The Japanese were no longer a threat it was too late for that. It all came to a head in 1968, when the watches submitted by Seiko beat every other mechanical Swiss watch in the competition. As Swiss brand after Swiss brand was caught and surpassed by this foreign outlier, it became clear that it was no joke. This unique and novel approach accelerated progress tenfold, and before long Seiko was challenging and beating Swiss brands at the hallowed observatory trials, accuracy tests held across Switzerland. Grand Seiko and King Seiko, as these two divisions came to be known, waged a war between themselves first, competing to exceed the achievements of the other. Not one factory but two were established to manufacture this game-changing watch, but not primarily to challenge the Swiss-but each other. But it’s the way his company approached the colossal task of not only matching but beating the centuries of development the Swiss had in hand that’s most incredible. It was a personal endeavour of Seiko founder Kintaro Hattori to surpass the Swiss quality he had come to admire so much, and what spurred him to found the company in 1881 in the first place. Blow after blow has been traded since 1960, when Seiko left the comfort of the Japanese domestic market and took to fighting brands like Rolex, Omega and Zenith in their own back yard. It’s like Toyota’s Lexus, or Nissan’s Infiniti, a flagship operation designed to demonstrate the capabilities of the organisation at its unfettered best-specifically to give the Swiss a pasting. For those of you who don’t know and are wondering, yes, Grand Seiko is a relation of parent brand Seiko.

Grand seiko chronograph