Seiko recently announced a new classic series that stands out with its 3-day power reserve. With this series, which will be available in June 2024, the Presage collection, which benefits from the colors, materials and textures of traditional Japanese designs, has thus been expanded further.
Let’s start with a sentence from Haruki Murakami’s book Spring Bird Diary: “A small, elegant golden pin glittered on the collar of his silk shirt.”
For me, Seiko shines like a humble golden pin within the Japanese watchmaking industry with its achievements. However, the basis of Seiko’s success in the 21st century is not a technical advancement as expected. Of course, they have reached a great point in technical terms, but what makes you love/buy a watch is never just the technical approach.
When I think about when Seiko achieved success, Grand Seiko designs come to my mind. At one point, Seiko suddenly moved away from Western watchmaking. (Seiko experienced a similar structural change when it switched from Ligne, a historical unit of length, to millimeters.)
Exactly on December 18, 1960, the first Grand Seiko with high precision in time measurement was produced at the Seiko Suwa facility. On that day, a watch with universal aesthetic tastes was produced to achieve the ideal sought by every watch enthusiast. But I think, something was missing then. It was difficult to see the subtleties of the Japanese spirit in the fabric of the watch, there was neither a soft shadow nor steam rising from a hot teacup.
Junichiro Tanizaki’s book In Praise of the Shadow provides an explanation on this subject: “As far as I know, the Chinese invented paper. While Western paper means nothing except for daily use, when we see the texture of Chinese or Japanese paper, we feel a kind of warmth and calmness. Although they all appear to be white in color, the whiteness of Western paper is different from the whiteness of Japanese or Chinese paper. While the texture of Western paper reflects light, Japanese paper and Chinese paper – just like the delicate outer surface of the first snowfall – gently leak light in. In addition, its textures are docile, it does not make a sound even if you wrinkle or fold it. This is like touching the leaf of a tree; quiet and gentle.”
