Seiko

AndCavanaugh
515

• Show profile
• Show other posts

Estimating Grand Seiko Watch Production Numbers (~2024)

We have decent production estimates for the big Swiss brands, thanks for Morgan Stanley and others, but good numbers for Grand Seiko remain elusive. I estimate Grand Seiko annual production to be between 75 and 85 thousand watches per an. based on the following.

Production of modern mechanical Grand Seikos started in 1998, all are built by Morioka Seiko, in Shizukuishi, Iwate. I tracked mechanical watch production using inspection certificate numbers and plotted inspection certificate numbers against case numbers. There is some hysteresis as cases are numbered weeks to months before the finished watch is inspected, but current mechanical GS production is between 35,000 and 40,000 per year.

Non-mechanical (spring drive and normal quartz) production was harder to divine. Epson builds these at the former Shiojiri Industry site in Shiojiri, Nagano. Seiko relaunched the GS brand with 95XX powered quartz models in 1988, spring drive models were added to the catalog in 2004. This gave mechanical models a 20,000 unit head start over spring drive models—which were then slow to ramp.

I estimated relative volumes from Chrono24 listings: 77 spring drive and 36 quartz models were listed for every 100 mechanicals, this excluded legacy quartz models—95, 8J, 8N. I also compared just SLGH and SLGA models, which were introduced in 2020 at the same price point, which gave a 100:83 mechanical to spring drive ratio. With that in mind I decided to go with a 100:80:35 mechanical to spring drive to quartz ratio.