Jay (Eire)
9156
Mitch, interesting post, thanks for starting the conversation.
Jan 02, 2019,04:20 AM
For me, the first thing I think about when someone says innovation in the watch world (in my collecting time) is really materials, and mostly case materials. I would think these innovations are in many ways the easiest "sell" for the watch brands to the mass market.
In terms of innovation related to time keeping accuracy (or consistency) I always find this one kind of amusing. Reasoning being that I'm partial to Grand Seiko, specifically vintage GS. In the late 60's and early 70's GS were producing the VFA references to a +/- 1 minute per month standard and the GS Special to +/- 3 seconds per day. These weren't exactly high end pieces unobtainable for most, like some efforts at precise / consistent time keeping are today, rather they were more easily attainable to the everyday watch buyer (e.g. the GS Special at that time retailed at roughly 1.5x the average monthly salary of a Japanese government employee) . It does seem when you think about what GS were doing 50 years ago that not much advancement has occurred in terms of accuracy or consistency in timekeeping in mechanical watches for the broad market.