Seiko - I have 4 criticisms about Grand Seiko and Seiko in general

I have 4 criticisms about Grand Seiko and Seiko in general

Jul 17, 2019,13:41 PM

1. This one is for Seiko as a watch company. They have way too many references. Choice is good, but there's also too much of a good thing. Thousands, upon thousands of watch models ranging from cheap $60 Seiko 5s all the way through Grand Seiko and up to the Credor range. It is difficult if not impossible to be cognizant of every single extant model Seiko has out there. Some are market-specific, while others are "secret" LEs. Waste of resources if you ask me. But they've been doing this for decades so maybe it works? Do all those watches really get sold? What happens to the excess? Is there an underground grey-market selling the millions of Spring Drive watches that no one wants at huge discounts? Richemont produced too many watches a couple years ago that they had to buy them back and either destroy them or disassemble them for parts so as not to deflate their price on the market.

2. Again this one is for Seiko as a whole. The company seems to suffer from ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). Most of the watch references I allude to in #1 above are discontinued after 1-2 or maybe 3 years in production to be replaced with another reference entirely. I have never seen a company "burn" through so many models after such a short run as if most of the products are limited production. There are some exceptions here and there that linger in the catalogs for years, but most models are gone after a year or two. Even Panerai with their myriad of references can't compare with the scope and speed by which Seiko discontinues their models. This has many negative effects on the end-consumer. Examples include, along with the watch reference being discontinued, parts for that reference will no longer be available or almost impossible to source. Also, hot selling models will be discontinued and replaced with duds for no reason.

3. Grand Seiko "sport" watches have a size problem. I'm not talking about the dress models here, but the true sports models like the divers and the ceramic GMTs or chronographs. They are huge monsters. As subtle and comfortable to wear as a wall clock hanging around your neck. 45-48 mm in diameter. It's as if they were stuck in 2006 back in the hey-day of Panerai-sized watches. What happened to nice 39 - 40 mm diameter sport watches in the GS range? They currently don't exist. Just like GS sport watches in my collection.

4. Spring Drive. This is a "meh" technology to me. Quartz + mechanical is like the failed mecha-quartz and even Seiko's own Kinetic watches of yesteryear. Grand Seiko need to focus more on their mechanical automatic and hand-winding watches if they want to compete with the Swiss. Mechanical watches are obsolete. We all know that. Throwing in quartz in the mix is not what most collectors want. We want the nostalgia of Old World, totally mechanical watches that ironically can outlast any of that new tech out there that is designed with planned obsolescence and meant to be disposed of (think Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy phones).

What's a poor product manager supposed to do at Grand Seiko?

By: cazalea : July 16th, 2019-09:29

Everything under the sun has been done! So the unfortunate product manager looking to create something Brand New at Grand Seiko is in much the same kind of fix as his equivalent at Porsche who's got the 911 to look after: "You can do anything you want as ...

Very good and very amusing.

By: kev09 : July 16th, 2019-10:57

I enjoyed reading it. Regards Kev.

Well, at the end of the day this is simply a new variation of the SBGE201.

By: Moana43 : July 16th, 2019-11:21

I happen to like it, and the higher price is fairly consistent with the approach taken by other brands when adding a gold bezel. I guess I’m not sure why there’s a need for sarcasm when it comes to this model — I take it you’re not a fan?

I de-sarcasmed the story a bit

By: cazalea : July 16th, 2019-12:00

I wasn’t meaning to be critical of this particular watch ... but I got the press release in the middle of the night and fell asleep wondering how I could make this new release interesting. Having observed for a decade how Seiko (GS particularly) has to wo...