The Business of Watches [025] Seiko Watch Corporation President Akio Naito¶
Published on Wed, 13 May 2026 15:00:00 +0000
We talk about Credor's debut at Watches and Wonders and innovation at Grand Seiko. Plus, Mark Kauzlarich stops by to talk about the latest auction results.
Synopsis¶
In this episode of The Business of Watches podcast from Hodinkee, the hosts discuss the 2026 Geneva spring auction season and interview Akio Naito, President of Seiko Watch Corporation. The auction discussion with senior editor Mark Kauzlarich reveals a significant market shift away from traditional blue-chip Rolex references toward high-end pocket watches and independent watchmakers. Notable results include an Akrivia piece selling for 3 million Swiss francs and a rare Louis Richard pocket watch reaching nearly 4 million francs. While Patek Philippe remains strong as a reliable blue chip investment, the market shows diminishing enthusiasm for references like Paul Newman Daytonas and other previously hot sports models.
The main interview features Akio Naito discussing Credor's international debut at Watches and Wonders 2026. Naito explains that Credor, which historically was larger than Grand Seiko in Japan, was passed over for international expansion in 2008-2009 in favor of Grand Seiko because the Seiko name was better known globally and Grand Seiko's functional values had more universal appeal. After Grand Seiko's successful independence in 2017 and subsequent 15-fold sales growth outside Japan over ten years, Seiko determined the time was right to launch Credor internationally. Unlike Grand Seiko's strict design codes focused on functionality and legibility, Credor offers more creative freedom, emphasizing elegance, beauty, and artisan craftsmanship. The brand will initially launch in limited quantities in the US market through Grand Seiko boutiques, with production constrained by the extensive handwork required—some pieces requiring ten years of training to produce. Naito also discusses Grand Seiko's quartz technology, emphasizing how their 9F movement differs significantly from commodity quartz through in-house crystal development and thermal compensation.
Links¶
Transcript¶
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| Unknown Host | Welcome to the business of watches, the Hodiki podcast, where horology meets high finance and we go behind the scenes to talk to the executives driving the global watch industry. This week in Geneva, we sit down with Akio Naito, the president of Seiko Watch Corporation. We talk about Seiko's ultra-high-end brand Credor, its international launch, and its debut at Watches and Wonders. But first I'm joined by my colleague, senior hodinky editor Mark Koslerich, to talk about the spring auction sales that are actually still going on here in Geneva. Mark, thanks for joining us. Great to speak with you. How are you |
| Mark Kauzlarich | I'm great. Thanks for having me. It's an exciting auction season, so I'm excited to be here and chat about it. |
| Unknown Host | Great. Yeah. No, it's been quite interesting. I was at some of the auctions on the weekend and yeah, some really compelling results. I mean, I think certainly we can say things are strong. Yeah, what what's standing out for you so far? I mean, you know, just to be clear, we're on Monday here, Monday evening in Geneva. And so um Christie's just wrapped up its first day. We've had Phillips, we've had Antiquorum, and we had Sotheby's on Sunday. But yeah, it's what d tell me what's standing out for you, Mark? |
| Mark Kauzlarich | Yeah, I think we're seeing a pretty significant market shift, which frankly started a little while ago and has slowly been ramping up. But I think back to the sort of neo-vintage sale that happened a couple years ago at Phillips and the interest and things like the Derek Pratt, Urban Jurgensen oval pocket watch, and that was a massive result. And I started to pay attention. There were more and more really strange, rare pocket watches coming to market, which is, you know, everybody says I have this pocket watch agenda, but I was watching the market shift there. And then the Indies, the FP Jorn shift, we're seeing a little bit of fall-off from four-digit Rolex, which used to be a blue chip. And so there is, I think, a a massive market shift with some truly incredible results, stuff that's hard to understand. But I'm curious to see how long this lasts. I actually do think that this is going to be a long-term shift in what we're seeing in the market. |
