Seiko Champion

I say this poking gentle fun at RJ at FratelloWatches for his post, as I really enjoy his thoughts and writing, but it is a perspective of many WIS magazines and blogs that Swiss & German watches are the only “real” mechanical watches in their opinion.

First, let me give a “thumbs up” to RJ for selecting the Nomos Club as one of his selections, a great watch that’s still on my wish list. I think he’s done a really good job picking watches, other than the exclusion of non-European brands.


Image from FratelloWatches.com

I would challenge those who exclude Asian (and other) high-end well known brands of watch makers from their lists. The perception of European dominance in luxury watches is actually just an example of successful marketing … it’s not true, and it’s a relatively recent perspective. Other countries including the US used to be considered the premier manufacturers of luxury watches, but that changed last century. Some of this changed for real, other parts of it just changed in belief.

I’m not talking about new Chinese firms with little heritage. I’m talking about something like a Grand Seiko, which has the heritage, quality, accuracy, and aesthetics to more than hold it’s head up high in this company. I guess this post earns me my “Seiko Champion” moniker.


GS 9S54A, 2001, image from luxurious.whatsoever.hk