In the rural Japanese town of Shizukuishi in Iwate Prefecture, a new wooden studio for Grand Seiko blends with its natural surroundings. A swooping roof and clear glass window offer a sublime view of Mount Iwate, over 2,000m in height, where rocks unfold their true colours when snow melts. Set in lush landscape, the studio bears witness to wild creatures, including antelopes and foxes. In the midst of nature, craftspeople, known as takumi, are breathing life into mechanical watches. It is a place that embodies the brand's philosophy of the nature of time, in an environmental and technological sense.
Diver's watch aims to inspire thoughts of polar glaciers, and takes its design and architecture from timekeepers used during Polar expeditions in 1960s and ‘70s.
Grand Seiko's 10-year project has culminated in the Kodo its debut high complication combining a constant-force mechanism and a tourbillon as one unit on a single axis a first in horological history.