| Unknown Host | Yeah, no, it's interesting. I mean, you know, we we talked to Aurel Bax and um saw Dr. Helmut Krot, uh, who's obviously um this is his kind of uh market and and just, you know, some regular dealers as well. And and certainly, yeah, everyone's noting that um there has been a shift to more interest, and we've certainly seen some of the big houses start putting up a lot more significant and important pocket watches. And indeed, yeah, we we saw sort of not things fall apart, but um certainly not the level of enthusiasm or interest in some of the um the you know the classic Rolex pieces. I mean among those pocket watches, anything for you that um you think is really important to highlight that we saw? I mean, |
| Mark Kauzlarich | I I'll say this. I think you know, I'm working on a story right now that'll be out by the time this podcast comes out, so you can check out our our recap. But the first thing that happened was in a group chat that I was in, Ben sent a a screenshot of the result of an Acrivia AKO six, which was three million Swiss francs all in, which was truly incredible. But then maybe seventy lots later, there was a pocket watch from a watchmaker that probably I would say 99.9% of our audience had never heard of, Louis Richard, that went for almost four million Swiss francs. And that is, I mean, that's truly incredible. And it's an important watch. We'll dig into that later. But you have the Louis Richard watch. You had at a small auction house, there was a jump hour turbine pocket watch made, I believe, in the 80s by a a watchmaker who didn't do that many watches. His name was Miklosh and it sold for 900,000 euro. Uh I mean the this the it I think the estimate on that was maybe 20 to 40,00 euro0. You had things from Fraudam and other brands that really were way outstripping even the expectations of the people that were collecting these watches. And I spoke to a lot of them over the weekend who shared with me what was going on with the battles in between them. But the the general consensus is these have always been important. You did have an era of some of the big collectors who unfortunately passed away, their families are slowly getting rid of their watches, et cetera. But these were always important. Now they're coming back to the market and prices are going crazy because a handful of people understood how Aaron |
| Unknown Host | Powell Interesting. Yeah. And we also s obviously saw the Patek Philippe 2523. I mean, that basically hit a record for the reference. I think you'd agree that, you know, certainly on the Patek side things remain solid. Aaron Powell |
| Mark Kauzlarich | I would say that, you know, everybody was looking at things like polynomial and Dayton's and stuff for a long time because they were flashy, recognizable. Um, you know, I think the general population after the sale of Paul Newman's Paul Newman was more likely to know what a Paul Newman was. And so y if you wanted to flex, for lack of a better word, you could wear that. But there were hundreds, if not thousands, of these things made, whereas Patek actually continues to be and has always been the blue chip that will, I think, largely not fall off, right? Like you're not getting immediate returns of you know a a market that's growing by 100%, 200% every year. But the the value of these things, the truly extraordinary Patek references will continue to slowly tick up, and I don't see that falling off. Whereas I think it was time for things like Paul Newman Daytonos and Mill subs to to go by the wayside. I think the other big question mark uh is Cartier. There was sort of an I would say abnormal auction in Hong Kong with Sotheby's where some of the prices just were astronomical beyond anybody's belief, even Cartier collectors and and sort of not seemingly grounded in reality. They were grounded in someone's reality, or at least two people who drove the price up. And so I'm curious to see how Cartier will either be on a roller coaster or will it kind of take after a tech in the long run and just be a slow increase from here? |
| Unknown Host | Yeah no it's interesting. I mean we certainly still saw some strength in um Cartier Crash, um Southerbees with more of its um shapes of cartier collection coming out less than was in Hong Kong, but still uh generally doing well over low estimates. Yeah, I mean it you know, there still was some strength there, not the level of enthusiasm exuberance that we saw in Hong Kong. And the last thing, I mean, at um Christie's today, there was that uh O'Domar P. Gay Tortu from the nineteen thirties, you know, one of re you know three that are known. Um it did uh very well, I believe, all in, something around two point three million francs, certainly a record by some measures. You know, this was a a watch with a great story and in the same collection since the nineteen forties, but um uh obviously had been um restored by uh Odemar Piquet. I mean, you know, should we take much away from from that result, Mark? |
