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

Jul 16, 2019,09:29 AM
 

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 long as it looks exactly the same".

At Grand Seiko they basically have one set of hands (varying length), one shape of case (round, with varying angles and lugs), an infinite number of dial variations to play with, and a few movement choices. 

So as our imaginary worker stares out the window of his office, he ponders HOW WILL I MAKE A NEW MODEL??? the deadline is approaching! The early warning alarm is about to go off! The Samurai is approaching!






WHAT CHOICES DO WE HAVE?


"OK, I have mechanical wind, automatic wind, quartz, Spring Drive to choose from. Let's say Spring Drive because my brief is to get the price over $10k so it has to be both accurate and justify a relatively expensive price.”


CHRONOGRAPH

Chrono? No, that's not in my portfolio, someone else has the Chrono segment. And they are set below $10k. 
Back a few years ago it was near $13k, sales died, dealers complained and they had to slide back under $10k.
The current experiment is to affix Ceramic side plates, bracelet links and a golf-ball texture dial... but is that worth a $5k bump?


Or style everything blue & white and tie the watch to a new Nissan, then add a white strap .



CERAMIC

The NON-Chrono product guy used a GMT Hi-Beat movement, ceramic case sides, links and bezel, textured dial, fancy numerals AND lume plus titanium to creep up to $13k. 
I am not sure they are flying off the shelf, because now the watch is a bit large! 


Fastening on the ceramic bits with screws looks (from the back and sides anyway) a bit less than high-tech. 





Enamel dial? No they are reserving that for Presage for the moment and all the enamelers are working flat out to accommodate the sales we've already booked.

Gold or Platinum? No, too expensive, I have to bring it in just above $10k.

A guy in the Limited Editions department used fancy hands, special treatment dial, rare lume material, unique markers, bezel numbers, Zaratsu polishing and some fancy movement decoration - he came up with a pretty special combination and justified a $10k price. 



And then there's the other guy who took a quartz watch and put in some bright yellow color, textured dial and a GMT hand and the price is $3500. 
Of course they had to make a new quartz movement with a GMT function -- but this is Seiko! 
We can do that with our eyes closed and one hand tied behind our backs.


His rival across the room slipped in a Spring Drive movement, added a rotating bezel, a gold second hand, lumed markers and cut the sharp tips off the hands, for a $6k price. 
He threw in a sporty orange silicone strap as well. 



We can’t use a solid case because that triples the price (and upsets the precious metal boys over at the Micro Arts Studio)


But I noticed a rose gold two-tone at $11k in the Limited Heritage models. I need to get to about that same list price, but no dressy case or automatic movement, as that turf is occupied already.  



EUREKA!  I've generated a new model; a niche not yet filled! 

We will put a Spring Drive movement in a sporty case, and give it a two-tone look! 
To avoid extravagance, perhaps just a gold bezel and hour/minute hands, while leaving the rest of the case in stainless. 
A gold crown would be nice too! And for consistency we'll make the power reserve, GMT and second hands gold, and use gold markers (with just a touch of lume).
Blue dial of course. No one at Seiko has yet proposed this sporty / bling watch combination for a GS. 



So while it resembles some watches in the marketplace, it’s new for us. 





We can put the crown at 4 like on our divers, which allows us to rotate the Spring Drive’s power reserve up to 9, and put the date at 4 so the big lumed markers at 3,6, & 9 match each other. 



NOTICE: The preceding story is a work of fiction.

Cazalea










More posts: 911Grand SeikoPorsche

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Comments: view entire thread

 

Very good and very amusing.

 
 By: kev09 : July 16th, 2019-10:57
I enjoyed reading it. Regards Kev.
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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?
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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... 
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My apologies, cazalea!

 
 By: Moana43 : July 16th, 2019-13:06
I guess I wasn’t sure where you were coming from, so thanks for the further context. In any event, certainly no offense intended! 😊
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Well, a good story. [nt]

 
 By: Watchlover78 : July 16th, 2019-11:40
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Good fun - thank you 😀 [nt]

 
 By: Thomahof : July 16th, 2019-14:36
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You had some fun writing this post...

 
 By: Cpt Scarlet : July 16th, 2019-14:51
almost as much fun as I had reading it !
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Nice story thanks Chief!

 
 By: kesharoo : July 16th, 2019-21:06
nt
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LOL good one. [nt]

 
 By: aris d : July 17th, 2019-02:50
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I have 4 criticisms about Grand Seiko and Seiko in general

 
 By: reintitan : July 17th, 2019-13:41
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 ... 
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That was awesome

 
 By: ripper444 : July 17th, 2019-16:28
I actually really like the blue gmt in the last pictures. Like I really really really really like it!
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