Latest Grand Seiko Watches Revealed | Watches and Wonders 2024

For accuracy for craftsmanship, Grand Seiko has for a long time beaten pretty well. [Music] Everybody, Grand Seiko has nine new pieces introducing them here at Washington Wonder Geneva 2024. Let's get down into them because we're going to see a complete staircase of offerings in terms of price, and I think that's important. Entry level all the way to crazy.

So, Joe, walk us through it. Absolutely, I'd be very happy to. So, we're introducing this year a new addition to our sports collection, which is a 44mm triple Time Zone GMT. I mean, a GMT 44 monster, Beast like you're making a statement, right? And price it's going to be $6,800. Okay, a GMT for under $7,000 with all of the spectacular polishing known for GR SEO steel piece. Yes, yeah stainless steel just in case you don't know the polishing of what GR SEO does on steel and on every other material is unprecedented. Unprecedented. Not only is the crunch we talked about that in detail, but the polish on every aspect of a piece is incredible.

So, sports jeans, white T-shirt all the way to a tuxedo, can't go wrong with this. Absolutely nice. Okay, I'm giving you a 9.26 for this one. Ah nice! So, next on the list we have another GMT, but this model is a bit more of an aggressive design. Still 44mm and you were talking about our acclaimed Aszatu polishing? Yes, and so this is a bit more tricky to polish you're going to see that. Why is that, Joe? This highly angular, see a lot of angular stuff going on there. That's a little off piece for GR SEO, right?

Yeah, it's certainly our most bold and aggressive design. We call it the Tokyo Lion, so this is, you know, this is coming with veracity at you. Yeah, look at that! Also, the bezel is a little thinner, more traditional. This is like a diamond. It's really exactly, and that's really the premise of creating this complex case design is to get the effect of a diamond. Right, the more facets there are, the more perfectly polished it is, the more brilliant. It's very, very, very attractive. Tough call between these two. It's difficult. This one will be $10,400, a little more expensive, but boy, you ever get your value on this. These angles make it a little more interesting in some ways.

It'll be tough when you're sitting there in the store looking between these two pieces; you got to reach a little farther on price point. True, but this is hard to walk out and say I didn't take that. I mean, that's pretty good. Yeah, one of the beauties of this one is that you have an open case back with our Spring Drive 9R 65 caliber. This one is a closed case back with our 9S 85 Highbeat GMT caliber. Yeah, I like it. Two winners! I'm going to give you a 9.8 on it. Oh man, all right we're scoring high today! Yeah, I think you are. Those are two great entrances, no question.

So next on the list is from our Evolution 9 collection, which is quickly becoming our most renowned collection for dials. Famous for dials indeed. You know the White Birch? This is one of our most popular designs now. Same case and bracelet design, however new dial and also new material. So what are we talking about on the material? So this is what we call Ever Brilliant stainless steel. Ever Brilliant stainless steel, wow! That dial really, really, that's beautiful! It captivates you, it draws you in right away.

Yeah, it does. My goodness, you know the thing about these pieces, and particularly this one, the digital image on your phone does not do justice. Never! To what this is, not a chance unfortunately. So before we come back to the steel, the dial, before we leave it, what's the price point on this? This one will be $10,400 as well. Yeah, that is a really beautiful, beautiful watch. Well for what this is, my friend, this is a 10! It really is. I mean, it is a totally classic forever piece. I mean this is, it works for everything. It's going to be a sports piece, it's going to work with your tuxedo as I always do the analogy between jeans and black tux.

That's beautiful! Yeah, and one of the best parts is this new Ever Brilliant steel. So you were noticing the polishing; it might be a little more brighter and whiter in this particular model. The benefit of this Ever Brilliant steel is its highest corrosion resistance for steel used in the watch industry today. No, this year, yeah, new introduced in only a few models thus far, but new to this design this year. Got it!

