Thanks, Hammy. If you and the Prof say a watch is good, I believe it.
Seiko owns several brands not marketed as ‘Seiko’, (Seiko Epson owns Orient, for example - but it’s run at arm’s length), but under the ‘Seiko’ name, they sell Astron, Prospex, Presage, King Seiko, 5 Sports, Coutura, Diamond, and Core.
When the watch is sold under the prestige or higher Seiko brands (Grand Seiko especially), my understanding is that the movement is always Japanese assembled.
As you go ‘down’ in prestige, then you get a mix of Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Korea - but having worked on all of them at some point, there’s no real difference in workmanship or assembly between those countries.
Grand Seiko is another level, of course. In my career, I’ve only worked on a handful, but they were all, without exception, beautifully engineered and exceptionally well made. Probably some of the very best I’ve ever seen.
But the origins of watch parts is a bit murky. Even getting away from the whole ‘Swiss Made’, ‘Swiss Movement’, ‘Swiss Parts’ debate, the major Swiss manufactures are reluctant to ever mention the ‘China’ word - but parts are definitely sourced there…
It’s also really interesting to see how much of the finishing on Swiss movements, that certain Swiss makers would have us believe is down to them, can be actually specified on the order. Everyone knows the various grades of movement ‘elabore’, ‘top’ etc that ETA used, but if the order is large enough, Selitta (for one) will apply bespoke finishing for you. In the past ETA would also provide hugely attractive finishing, if the price was right, and I sure others are the same.