| Mark Kauzlarich | I think there's a couple things that you could try to draw conclusions on, but I I think it's hard, right? This is uh something that there's one example in uh in AP's museum so you don't really have a a choice if you want to buy this, uh I don't think the other one is known. I don't think it's been seen by anybody that I I've heard from. So, you know, you either buy this or you don't. From a restoration standpoint, there's not another option. Uh, the price is certainly really impressive for an AP wristwatch. What I'm kind of curious is I I don't think you can draw a lot of uh conclusion on the market because if you go back and look at what happened with uh Phillips, they they had this incredibly rare uh calendar chronograph um as well and that only went for only one million Swiss. Uh I think it's all it was a beautiful watch. It was a beautiful watch, really interesting, but w the problem with any of these from AP when you compare them to something like a Patek uh even the two five two three, which is really rare, is there is enough of a lineage in scholarship that you have data points that you can compare against. You understand what is on the market, what your options are, you can see trends, uh, you can see what other people were willing to pay. You can study them, fall in love with them, hunt for them. AP, they just in that era, they did not make as many serially produced watches. And so you can't really get yourself super excited. You can't hunt for something. You can't say, oh, I found this really great 2523, but there's one that I want more. It's either you you take it or you leave it and and the market is then just not going to be as robust. It's not going to have as many examples of of what you can find on the market or or other examples that can reassure you that spending two or three or ten million dollars on a watch is worthwhile. It's it's you alone in a sea of of nothingness around you and you have to really love it. And I think that support, that scholarship really does make a difference in terms of pushing the prices up. So to me, I can't draw any market trends from a a massive result like that for an AP because unless somebody sells it again next year, there's no trend. |
| Unknown Host | Right. Yeah. And I would certainly um when we're talking Odomar PGA, especially from that era, we're talking much, much less volume and uh examples, a much more bespoke watchmaker at the time. So yeah, we're we're we're gonna throw it to our our chat with Akionaito from Seiko. But um you saw what um both Grand Seiko and then Credor we saw at Watches and Wonders for the first time this year. I mean any thoughts on um on what you know Seiko as a corporation is doing with that brand? I guess trying to sort of, you know, do something similar to to what they did with Grand Seco back in I think it's twenty seventeen, sort of, you know, making a distinction for that and bringing that brand more international. |
| Mark Kauzlarich | Yeah, I think it's an interesting uh time for Credor. I think there's been a lot of interest and and it hasn't been completely out of the market. I know that having gone to the Grand Saco boutique in New York, they had some Credor watches sort of squirreled away and and in the back for people that ask, it was I guess you could kind of say it was a a shibboleth for people that really cared about Japanese watchmaking is okay, you say the word and then you're led to see some of the Creedors, whether it's the their complicated watches or the gold feather or the locomotive, the masterpiece collection, the Ichi2, like these things. And they have been slowly rolling out the locomotive. I think though the one thing that I'll be interested to see for the market is Grand Seiko has core pillars of design that lead it to be something that's easily digestible for a commercial audience, right? You you know that a Grand Seiko is going to always operate visually in a certain realm and you know what you're getting when you walk in the door, and if you want to dress your option, there's one that's not too far afield from the sportier options and and Credor doesn't have those same restrictions. They can do a lot more, which opens up a lot of doors and it could get a lot more people in. But at the same time, you you just don't know what you're what you're asking for. It's like going to a restaurant in some ways without having a sense of what the cuisine is that you're you're going to be looking at. So I think it will maybe take some time to pick up steam in the United States in a way that Grand Seco was uh did not, but it is an interesting opportunity for the brand and uh a a very broad opportunity because it covers a lot of the uh financial spectrum. You can have very, very expensive credores and then you can have much more affordable ones. |
