The death of the first-ever Spring Drive, 7R68 movement
I believe there is a cultlike following on the Spring Drive movement outside of Japan, maybe especially in the United States. But there has a bit of a sad news to tell you guys regarding the first-ever made Spring Drive watch, which was released 25 years ago, in 1999.
The watch is called SBWA001. It was limited to only 500 pieces, and one of the 500 is displayed in a glass case at the Seiko Museum Ginza.
One of my followers on X (Uzumaki_Works) has that rare SBWA001, and posted that he has sent this watch to Seiko for servicing. Seiko responded that they have no components for the 7R68 left at the company and cannot service the watch. He has been negotiating with Seiko whether they can swap the movement to a newer one, but their answer was no. Since the manufacturer is not willing to service the watch, he said in his posts that he has no choice but to get a new watch.
Despite the cultlike following on the Spring Drive movement among foreign GS fans, it seems that the Japanese tend to somewhat prefer the mechanical movement models (this is what I heard from multiple watch dealers in Tokyo) because the longevity of the Spring Drive is a bit questionable, as it can only be serviced / repaired by Seiko. In this case, the longevity of the 7R68 movement is only 25 years at the least, and if anything malfunctions in the movement, no one will be able to repair it. It will be done.
I do understand that the movement innovation, the near quartz accuracy, the sweeping seconds hands, are all really cool, but since I came across this incident, I thought I'd share it with whoever is looking to buy a Grand Seiko to let them know that the Spring Drive movements are probably not gonna last as long as a mechanical movement…
I was looking for a pre-owned Shunbun, but I think I will look for a Shubun, the fall edition instead.
Can I call myself a watch enthusiast even though I currently own one watch?
Seems like a bad look for Seiko. Disappointing choice on their part.
Seems like a bad look for Seiko. Disappointing choice on their part.
For real. Once news spreads, Spring Drive watch values may take a nose dive.
Wow. Seiko just shot themselves in the foot with that bit of unhelpfulness.
And I had a spring drive on my list.
Now? Nope.
🧟♂️🧟♂️🧟♂️🧟♂️🧟♂️
Personally I'm not surprise. Usually 1st Gen suck that's the problem of being an early adopter. Now that is very dumb of Seiko to let this slide. Me personally I would of literally pull shit from the vault and would of let my team relearn how to fix it. Who ever is in management doesn't not care about the company.
7R68 is recent enough to have its manual still on the website:
https://www.seikowatches.com/us-en/-/media/Files/Common/Seiko/instructions/English/7/7R68/7R68.pdf
I don't know which one is worse; running out of spare parts so quickly, or refusing to produce new spare parts?
Personally I'm not surprise. Usually 1st Gen suck that's the problem of being an early adopter. Now that is very dumb of Seiko to let this slide. Me personally I would of literally pull shit from the vault and would of let my team relearn how to fix it. Who ever is in management doesn't not care about the company.
Adding a comment to my post. I would be more than glad to send Grand Seiko USA an email asking them for help for your friend. Maybe making it a big fuzz someone in management will raise some awareness and answers.
At this point, raising a ruckus is the last best chance to revive it.
Adding a comment to my post. I would be more than glad to send Grand Seiko USA an email asking them for help for your friend. Maybe making it a big fuzz someone in management will raise some awareness and answers.
JJMM1983, Thanks for reaching out. I’m not sure how much he wants or thinks his watch will be serviced since he’s been posting about the IWC Portugieser 40 this afternoon.
But making an awareness to the American market would be a nice for current and future customers, so please email the GS USA if you can, an make a fuss about this.
I imagine this was more or less a prototype or first version of the spring drive. It probably means the parts have not been kept manufactured as it was only 500 piece limited edition. I would think over the years of developing and refining the spring drive it's become more standardised within Grand Seiko... hopefully.
I imagine this was more or less a prototype or first version of the spring drive. It probably means the parts have not been kept manufactured as it was only 500 piece limited edition. I would think over the years of developing and refining the spring drive it's become more standardised within Grand Seiko... hopefully.
I'm surprised more people aren't considering this. It's a limited run of the FIRST spring drive technology! Only 500 in existence. So I can understand them not wanting to mess or Frankenstein it making it no longer authenticate. I'm sure that this will be less of a problem for new mass production spring drive watches.
Honestly never understood why folks get so excited about spring drive. One of those things that just doesn't appeal to me. I've a few nice quartz, so it's not that.
You can get a sweeping second hand on a Bulova.
Maybe it's just the styling, I don't like all that textured dial stuff, just not my thing.
Not surprised they wear out, anyone who owns a vintage quartz will tell you they wear out & often can't be mended. A shame.
Damned! I'm on my 3rd Spring Drive and love it. Well, this is interesting 🤔 I wonder what @Mr.Dee.Bater thinks about all this?
Damned! I'm on my 3rd Spring Drive and love it. Well, this is interesting 🤔 I wonder what @Mr.Dee.Bater thinks about all this?
That's crazy! I guess I've got several thoughts on this:
It's a bad marketing move
GS absolutely should fix that watch - doesn't matter if they need to hand machine every single part from scratch
If they were smart, and clearly they're not, they would fix the watch in order to avoid piercing the illusion and make the admission that "luxury" watches are just durable consumer goods that depreciate over time and end up as worthless junk in drawers - you want your consumer base to continue to delude themselves that these are somehow special and magical artifacts that will last for all eternity, passed from grateful generation to grateful generation
But, as we all know, Asians are TERRIBLE at marketing, so clearly they're EFF'ing that up big time! (And, of course I'm allowed to say that, because I'm Asian, but more importantly, anyone is allowed to say it, because it's the truth)
The reality
Nonetheless, the reality is that "luxury" watches are nothing more than durable consumer goods that depreciate over time and end up as worthless junk in drawers!
I mean, the whole "You never really own a Patek Philippe, you merely look after it for the next generation" is an absolute genius marketing slogan! It's a Swiss thing, created by absolutely genius Swiss marketers. Seiko could learn a thing or two from Western marketing minds. But, well, the past 3,000 years of history would suggest that Asian cultures are too insular to adopt modern practices / technology!
Does this change my views in any way with regard to Spring Drive?
No. Gonna happily continue to buy them left, right, and center
Why? Because "luxury" watches are nothing more than durable consumer goods that depreciate over time and end up as worthless junk in drawers!
I expect all my 9R calibers to last significantly longer than 25 years - that's just something that comes with manufacturing learning curves. Every mass manufactured good today has incomparably better reliability and quality than the same good manufactured 25 years ago
But, I don't expect to be alive for much longer than 25 more years, and the last thing my children would want is a bunch of durable consumer goods that have depreciated over time and have ended up as worthless junk sitting in my drawers continuing to clutter up their lives after I've died!
Such a beautiful watch...
It deserves to be kept running.
They also don't service any of there vintage models,I was really disappointed thought they did but you had to send them to Japan,but no passed me a list of other people.