A Watch For The Soul

Going strongly into its second decade, the Grand Seiko Caliber 9R Spring Drive is a soaring tribute to the harmony between man and nature.

- SUFFIAN HAKIM

I HAD COFFEE with a German watch collector friend over the weekend, and we discussed what a person’s watch brand of choice says about their personality and psychology.

While he is naturally biased towards German brands, particularly those from Glashütte, he did reserve these choice words for Japanese brand Grand Seiko: “A watch for the soul.”

He explains, “Each Grand Seiko watch is a work of art, and art reflects life. The life Grand Seiko watches reflect is a beautiful one.”

One could argue that the Grand Seiko Spring Drive is the most beautiful of them all in terms of form and concept. The unique movement attempts to encapsulate the true essence of time, harmoniously combining different timekeeping philosophies into one timepiece. It uses a mainspring as its power source, just like a mechanical watch, but draws on an integrated circuit and a quartz oscillator for precision timekeeping.