One of the key aims of this site is to be a source of information for those who collect vintage Grand Seiko. We don’t just list the watches that we have for sale in the anticipation that customers will add them to their collections – we also list watches that we have never had in stock, along with as much data about those watches as we can glean. The intent is to be a reliable source of information about exactly which references were created by Grand Seiko, and to provide data on those references.
We are confident that currently this site contains the most complete, accurate and detailed information on the historical Grand Seiko references that you will find anywhere.
Regular readers will be aware that we have been uploading scanned copies of old Seiko Sales newsletters and Seiko Catalogues to this website, and publishing them in the “Articles” section that you are in now. These are two examples of documentation that would have been distributed through the retail side of the supply chain, and they can be a great source of information on vintage Grand Seiko products.
Recently it has come to our realisation that there are also in-house magazines that would appear to be on the production side of the supply chain, and we have acquired a significant number of these.
All Seiko produced publications have the potential to contain interesting content, but this latest batch of production side in-house magazines to come into our possession have some incredible information in them that could quite possibly fill some significant gaps in the current knowledge regarding not just vintage Grand Seiko, but vintage Seiko in general.
There are at least ten different sets of magazines that we have acquired, all from roughly the 1968-1972 period. Given the issue numbers on the covers of these magazines, it is clear that we are just scratching the surface of what has been published.
There is absolutely no question that these magazines are a potential goldmine of information, but the first thing we want to establish is – what exactly do we have?
We believe that each set of magazines relates to a particular entity within the wider Seiko corporation – possibly manufacturing facilities, but this is not clear. Their content is very similar, covering such things as welcoming new employees, births and marriages, messages from senior management, and crucially – for our interest – background articles relating to Seiko product (which are often repeated across multiple sets).
For example, one particular issue has a multi-page feature on the Seiko Astron. In another, there is an astonishing 15-page article that reports on Seiko’s participation at the Neuchatel and Geneva Chronometry competitions – complete with photographs of the watchmakers responsible for the competition movements. In one more, there is an article on the almost mythical 5718 “Counter Chrono” reference that to the best of our knowledge is the first such documentation of the existence of this model to be discovered in recent memory.
So – all in all, a very exciting find.
The gallery below contains scans of the cover of a magazine from each of the 10 sets. If anyone reading this is able to provide some background as to where each of these magazines originates from, it would be very much appreciated. Please either leave a comment below, or contact us by email (contact@…) if you are able to provide any further information about these publications.
Over the coming days and weeks, we will be scanning and uploading some of the more exciting articles to this website. Stay tuned!
