After more than two decades of development, Seiko launched the Spring Drive movement at the Basel Watch Fair in 1999, bringing unique technology to the watchmaking industry.
Like all other mechanical watches, this innovative movement generates electricity through the mainspring of the mainspring. This traditional way of generating electricity makes the watch completely autonomous and does not require batteries or other power sources. Then, the electric energy generated by the sliding wheel is used to activate the quartz oscillator, causing it to vibrate precisely at a frequency of 32,768 Hz. Finally, the electromagnetic force is used to control the speed at which the spring releases as a brake. The development of Spring Drive is possible because Grand Seiko is one of the few manufacturers proficient in the manufacture of electronic and mechanical great copy watches.
This year, Grand Seiko celebrated the 20th anniversary of Spring Drive in a new series of the Elegance series, which presents a more refined and slim profile in a 38.5 mm round case.
The Spring Drive 20th Anniversary series consists of four watches, with two new manual winding Spring Drive movements, both of which have the iconic sliding second hand, reflecting the natural and continuous passage of time. All of these provide excellent accuracy of ±1 second per day.
The first two models are equipped with the 9R02 movement, which sets two mainsprings in parallel in a barrel and uses a unique torque return system to provide 84 hours of power reserve
The case is made of 950 platinum and is only 9.8 mm thick. The hands and hour markers are made of 14k white gold to ensure lasting brilliance. The name of Grand Seiko, minute markers and all other markers are engraved on the dial, and the power reserve indicator can be seen through the sapphire crystal case back. The shape of the barrel next to it echoes the shape of the bellflower, the symbol of salt. , Which is where the Micro Artist Studio of Grand Seiko is located. The edges of both bridges are highly polished, so their brilliance contrasts sharply with the perfect hairline.
One of these two watches is a limited edition, with the famous “snowflake” pattern on the dial, inspired by the beauty of snow in the Shinshu region. The silver surface of the dial complements the exquisite hand-engraving on the platinum case.
The other two timepieces are equipped with the new Spring Drive movement 9R31, which has the same dual mainspring structure as 9R02, and has an accuracy of one second per day, but the power reserve is 72 hours instead of 84 hours. These two actions are also different.