So, I'm very rce... very exciting one. Let's keep the hits coming! All right, so I didn't mention this is unfortunately only limited to 1,000 pieces worldwide. So... okay, that sucks, downside. I'm sorry that sucks! I hate to disappoint. What are you going to do? How many? How many to America? How many to Asia? What's going to happen? So, you know, I mean, you know, is typical because GR SEO was sold for 50 years in Japan before anywhere else of course. It's... I mean I said it's number one watch but now you know why everybody wants it! Yes!

And you know the US is our second largest market now, so we have a great opportunity there as well; but sadly it still will not be enough. Is the disappointment? I’m going to probably disappoint you again with the next one. Let's see it! All right, so in 18 karat rose gold we have a recreation of our first Grand SEO from 1960. But for the first time, we're doing a combination of... wow that dial is crazy! With the navy, that dial was in the 60s?

I don't think so! No, this is a new dial for this Watches and Wonders, so this dial is, you know, the first navy combination with rose gold! Wow! The stunning, all the markers are rose gold, so that's signified by the little star at the 6:00. Yeah, and then if you look at the closely at the Grand SEO logo, that's actually engraved into the dial! That is stunning! Price point? Oh, it's going to be $26,500. Not bad for... and I will add that in the last couple of years, yellow gold is on fire! Yes! And it was out of favor 7 years ago. It's, you know, it's always changing, right?

You have to be ready! Yeah, but I mean if you don't have gold in your portfolio, now's the time! And this piece is crazy, that is just stunning! So now comes for the disappointment, only 50 pieces are going to be made for the world. But for those 50, you get it on the blue navy strap, and it also includes the brown strap as well. 50? Yeah. Again, it doesn't translate from digital to physical because this is off the charts. Thank you! Yeah, that's beautiful! I know you're a dial guy.

No, I'm a dial guy but this is doing some funky chicken stuff at the light. I don't want to take away from this one. Okay, okay! But if you think that's an amazing D, I do actually, Mr. Wonderful here! No one needs a watch, but everybody wants one. Why? Because it marks a moment of time in your life. Many watches appreciate and value over time. That's why I created Wonder Care! Want to learn more about ensuring your watch? Go to wondercare.com!

I want you to play with this one in the light! Yeah, now this year, you know this is the Tokyo Lion Design which I just showed you with a GMT coming to the Americas! Yes, okay! Limited to 700 pieces, so disappointing but not as bad as 50, right? So 700 pieces, but this is an entirely new dial manufacturing! We have that new angular case that we've already highlighted. Exactly! So the new polishing, that's fantastic! But for a dial guy, we need to talk about the dial on this one.

So I want you to rotate that around as much as you can and pay very close attention to the... wow! That is crazy orange red fire, everything going on here! Yes, and so thanks to a new patented dial manufacturing a texture to it! Yes, what is that? So we call it the Lion's Mane, it's actually the same texture as we're using on the GMT! Yeah! But the color is a totally new application that's, as I mentioned, a patented... say colors? Yes! Because there's a lot going on here.

So this optical multi-layer coating is basically multiple layers of a nano film that are done in basically a PVD process. But because of the way that each of these layers react with light, you get a different effect as you start to change the degree of the angle that you're looking at the dial. It's spectacular! As you said orange, you know like a burnt orange or red. This one's going to be $13,400.

Yeah, well I'm look, I'm expecting it to be more expensive, but it's a beautiful application! Yeah, it's fantastic! That's great! From orange to red and even to the magenta, kind of moving up the feeding chain on price down at sub seven and here we are at 13 but some incredible dials. So these are more classic coming up here! Yes, so with this watch I really want you to pay attention to the crunch, that's what this watch was made for!

Yeah, well as I've said, you're legendary for the crunch. Oh yeah, that's sick! So this watch is our 9S A4 caliber we just introduced for Watches and Wonders, and it's based on our caliber 9S A5 which we use on our White Birch model that's been around, the movement's been around since 2020. We introduced this model in 2021 and the oscillating weight obviously is automatic, but it's definitely got the crunch, and it's a beautifully polished watch! And the dial has such incredible texture, it's almost 3D!

