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Grand Seiko’s Spring Drive and quartz watches are manufactured by Epson, not Seiko
This seems to be commonly misunderstood, but Spring Drive and quartz Grand Seiko watches are made by Epson and not Seiko. Many people think that Epson is a subsidiary of Seiko but this is not accurate as Epson has been a publicly traded company that is not managed or owned by Seiko for more than 20 years. There is a lot of (reasonable) confusion around this because the full company name is Seiko Epson Corporation, it was founded with help from the Hattori family, and has a ton of shared history and strong ties between both companies. (See https://www.plus9time.com/blog/2022/10/22/the-seiko-family-companies-seiko-group-corporation-seiko-epson-corp-how-are-they-related)
It is my understanding that for Spring Drive and 9F Grand Seiko models, Epson manufactures and assembles everything except the bracelet. (I am not 100% sure about the bracelet, but when I visited the factory they were listing off all the components they manufacture and the only thing I noted that they skipped naming were the bracelets.). I am also not sure if they make the hairspring in the 9F movements, or if they are sourced from Seiko as I cannot recall from my trip. (Additionally, hairsprings are a sensitive topic and companies don’t want to divulge too many details on how they are manufactured!)
This also applies to Seiko watches to some degree as well. I suspect, but do not know, that all Spring Drive movements for all brands are manufactured by Epson but I do not know if all quartz movements are also made by them. Notably, the Seiko Astron watches are known to be made by Epson - but I am not sure who manufactures the quartz movements in the other lines of Seiko watches.
Related to this, a few years ago when the Grand Seiko Tentagraph was announced I saw some press comment on how it was strange that Seiko was making a big deal about it being the first-ever mechanical Grand Seiko chronograph when they already had a Spring Drive chronograph model. I suspect that the reason for the marketing around “first-ever” was less that it was a mechanical chronograph but because it was a chronograph made by Seiko themselves.
Major brands and common mouvements. What are your thoughts on this?
Errors mentions, notes and additions welcome. Brand Company Movement Source Audemars Piguet Audemars Piguet Audemars Piguet, Vaucher Baume & Mercier Richemont ETA Blancpain Swatch Blancpain, ETA, Frederic Piguet Breguet Swatch Breguet, Frederic Piguet, ET...
Personally, I was happy that my Panerai was a Unitas 6497.
It was the main reason I purchased my 177 in 2008. It had the same robust construction as my Colibri pocket watch from 1979. The Patek 5070 series was strong because of its core movement. Richemont or Swatch should leverage their movements across brands.
I've only ever bought one watch specifically for the movement
This one As wanted an alarm with an AS5008 movement. Think that's probably more to do with my obsession with alarms rather than anything else. I'm fairly relaxed otherwise - I just need to like watch & think that it offers fair value (however you do that!...
The AS alarm movements are solid
Used by many brands including GP. GP modified it here and there and also supplied it to Panerai for their mechanical alarm watches. 🤝 ...
Very nice 👍
I can remember looking at the Panerai alarm & while it was a great watch, just overwhelmed my wrist a bit. Cheers JML
I concur. Way too big for me as well
The GP ref 4940 mechanical alarm at 38 mm is more my size. 🤝
Cartier doesn't make movements, they use Valfleurier movements
IWC and Baume's "in-house" movements are also mainly Valfleurier movements.
As long as the 'ask' is commiserate with the quality / watchmaker hours / service / etc.
Of course asking $35k (in 2024 Dollars / Euro) for a stainless steel timepiece means it had better have lots of reasons to be that expensive. This is where smart and educated consumers know what to avoid (hype).
I'm not a movement guy. I really don't care.
I can appreciate pretty beautifully crafted movements as much as the next guy, but for the most part it;s the dial/case/hands combination that I care about. The move to in house movements was also designed to make you send in the watch for in house expens...
People will be scammed.
I'm really not happy with very expensive, so called luxury watches, being equiped with base 100$ movements. Almost fraudulent in my book. I would be more OK if those watches were being marketed as fasion excessories, but more often then not, sellers claim...
Grand Seiko’s Spring Drive and quartz watches are manufactured by Epson, not Seiko
This seems to be commonly misunderstood, but Spring Drive and quartz Grand Seiko watches are made by Epson and not Seiko. Many people think that Epson is a subsidiary of Seiko but this is not accurate as Epson has been a publicly traded company that is no...
Epson is Seiko, there are two Seikos
The Seiko Marvel, first Seiko automatic, Diashock, “Magic-lever” system, first automatic chronograph (6139), Seiko Astron, R-45, first Grand Seiko, first Seiko Hi-Beat, first VFA, Twin Quartz, first Tuna, spring drive, etc… were all by Suwa/Epson
The watch The movements
Or mouvements, calibers, etc. Workhorse, engine, etc. Without the movement, the hands would not turn clockwise. So, no watch is complete without a movement. Citizen, is in the list, Miyota. My Bulova on my wrist, have a Miyota! Actually it is a Citizen wa...