Are you familiar with Tetsuwan Atomu" This young robot, also known as Astro Boy, originated as a manga of the same name in 1952 (and later aired as an animated television series). He was created by scientists and given superpowers to defend the world from evil robots and extraterrestrials. He is one of Japan?s most famous superheroes. Caliber 9SA5 is also a tiny machine with special capabilities, developed by Japanese designers. Of course, these are not superpowers per se, but the designers at Grand Seiko wanted to produce the best possible movement and started from scratch to create a new and innovative escapement.

We almost felt a bit like super-villains as we took apart the movement in our test watch, the Grand Seiko High-Beat Caliber 9SA5, to have a closer look. Grand Seiko first introduced Caliber 9SA5 in 2020 in the gold SLGH002, which is limited to 100 pieces. The price of $43,000 on a leather strap was considerably higher than comparable models from Patek Philippe or A. Lange & Söhne, which illustrates the ambition and confidence of Grand Seiko. Our test watch in stainless steel, limited to 1,000 pieces, is priced at $9,700, about 70 percent more than a comparable Omega and about 25 percent more than a Rolex Datejust. So even the price of our test watch is ?super.?
We locked this superhero in our super-villain laboratory and subjected it to every imaginable torture. Steel ?armor? protects it to a depth of 100 meters, and the crown is screwed down...