| Unknown Host | Yeah, absolutely. No, there's um there's uh almost limitless possibilities in terms of um what they can do with watchmaking and and finishing and and uh technique with this brand. And uh yeah, we will um hear from Mr. Naito um on on that um shortly. But Mark, wanted to say thank you. Always a pleasure to hear from you and uh we appreciate your insights. |
| Mark Kauzlarich | Thanks for having me. And now here's our |
| Unknown Host | conversation with Akyonito, the president of Seko Watch Corporation. Welcome Akio Naito, the president of Seiko Watch Corporation. We are here at Watches and Wonders 2026. Welcome to the business of watches. |
| Akio Naito | Thank you very much for having me. Thank you for |
| Unknown Host | being with us. So I mean let's start. The news here is that Krador is at Watches and Wonders for the first time. The high level brand |
| Akio Naito | Okay, if I can start |
| Akio Naito | with our history. Brand |
| Akio Naito | was born in Japan in 1974 and became an independent of Seiko before Grand Seiko became independent, which was 2017. And when the company was contemplating to go into the global market with the luxury segment of our brand portfolio, the discussion was whether to choose Credo or Grand Seiko. That was around two thousand eight, two thousand nine. And in the end, finally we decided to uh choose Grand Seiko as opposed to Cridol |
| Akio Naito | at that time. The reason being, |
| Akio Naito | uh we, thought the name Seiko was well known among all the consumers all around the world. In comparison, Krido name was not, you know, known outside of Japan. And uh also uh Grand Seiko has a functional value, meaning legibility, uh |
| Akio Naito | accuracy, which we thought |
| Akio Naito | could be appealing more uh compared to uh credo, which the aesthetic uh segm you know part of the brand uh may be cultural or original and may not have a universal appeal. That was the decision internally within the organization. So we at the time. Yes. So we we started with Grand Seiko for the global uh you know luxury segment. After several |
| Akio Naito | years uh we had a difficult |
| Akio Naito | time uh in promoting uh Grand Seiko because the image of Seiko was not that of a luxury, and luxury watch distribution was totally different from the main Seiko distribution. |
| Akio Naito | So we decided to make |
| Akio Naito | Grand Sequo an independent brand in 2017 and established Grand Seco America in 2018, making Grand Seiko strategy uh totally uh different and independent of Seiko strategy. And that point, uh, you know, we |
| Akio Naito | we started uh exploding the |
| Akio Naito | Grand Seiko business outside of Japan. |
| Akio Naito | Actually, in the last ten years, the Grand |
| Akio Naito | Seiko sales outside of Japan uh |
| Akio Naito | have uh grown more than |
| Akio Naito | fifteen times very significant |
| Akio Naito | uh growth and and uh most |
| Akio Naito | notably in the US market. |
| Akio Naito | And as the brand has become |
| Akio Naito | better known uh in the luxury segment, we thought it was uh |
| Akio Naito | the time was uh right for us |
| Akio Naito | to launch Credo in a global market because many people associate Credo with Grand Seiko, |
| Akio Naito | the high level watchmaking, |
| Akio Naito | and uh from a totally different identity uh compared to that of Grand |
| Akio Naito | Seiko, and we can meet |
| Akio Naito | the demand of uh different consumers with Grand Seiko. |
| Unknown Host | Yes. And it's interesting that the decision was made uh here in with the belief that the launch of Grand Seco had succeeded, obviously, with the sales that you spoke of. And so that meant uh it was the time for Credor to um have a entry into the global market. Am I thinking about that correctly? |
| Akio Naito | Well uh historically in Japan Credor was a lot bigger as a brand compared |
| Akio Naito | to Grand Seiko. Grand Seiko was filled a |
| Akio Naito | very niche uh space within the |
| Akio Naito | Seiko uh umbrella, uh Seiko family. And uh Credo uh was uh uh actually the luxury uh watch brand |
| Akio Naito | in Japan. Yes. And so |
| Unknown Host | how are Credor watches produced? How should we think about them in relation to the other marks and and and what's w how do they stand out and what's the message we want to send? |
| Akio Naito | So uh e even though we we were able to achieve this international debut at Watch is Wanders this year, our biggest challenge is to uh increase the |
| Akio Naito | production capacity for credo because uh |
| Akio Naito | with credo uh there is a lot more uh hand craftsmanship, uh |
| Akio Naito | even more so than Grand Seiko, and m making |
| Akio Naito | it very difficult for us to uh raise |
