In 1977, a young watch engineer named Yoshikazu Akahane set out to achieve the impossible: creating an “everlasting” watch. His vision was to produce a traditional watch powered by a mainspring that could achieve the precision of one second per day, a level already attained by the company’s electronic watches.
Twenty years ago, Grand Seiko introduced the Caliber 9R Spring Drive, which has since become a collector’s favourite, with many enthusiasts collecting each new release. The Spring Drive is particularly significant as Grand Seiko is one of the few manufacturers that master electronic and mechanical watchmaking.
The journey towards this innovative design began long before its introduction. In the 1970s, Grand Seiko embarked on research to develop a watch that combined the power of a mainspring with electronic technologies, achieving a level of precision that no conventional mechanical watch could match.
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