Yeah, it's got a meteorite essence to it, you know, it's beautiful! That's a spectacular piece! Again, what the price is? This one will be $10,700. Very affordable! It's nice! And you have a Gold version? Yeah, so this will be continuous production thankfully, and then for the limited edition model, we'll do only 80 pieces in 18 karat rose gold with the indices also indicated by that star! This gold pops like crazy!

I mean, I love it! And it's just... that's beautiful! Yellow gold, this is rose, it's beautiful, it just pops beautifully! Love these! What the price on this? So this one will be $45,000. Okay, that's a serious chunk! Yeah, but obviously with rose gold, what are you going to do? Yep! You can see there's a lot of flat surfaces, sharp angles, and it's a very refined comp.

There's a huge spread of price points and offerings here! Yes, a lot of new ideas for 2024! And we can go higher one more? Yes! I have a feeling this is going to be a rather unique piece because it's been speaking to me here for the last few minutes and since it can be quite loud! Yeah, so please go ahead! So about this, I think I saw this being manufactured in headquarters in Tokyo or something very similar to it!

Yes! So you may recall in 2012 we introduced our very first mechanical complication watch known as Cotto. So this watch came to market ferociously! We experienced a totally new dynamic for Grand Seiko; we were getting customers from every place you can think of and that we never had met before trying to purchase this watch. And the Cotto was one of the most successful launches that we've ever had!

It was also one of the most intriguing watches that we've ever created! It's the very first skeletonized watch in Grand Seiko! So you have a lot to look at in the dial! But I mean this, the skeleton really showcases the perfection of what you've done here in terms of manufacturing skills! Absolutely! This is a beautiful skeleton with a chime happening at the same time! Yes!

I mean this is the whole thing about DS. That's my whole point! You have to tell a story. People look at that and say "What is that?" Like, what is going on there? What planet did this watch come from? So the what's going on there is you see this, there's six different arms within the mechanism right around the 6:00. So three of the arms are moving at a sweep motion, which is at 4 Hertz or 28,800 vibrations per hour.

And then there's another set of three arms that seem to be chasing the ones that are sweeping, but it jumps from second to second, right? The chase that will never end because it will never catch it! So that's our constant force mechanism ticking every second, and if you listen to the watch, that's another beauty of this! The sound is totally unique in the world!

And that's why we named it Cotto! Oh I see! Because that Cotto means heartbeat in Japanese, and we wanted to pay tribute to the unique heartbeat of this watch! Yeah, that is nuts! It's quite something! What does this cost? So this one will be $365,000! 365,000? So that is a serious commitment but an incredibly collectible watch! Absolutely, how many pieces you making?

It'll be a total of 20! So there were 20 of the original, and we'll do a continuing 20 of this that will probably take us several years to complete production. Yeah, it's still in the process on the other, the previous 20, but it's beautiful! Finishing up hopefully soon! And there's one more! One more piece! These are eight! What's the what's the ninth?

So the ninth is, we have on our display is a 8 pie limited edition! So the most even fewer! Yes, yes! So we wanted to take our high horology elements from some of our best craftsmen and kind of combine them into one high horology piece that also happens to be high jewelry! So we use our Spring Drive 8-day power reserve, which is crafted in our micro artist studio!

So completely hand finished just like Cotto is completely hand finished! The movement is meticulously made and finished, and then you have the craft of creating this Tokyo Lion design! Remember how I was explaining how complex it is? Yeah! In Platinum it's 10 times more! You know this is very next level! This is a combination of platinum with a brilliant hard titanium exterior shroud of armor that is just a PS the resist on for 2024!