| Akio Naito | the production uh capacity. So |
| Akio Naito | although we uh are now |
| Akio Naito | uh making this international debut uh the initially in the first uh at least few years the uh points |
| Akio Naito | of sales very, very uh limited. Aaron Ross |
| Unknown Host | Powell And when you say um you know international uh launch what markets are we talking about and what kind of you know distribution should we expect at this early initial launch stage? So obviously uh the |
| Akio Naito | same as uh in the case |
| Akio Naito | of Gran Seiko, uh US market is our uh most important strategic market. |
| Unknown Host | And uh our success with |
| Akio Naito | Grand Seiko, especially our flagship boutique in Madison Avenue, New York, that is a point where we can make use of to communicate to the consumers how |
| Akio Naito | uh Credo is different from Grand Seiko. Aaron |
| Unknown Host | Ross Powell I see. And so we will we see the two brands then in the same boutiques? |
| Akio Naito | Yes. Yes. Yes. So the the details uh yet to be determined, |
| Akio Naito | but uh we would like to uh create uh space or area where we can showcase Credo as uh uh different |
| Akio Naito | brand. And when we talk about and you when |
| Unknown Host | we try and make the point of the differential uh between these two brands and that, you know, Credor um was uh long considered a more prestigious, more craftsmanship, higher end brand. Yeah, w what's the messaging on the difference here s considering that the brands will be side by side in some places? |
| Akio Naito | In a simple word, I think uh we uh that as a brand, Cridol has more freedom compared to Grand Seiko. Uh Grand Seiko has a very unique uh grammar codes |
| Akio Naito | uh and the designs are inherited from the uh vintage models |
| Akio Naito | and and those uh representative models |
| Akio Naito | are like uh icons of the brand. |
| Akio Naito | And many of our fans associate Gran Seiko |
| Akio Naito | with uh some of these representative designs. |
| Akio Naito | And of course the Japanese uh craftsmanship |
| Akio Naito | and the nature of time |
| Akio Naito | brand philosophy, these are the |
| Akio Naito | elements from Ranseiko. |
| Akio Naito | In comparison, Credo what we call the creativity |
| Akio Naito | of artisans uh has more |
| Akio Naito | universal appeal uh in terms of elegance and beauty, not so much |
| Akio Naito | as chasing the ultimate uh functionality like |
| Akio Naito | uh Grand Seiko. So you know of course uh we don't uh ignore uh the accuracy or legibility |
| Unknown Host | uh for Cridol, but uh |
| Akio Naito | uh from a different angle uh |
| Akio Naito | we put more emphasis on the uh universal appeal of uh elegance and and beauty and making use of the talented artisans. That's the the key term for Credo. Take uh locomotive |
| Akio Naito | for example, which was designed in the nineteen nineteen seventies by Mr. Jenta. |
| Akio Naito | Not even the Japanese uh |
| Akio Naito | you know creator. But uh uh something uh |
| Akio Naito | in his creation there is uh |
| Akio Naito | uh beauty or or elegance |
| Akio Naito | which appeal to uh the |
| Akio Naito | consumers worldwide. So uh for |
| Akio Naito | uh Credo uh once again, |
| Akio Naito | uh I think uh uh there is a much more freedom to uh pursue the elegance and beauty. |
| Unknown Host | And obviously you're the the president of um a massive um watch manufacturer. And so should we think about this international debut and launch at all in any kind of response or how does it fit into the trend? Would you agree that watch consumers are becoming more interested in design forward and um uh more elegant kind of dress watches. |
| Akio Naito | So it's been a long time since uh watch |
| Unknown Host | became not just as a utility |
| Akio Naito | you know tool but uh expression |
| Akio Naito | of uh one's identity or social |
| Akio Naito | prestige. And this has been |
| Akio Naito | our uh long term uh strategy as uh watch manufacturer uh to come up with |
| Akio Naito | first Grand Seiko and as the fame of Grand Secreto the level of |
| Akio Naito | brand awareness has uh increased, uh now is the time for us to |
| Akio Naito | launch Credo and and uh |
| Akio Naito | thereby capturing uh different needs of uh luxury |
| Akio Naito | consumers. Aaron Powell And and how should we think |
| Unknown Host | about materials use? I mean, is there more precious metals? How long does it take on average to make a creador watch? How many people work on it? Can you talk about how big the production is? You say that that is one of the constraints in terms of um the international. |
| Akio Naito | Well uh we right now have |
| Akio Naito | we uh uh two uh manufacturing sites for credo, uh |
