Grand Seiko Spring Drive Achi Ref. SBGZ007

High up in the mountains of the southern part of Japan’s Shinshu region is Achi, a village that is famous for its spectacular night skies. Thanks to its high elevation, its remoteness and the crisp cleanliness of its air, the stars above Achi seem almost within touching distance and the immensity of the universe is brought into the sharpest focus. With its platinum case and with the glide motion seconds hand that moves silently and continuously across the deep blue, starspeckled dial, this new Grand Seiko masterpiece brings to life both the majesty of the heavens and the ever-changing and yet eternal nature of time itself.

Today, in celebration of the 140th anniversary of the foundation of the company, Grand Seiko presents a new Spring Drive masterpiece powered by this caliber and made by the elite team of watchmakers at the Micro Artist Studio in Grand Seiko’s manufacturing facility in Shiojiri, located in the same Shinshu region as Achi. The watch will be available as a limited edition of 50 at the Grand Seiko Boutiques in August 2021.

The blue of the dial has a remarkable depth that is accentuated by the quiet and delicate sparkle of what appear to be distant stars. A unique manufacturing and finishing technique combining stamping, plating and painting gives the dial a different aspect at each and every viewing angle, just as does the sky above Achi. The Platinum 950 case is carefully engraved with a pattern which is replicated in different directions on the Zaratsu polished case, again capturing the exquisite order and ever changing aspect of Achi’s starry skies.

The outstanding 84 hour power reserve of Caliber 9R02 is realized thanks to the Dual Spring Barrel, in which two mainsprings are set in parallel within a single barrel, and the Torque Return System. When the mainspring has been fully wound and the torque output is at its highest, approximately 30% of the available power is not needed to maintain the precision of the watch and is in effect wasted in a normal movement. The Torque Return System uses this energy to rewind the mainspring, resulting in an increase in the power reserve. In Caliber 9R02, this system is activated for 48 hours after the mainspring has been fully wound.

The Micro Artist Studio is a luxury watch studio that makes the Grand Seiko Masterpiece Collection, a series of unique watches that combine the best in horological technology with hand craftsmanship of the highest order. The studio was established in 2000 with the purpose of “uncovering, examining, and mastering the technologies and skills passed on by our predecessors for the production of luxury watches”. The team consists of craftsmen and women, each an expert in their respective fields, such as movement design, assembly and movement finishing.