It?s not entirely shocking that Grand Seiko has taken their T0 concept tourbillon movement announced back in 2020 and put it into production for a new and completely bonkers highly complicated limited edition, but I don?t know that anyone really expected this watch to turn up so soon, less than two years since the experimental movement was unveiled. This week at Watches & Wonders, Grand Seiko has done just that, announcing the Kodo Constant-Force Tourbillon. The watch sets a new high watermark for Grand Seiko in terms of complicated watchmaking, pushing them into haute horlogerie territory occupied mainly by a slew of Swiss brands and independent watchmakers that one doesn?t normally think of occupying the same space as Grand Seiko. That only speaks, however, to the incredibly rapid growth of the brand, and their impressive ability to play at seemingly any level they choose, from quartz sports watches coming in at around $3,000, to the Kodo seen here, which – trust me – is considerably more expensive.
It would be a mistake to assume that the Kodo simply runs a version of the T0 caliber scaled up to meet a small production run, and Grand Seiko has given this movement a new name to drive that point home. The 9ST1 caliber is the product of many small refinements to the T0, which was essentially rethought component by component to create a movement that would be suitable in a wristwatch that Grand Seiko could actually sell. The 9ST1 is notably smaller ...