The mastery of design and the spirituality of time

“Design is an element that has always been part of Grand Seiko's DNA”, Japanese watch manufacturing brand that was born in 1960 thanks to the achievement of the technological milestone that led to the birth of the first model of the same name, with caliber 3180, produced at the time by Suwa Seikosha (now Seiko Epson) in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan. Frédéric Bondoux, President of Grand Seiko Europe, continues by explaining that “the Fuorisalone week in Milan represents for us an important moment of dialogue with the public useful to express and share the essence of our brand. Grand Seiko, through its philosophy inspired by nature, brings to its watches the Japanese thought linked to the passage of time which is at the basis of all evolution, a concept that Grand Seiko sums up with the motto Alive in Time".


The "White Birch" model inspired by the white birch forests in Iwate prefecture

Grand Seiko
Grand Seiko celebrates the Japanese spirituality of time through the creation of extraordinary watches. The distinctive design is inspired by the beauty of the Japanese natural environment, and is revealed in excellent, high-precision movements, assembled and finished by hand by the masters of the watchmaking art, who are named Takumi.

The Takumis work between the Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi, an evocative place located in the prefecture of the majestic Mount Iwate, and the Shinshu Watchmaking Studio, surrounded by the splendid mountains and lake of the same name. In these idyllic workshops, the three movements that underpin the functioning of Grand Seiko watches take shape: the mechanical, including the iconic Hi-Beat 36,000 and 28,800, which integrates technology and craftsmanship, elevating the art of watchmaking to its highest level; the Spring Drive which, combining mechanical and electronic watchmaking, reproduces the continuous flow of time through the fluid movement of the second hand; and the quartz movement, synonymous with precision and essentiality.


Grand Seiko designers at work

Time and design
Grand Seiko, remaining faithful to its philosophy, The Nature of Time, expresses in its creations the connection with nature and the inexorability of time. The watches of the brand express in their aesthetics a very specific stylistic language, defined as the Grand Seiko Style, which seeks characteristics such as precision, beauty, legibility and ease of use, in perfect harmony between form and function. The design principles underlying the Grand Seiko Style have to do with the balance between flat surfaces and two-dimensional curves, which in turn create the characteristic contrasts between light and shadow; with flat volumes, fundamental for functionality and readability; and with the mirror finish of every surface, thanks to the Zaratsu technique, which makes each Grand Seiko watch vibrantly brilliant and free of distortion.

Grand Seiko at the Fuorisalone 2024
Grand Seiko, Official Timekeeper of Fuorisalone and Brera Design Week, presents the project Matter in Motion: reflections on the balance between nature and human being, it will be an experiential installation set up in the Casa Brera space, in via Formentini 10. Here, the Japanese brand re-interprets the Fuorisalone 2024 theme “Materia Natura” by exploring the link between these two elements in relation to time.

Stay updated on Fuorisalone.it and Brera Design Week to discover all the details of the event.