In 1993, Seiko launched the first Grand Seiko timepiece outfitted with Caliber 9F, an ultra-precise, extra-durable quartz movement that had been five years in development. Grand Seiko pays tribute to this groundbreaking movement, which took the Japanese brand’s reputation for elegantly simple design and timekeeping accuracy to new levels, with two limited-edition watches that we got to see up close and personal at the Couture watch and jewelry show in Las Vegas.
The first Grand Seiko watch with Caliber 9F debuted in 1993.
What made Caliber 9F so notable at the time was the unconventional thinking that inspired it. Rather than focus on adding additional functions (calendars, chronographs, alarms, etc.) to existing quartz watch movements, as so many brands were doing back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the Grand Seiko team decided to double down on the timekeeping essentials, making a quartz movement that was more precise, more robust, and more suitable to the Grand Seiko’s elegantly simple aesthetic. The result (in the 1993 watch pictured above) was a movement with the same long, broad hour and minute hands that could be driven without putting undue stress on the battery; a calendar change for the day-date display that was instantaneous; a “backlash” auto-adjust mechanism that prevented shuddering of the seconds hand; a twin-pulse control system for increased torque; and a special shield that protected the gear train and motor from dust....