ROOT OF EXCELLENCE

Micro Artist Studio, home of the Grand Seiko Spring Drive watches

- RUCKDEE CHOTJINDA

Grand Seiko has two homes, so to speak. The Shizukuishi Watch Studio in Morioka to the north of Japan serves as one base of operation; that is where mechanical Grand Seiko watches are made. The other location, the Shinshu Watch Studio in Nagano is dedicated to the production of Spring Drive and quartz powered Grand Seiko watches.

Our article focuses on the latter, as it also houses the Micro Artist Studio where the extremely high-end Grand Seiko Spring Drive timepieces are made. The studio was established in 2000 with the purpose of “uncovering, examining, and mastering the technologies and skills passed on by our predecessors for the production of luxury watches so that worldclass Japanese watches could be created”.

Presently, about a dozen highly skilled people work in this studio. In addition to the master watchmakers, movement designers, technicians and craftsmen (three of whom are proud recipients of the Medal with Yellow Ribbon from the Japanese government) combine their expertise to deliver one masterpiece after another, including the Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie from 2006 or the Credor Spring Drive Minute Repeater from 2011.