, the brand has been expanding internationally; why did it take Grand Seiko so long to become an international brand?
Seiko has been very well known not only in Japan, but throughout the world and Grand Seiko was launched globally in the year 2010. In the initial couple of years, we actually struggled to develop Grand Seiko outside of Japan because for many of our clients, it was difficult to differentiate Grand Seiko from Seiko. Then, in 2017, we decided to separate Seiko from Grand Seiko and to make Grand Seiko an independent brand. That’s when the brand started becoming very well known internationally. I was at that time in the US market with a mission to develop Grand Seiko there. In the following year, 2018, we established Grand Seiko America as a separate entity, a subsidiary apart from Seiko America. It was only then that the trade, the retailers, as well as the media started seeing how serious we were about developing Grand Seiko.

Was deciding to make Grand Seiko a separate entity a hard decision?
At that time, more than 90% of Grand Seiko sales took place in the Japanese domestic market and, for our domestic clients, it was not necessary to separate Grand Seiko from Seiko. We started Grand Seiko in 1960 and for a period of over 50 years people knew Grand Seiko as a luxury brand within the Seiko family. So, just looking at the Japanese domestic market, it wasn’t necessary to make Grand Seiko an independent brand. But because we saw the huge potential, the possibility to grow Grand Seiko significantly outside of the Japanese domestic market, we decided to separate Grand Seiko from Seiko. We were afraid of confusion among the Japanese consumers. What would happen to the existing old Seiko and Grand Seiko logos in the marketplace? How would we handle this transition period? We were worried about these when we decided to separate Grand Seiko from Seiko, but it was very successful and Grand Seiko grew very fast beyond our expectations.

In 2022, you launched the Grand Seiko Kodo Constant-force Tourbillon, which won the GPHG award; how did you and the team feel about this?
It was truly a great honour for us. It was the very first mechanical complication from Grand Seiko. We were, of course, confident about our technological advancement, but to have it recognised by the GPHG, which is the most prestigious honour, made us all very proud.

Grand Seiko has the motto “Inspired by nature”; can you explain what that means?
Grand Seiko’s brand philosophy is the Nature of Time, and for the word ‘nature’ we have two meanings. One is the beautiful natural environment of Japan; we are inspired by the beautiful sceneries in Japan, like mountains and lakes, and take this inspiration to reflect it on our product, namely our dials. That’s one feature of the Grand Seiko. The other meaning of nature is the essence or the origin. As a watch brand Grand Seiko was meant to be the best, most functional high-quality timepiece to compete against the European brands. Our craftspeople pass on generations of their skills and the craftsmanship and that is reflected in the nature of our watchmaking.

How did the idea for the birch dials, which actually cemented the slogan “Inspired by Nature” come about?
In Yate Prefecture, where we manufacture our mechanical Grand Seiko watches, there is a big white birch tree forest – one of the biggest in Japan – and if you go there, you will be impressed by the magnificent scenery of these white birch trees. Our designers and watchmakers were inspired by this white birch forest and translated it into our watches.

When Watches & Wonders was launched, you were the first non-European brand to actually participate; how much pressure did that put on Grand Seiko?
I wouldn’t describe it as a pressure. It was a pleasure and an honour for us when we were invited by the organisers of Watches & Wonders. It used to be a Richemont Group Fair. We had already exhibited at Baselworld for many years, but with Grand Seiko we wanted to really showcase our products at Watches & Wonders. When they decided to open their doors to the other brands such as Rolex and Patek and we were offered an invitation to join the fair in that tier, we were obviously very pleased.

Can you tell us specifically about the Middle East market for Grand Seiko?
The Middle East market is strategically one of the most important markets for us. If we look back on the history of our business in the Gulf countries, we were extremely strong and prominent with the Seiko brand and the Seiko 5 was, for many years, one of the top-sellers of the brand in the region. But now that the luxury market has expanded so much in the Middle Eastern region, we are trying to shift the focus of our business from the more affordable Seiko 5 to a Grand Seiko. We are now in that transitional period. We have started partnering with some of the top retailers in the area and we plan to expand our network even more.

Can you tell us about the latest edition of the Kodo, limited to 20 pieces, that you have launched now?
When we came up with the first Kodo, our engineers planned two versions – a light version and a shadow one. The first edition had a twilight theme, and we could say it’s a shadow version. The light version, which we call Daybreak, is the new release. This is far more difficult to manufacture compared to the shadow version, because the polishing has to be impeccable, and the distortion has to be very well controlled. Otherwise, it would be quite prominent, making it easy to look and see some flaws immediately. We were not confident that we would be able to come up with the light version when we started the shadow version. But as we gained technological know-how and expertise, we became confident that we could do the light version, and this is the time that we are finally unveiling the light edition.