The Heritage Of Season: The Grand Seiko Heritage Collection

Bobby Barker

One of the many great wonders Mother Nature provides us with is the gradual, graceful changing of the seasons. As we travel in time from the glowing warmth of spring to the blazing delight of summer to the crisp modesty of autumn to the piercing chill of winter, the colours and textures around us morph and shift in a perfectly balanced annual dance. Grand Seiko is a watchmaker that is constantly fascinated by the beauty in the natural world and with its new Grand Seiko Heritage Collection, they have drawn inspiration from the special sensations that each of its Japanese twenty-four sekki provides.

Of the four dazzling timepiece each represent one stage of the four unique but unified seasons which pass through our world, year in and year out. The first is Risshun, which encapsulates the essence of spring through its lively pink dial, mimicking the blooming of the marvelous cherry blossoms with which the nation has long been synonymous with. Then comes Rikka, reflecting the endlessly reverberating intensity of the summer heat and the explosion of naturalistic life with its well-tanned, rich green dial. Following this comes Shūbun, with its deep blue dial capturing Tsuki-yo, the peaceful modesty of the autumn night sky, the calm between the conflicting ‘storms’ of the seasons on either side. Finally arrives Taisetsu, as the blistering cold of winter envelops the land in Miyuki, a stunning white sheen, captured here with a glistening snowy dial. Each piece is cased in either a modest stainless steel or high-intensity titanium and all dials are topped with an alluring boxed shaped sapphire crystal. At a diameter of just 40mm, the collection recognises that sometimes, less is more, making each intricate detail that much more important.

At the heart of the four magnificent pieces are two of Grand Seiko’s elite in-house calibres. Risshun and Taisetsu utilise Grand Seiko’s 72 hour power reserve Calibre 9R65, which displays both the company’s elite watchmaking technology and the deft touch of their finest craftsmen, exemplifying the pure excellence of the Grand Seiko’s Spring Drive movement. Rikka and Shūbun show off the company’s Calibre 9S85, an automatic calibre with manual winding and approximately 55 hours of power reserve. Both calibres are the product of hours of meticulous, painstaking detail put in at the Grand Seiko’s Shinshu Watch Studio, ensuring not a second is wasted and each wearer knows they are getting a work of true precision.

The Heritage Collection is just the latest in Grand Seiko’s ongoing quest to capture nature’s most stunning sights in its watches, fully investing in the intrinsic link between nature and time.

Experience the Grand Seiko Heritage Collection for yourself today at Partridge Jewellers in Newmarket or Wellington.