| Akio Naito | one in uh Shizukuishi uh in northern part of Japan, the other is uh Shiojiri, uh west of uh Tokyo. And |
| Akio Naito | uh where these artisans and watchmakers |
| Akio Naito | uh specializing in Credo are working, |
| Akio Naito | in each of the representative models |
| Akio Naito | uh like uh H two or Goldfeather, uh there is |
| Akio Naito | uh certain handcrafting uh elements that are very unique to uh |
| Akio Naito | Credo and takes |
| Akio Naito | you know like like at least ten years |
| Akio Naito | for uh watchmakers uh to be |
| Akio Naito | able to create uh piece |
| Akio Naito | like uh H two, the porcelain dial and |
| Akio Naito | uh characteristic handwritten indexes and and brand logo. |
| Unknown Host | Yes. I mean and and that's an extraordinary amount of craftsmanship and speciality. Um why Watches and Wonders 26 though? I mean, how do you see this venue as the launch pad or what role does it play in that international law? |
| Akio Naito | Well uh with Seiko we used to |
| Akio Naito | exhibit at uh Basel World. |
| Akio Naito | And then uh watches and wonders uh I was approached |
| Akio Naito | by the organizer uh back in twenty |
| Akio Naito | twenty one I think and then we started discussing with them uh how we could exhibit Grand Seiko at Botches in Mondos. And after starting Grand Seiko |
| Akio Naito | at Watches and Wonders we we |
| Akio Naito | increasingly felt the big success |
| Akio Naito | and the uh feedback from all over the world, |
| Akio Naito | especially in in the European market. So this uh uh watches and wonders |
| Akio Naito | as a uh luxury watch platform |
| Akio Naito | has been extremely important for the brand. |
| Unknown Host | And how does Credor compare in price range to Grand Seiko and who do we think you know, we you know who your customers are in Japan. Who do we think they will be internationally? |
| Akio Naito | The history of Credo in Japan extends over uh fifty years |
| Akio Naito | and uh uh actually uh |
| Akio Naito | as a luxury brand, we had we used to have a very |
| Akio Naito | wide range of uh products under |
| Akio Naito | Credo, which we decided to streamline and be focused more on the high end. So that uh transformation took place uh last uh five six |
| Akio Naito | years and still we |
| Akio Naito | are in the process of in Japan, you know, changing the distribution and changing the product portfolio. The collections we are showing at Watches and Wanda this year |
| Akio Naito | are just a part of the existing uh |
| Akio Naito | collections in Japan and we carefully chose the collection which we could appeal to the global consumers. So as an average the unit price is higher for Credo compared to Grand Seiko. |
| Unknown Host | Definitely can we can we talk about how much or what kind of different um you know. So uh I |
| Akio Naito | I don't really have the exact |
| Akio Naito | uh you know figure uh in mind but uh uh |
| Akio Naito | because for Credo we use a lot of uh precious metals, platinum, uh gold |
| Akio Naito | and and uh Definitely |
| Unknown Host | and I'm sure that uh the price of precious metals is something that you're paying particular close attention to these days. Should we d also talk about though Grand Seiko and how that brand has evolved and uh, you know, the international presence there? What are we seeing with the product on the Grand Seco side? We're seeing, you know, different sizes for some of the divers, we're seeing finally um some micro adjustment in the in the class. What kind of more innovation and changes should we look for in Grand Seiko? in the future |
| Akio Naito | So Grand Seiko we decided to go to the global market in 2010 and first four five years the percentage of uh our overseas sales uh within the total ground seco sales was uh roughly uh five percent, six percent, very, very small. And uh |
| Akio Naito | uh the growth each year was like ten percent, fifteen percent, uh, you |
| Akio Naito | know, gradual increase but not the uh you know significant development. And as the brand became independent of Seiko, uh we |
| Akio Naito | started uh really in drastically increasing uh the |
| Akio Naito | sales for Grand Seiko. And uh with the establishment of |
| Akio Naito | Grand Seiko America and changing the distribution strategy to uh penetrate into the high-end retailers. |
| Akio Naito | And of course in partnership with Holding Key, uh the communication uh is |
| Akio Naito | totally different and you know changed. Certainly, |
| Unknown Host | yeah. And then uh last ten years |
| Akio Naito | the brand has grown, as I said, |
| Akio Naito | uh more than fifteen times outside of uh Japan. |
| Akio Naito | Now this year we are launching new uh Ushio Diva |
| Akio Naito | uh diver watch And with |
