I Really Should Love Grand Seiko

Attention to detail is practically a national mantra here in Japan. It’s not just in the most technically advanced areas we all know, like the Shinkansen 🚄or cameras and watches. This attention to detail or “komokasa” perculates its way into all aspects of life. You wanna get people angry here? Just say “don’t worry, I’ll eyeball 👁️ it.” 😉Sometimes I love this devotion to attention and sometimes I absolutely hate it. You can be buried kicking and screaming in red tape trying to get any official documentation here. A relatively simple task can require countless layers of requests and permission stamping. It drives me up the wall. After 23 years of living and working here, I can say that I’ve seen both sides of this particular double edged sword.

What I can tell you for sure is that “attention to detail” saved my family’s lives during some very powerful earthquakes 7 years ago here in Kumamoto. I thank the stars, but mostly Japanese carpentry work for making us a home that could take the giant hits of two massive earthquakes and over 700 aftershocks in the weeks that followed. I rest easier these days, knowing for a fact, that nothing was eyeballed in the construction of my home.

Grand Seiko is the very epitome of this Komakai work ethic. Tip of the sword, in fact. I love that “in-house” means exactly what it’s supposed to here, no BS. I love the technical genius of not only the Spring Drive but their quartz movements too. Accuracy is what the Japanese do best.

But it’s not only because of my respect for technical progress that I should love Grand Seiko. I should for personal reasons too. My wife is Japanese, I’ve now lived over half my life here and consider this place my home, equal if not more than where I was born and raised, London. I also lived in Nagano for three years, an hour’s drive from the very Lake Suwa that GS is absolutely obsessed with. The snow that fell there, fell on my then home too. ❄️ My British upbringing also instilled a love for any underdog. Seiko brought it to the Swiss overlords and they came to play. Seiko is basically like the Suntory whiskey 🥃 of the watch world: learning how to do it, mastering it, and then taking it in a direction of their own. I like to think that Grand Seiko is the Suntory Hibiki blended whiskey that no one can deny, is a really great drink! And I’m right here, close to the “distillery.”

And yet, I’m currently saving for an Omega Speedmaster. I feel awful. Treacherous even.

I just can’t seem to find a GS dial and case that moves or excites me.

Until today. Plodding around a typical family shopping mall- tucked neatly between a Uniqlo and baby clothing store was a small watch shop. Fashion watches and G-Shocks galore. Nothing uppity about this store. And yet, to my surprise, they had a good collection of Grand Seiko watches directly opposite the Timex pieces - which was practically the only foreign brand they stocked. Gobsmacked that such a humble store should have such heavenly treasure, I stood there gazing at the GS pieces. I had never really looked at them properly in the steel. The longer I looked, the deeper I fell. They don’t look anything like the photos or videos. The amount of blinding reflections coming off the polished surfaces is dazzling and mesmerizing.

The shop owner walked over, opened the case and said, please go ahead, try them on. So right there, today, wearing a T-shirt, shorts and 👟 trainers, carrying some supermarket groceries, I put down between my legs - was the first time I put on a Grand Seiko. Two actually.

And I abso ****ing lutely LOVED IT!!!

I had every reason to love GS.

And now I really do.

The goal posts have moved. My love for the Omega Speedmaster hasn’t dulled, but before I shuffle off this mortal coil, I will own a GS! My eyes have been opened. I can’t unsee what I saw. The photos are nothing like how they really look.

I’ve got a lot more saving to do now! 😄

What a great day. Happy Saturday to you my fellow Cruchers! 🎉😁