Thank you, Joe! Thank you so much! It was a great ride through this incredible ladder of value! Well thank you Kevin! Pieces on the empty level side which are insane! Yeah, great! Thank you, appreciate it! So I'm with the CEO of the Americas here! Really is mapped out what the Brand's going to look like in 2024!

That's why everybody's here at the show! RCE, tell us where you're going with Grand SEO! To tell you where we're going with Grand SEO kin, I would like to backtrack a little bit and go back to where we come from! You know that Grand SEO was born in 1960 and it was meant to be the ultimate Japanese time piece made by our company, SEO! And we went through a journey of 50 years, being sold only in Japan!

Dono has always been the gem of the company, the gem of the look! The watchmaking made in Japan! We, in 2010, introduced the brand in Basel to become a global brand, and it took, I would say, six years to redefine the brand and relaunch it in 2017 as an independent brand! And we removed SEO from the dial replacing it at 12:00 by SEO.

From 2017 onwards pioneering the brand from the US market for global expansion! We went from being maybe the least recognized brand in the luxury watchmaking in the $5,000 to $10,000 price point to become one of the most surprising and most relevant brands bringing not only an additional philosophy of product to the equation of the luxury watchmaking! Because if we talk about the philosophy of watchmaking, the Japanese master of craftsmanship overall, and they always push the limits above the accidents!

They have been trained by Philip du on the polishing technique! As you know, the individuality of the Japanese will never let them say it. We, I'm French, we American, we can say whatever we want, and I'm going to tell you, they have reached and exceeded the level of the expectation we had and highed personal when I started with a brand to be a luxury brand recognized with the name Seiko.

Grand SEO $5 to $10,000 offering a fantastic collection of product that are finished with finishing close to none! This period of time, 2017 to 2023, we went from, you know, in the price point of $5,000 to become one of the most recognizable in the $7,000 to $8,000 price point! But we are very strongly attached to our core price point $5,000 to $7,000, and we are mastering with some iconic pieces like the snowflake that you know, the Shunbun that you know, and those watches are in the $6,500.

You're talking about the manufacturing of the dial, which Grand SEO has become legendary for! Yes, ABS, the dials are extraordinary, unique! Very few people can emulate them! But here's the number one question I get everywhere around the world and I think you should answer this! What's the difference between Seiko and Grand Seiko? There's some confusion about that, what's, and you should know the answer to that! Now we're listening, what's the difference?

It's an excellent question! Moo is to be the ultimate luxury watch made by our Japanese company! Our company in Japan! It's coming from all the quality in the craftsmanship that SEO has developed over the 160 plus year of the company! We have selected this very fine group of watchmakers to build this ultimate beautiful timepiece!

So the watchmakers at SEO are not the same as in Grand SEO? They are not! They have to receive training, and it takes about 10 years for a SEO watchmaker to become a Nonso watchmaker! So, the never-ending question! What's the difference between SEO, which is so well known? I mean there's so many; it's part of the iconic brand worldwide, the Seiko watch! But then Grand Seiko is a whole different world! It's different, and unless you understand the difference, you know you have to see and hold the piece!

But again, the value of the brand is bringing new ownership new collectors getting incredible quality and having a spectacular experience and it keeps them in the family! Because now say GR Seiko, you can start Seiko, you can get to GR Seiko, but then you can spend an immense investment and have incredible pieces made in Japan! Well I was going to say you can't say it but I can't! Sometimes these watches kick the ass out of their competitors that are supposed to be the most accurate watches in the world! Most of the time, not sometimes; there's been many contests for accuracy over the decades and Seiko never loses!

So think about that! I got to be careful, cuz I'm the Switzerland of watches, but I'm well aware of the actual data for accuracy for craftsmanship! GR Seiko has for a long time beaten pretty well everybody! Just saying, because it's true! I'm known for the truth! It's the truth! It's not publicized too much, but if you go back, Google this yourself! This is ass-kicking territory! Thank you so much! Thank you, K! You got it!