| Akio Naito | Seiko brand, we have a very long history |
| Akio Naito | with Diver Watch. We created uh |
| Akio Naito | Japan's first Diver Watch back |
| Akio Naito | in 1965. And |
| Akio Naito | Seiko uh was associated |
| Akio Naito | with uh lots of sport uh models, especially diver watch. |
| Akio Naito | And when we considered uh how we could create Grand Seiko |
| Akio Naito | diver, uh which must be different from |
| Akio Naito | that of uh Seiko. You |
| Akio Naito | know, expression uh taken from |
| Akio Naito | Ushio, which is Tide uh in the ocean. And also |
| Akio Naito | as uh Grand Seiko's uh |
| Akio Naito | DNA is to uh pursue the accuracy |
| Akio Naito | uh which is an important functional |
| Akio Naito | element of uh wristwatch. Uh |
| Akio Naito | we uh adapted uh UFA ultra fine accuracy spring drive movement, which deviates only twenty seconds per year. So uh |
| Akio Naito | you know this uh new uh release and also it has a |
| Akio Naito | compact case size, |
| Akio Naito | so it meets a demand |
| Akio Naito | of uh global consumers |
| Akio Naito | as a grand sequel uh evolved from uh the historical Seiko |
| Akio Naito | diverse watch. The last thing I want to |
| Unknown Host | ask you about is um a a personal interest of mine. I mean I'm wearing a Grand Seiko quartz uh nine F watch here and Seiko and Grand Seiko are pioneers and leaders in quartz technology. How should we think about the future of the use of quartz, obviously with Spring Drive as well, which is a different operation, but how should we think about the future of quartz uh within the brands? |
| Akio Naito | So uh in nineteen sixty-nine Seiko |
| Akio Naito | uh created the world's first |
| Akio Naito | quartz watch, uh Seiko courts Astron, and with an im enormous success of uh quotes uh technology which has become |
| Akio Naito | more uh uh commoditized uh |
| Akio Naito | in the industry. So lots |
| Akio Naito | of uh uh you know low priced quotes watches with mass production have uh spread out uh throughout the world. |
| Akio Naito | And the image of quotes uh |
| Akio Naito | has uh decreased as a result. That that I think is a reality. But our uh nine |
| Akio Naito | F movement for Grand Sekor Quartz is totally |
| Akio Naito | different. We have an in-house capability of developing uh quartz |
| Akio Naito | crystal and then uh fine adjustment and tuning of uh uh uh quartz |
| Akio Naito | oscillator and and uh with the uh |
| Akio Naito | thermo compensated uh mechanism um makes our quartz movement for grand sequel uh very different from a conventional uh |
| Akio Naito | quotes watch at an affordable price range. So with |
| Akio Naito | the consumers knowledge level uh increases uh |
| Akio Naito | and many people have become aware of the |
| Akio Naito | existence of a grand seco brand, |
| Akio Naito | people come to our boutiques and looking for different models and they |
| Akio Naito | find our courts models |
| Akio Naito | which are more affordably priced compared with 9S mechanical movement or |
| Akio Naito | 9R springdrive movement. This plays an important entry |
| Akio Naito | level uh model for the brand and we are seeing |
| Akio Naito | increasingly uh the popularity |
| Akio Naito | of uh 9th movement in the US market where we have become uh able to establish the brand awareness of Grand Seiko. |
| Akio Naito | So Japan and US are two markets |
| Akio Naito | where we see a very popular uh uh nine F uh you know purchases. |
| Unknown Host | And have you seen the the economic challenges, the industry's challenges, um, you know, the volatility in the global economy, has that impacted the |
| Akio Naito | Well uh I I think it's a matter of uh |
| Akio Naito | communication and and education |
| Akio Naito | uh among our uh consumers. As I |
| Akio Naito | said, our uh nine F quotes movement is different from the |
| Akio Naito | conventional quotes. And there |
| Akio Naito | is a certain merit, uh unique |
| Akio Naito | merit for uh Grand Secret quotes model to offer to the |
| Akio Naito | consumers and then we keep you know making efforts |
| Akio Naito | to make it better known among our consumers. |
| Unknown Host | Very good. Well, I think we'll leave it there. Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Naito, the president of Seiko Watch Corporation. Thank you for joining the business of watches. Thank you very much. And that's the business of watches for this episode. We hope you enjoyed. Please head on over to hodinky.com where you can join the discussion and leave any comments or questions about this episode or the business of watches in general. Who knows? We might even answer your question on a future episode. Thanks for listening and see you next time |