Grand Seiko Vs Seiko – Differences Explained!

In today’s article we will be exploring the differences between Grand Seiko Vs Seiko watches. There are a lot of misconceptions here about these two brands, but we hope to dispel all of the confusion surrounding the two.

The first thing to note about Grand Seiko and Seiko, is that they are considered entirely separate brands. Although Seiko is the parent company, Grand Seiko operates as a completely separate entity. Understanding this fact should help you to better grasp the context of this comparison.

So, despite sharing the Seiko name, we will be treating them as entirely different brands. Like any other comparison, we will be looking into the build quality, design, and pricing differences between these two brands. These are the 3 most important factors to look at in a watch brand.

That being said, before we begin, let’s take a little look into the background behind these two brands.


About Grand Seiko and Seiko


Grand Seiko

The idea behind Grand Seiko was to produce a Japanese luxury watch to compete with Swiss luxury brands. In a way, you could think of this as the Japanese Rolex.

The very first Grand Seiko watches were actually manufactured back in 1960. This first model was a 25 jewel manually winding watch. It also marks the first chronometer ever produced in Japan.

Once again, although Grand Seiko has contains the Seiko name, in 2017, Grand Seiko became its own independent brand separate from Seiko. This split helps Grand Seiko to further establish it as a legitimate luxury brand. Grand Seiko is very popular in Japan, as sales have multiplied 4X what they were in 2011.

Seiko

Seiko is one of the most widely recognized Japanese brands. Founded in 1881, Seiko has had a profound impact on the entire industry.

They introduced the quartz watch into the market. This popularized Japanese quartz movement, which to this day, still stands as the standard movement in most watches.

Seiko manufactures watches for just about any demographic. They are giants in the industry and are continuously pioneering new technologies.


Now that we know a little bit more about these brands, let’s start looking at the differences between the two. The first thing we’ll be looking at is the differences in build quality.


Grand Seiko Vs Seiko: Build Quality

grand seiko vs seiko build quality

This will be the first aspect to note, as there are stark differences between the builds of these two brands.

Grand Seiko

Grand Seiko produces analog watches. These will use either quartz or mechanical movements. They utilize Seiko’s patented spring drive technology in their builds. Also of note, is that even their quartz Caliber 9F movement is assembled by hand.

The watch cases are majority made from stainless steel, however there are also gold plated and platinum case models.

The dial windows will be made of sapphire crystal. Lastly, water resistance will range from as low as 30 up to 200 meters of resistance among the different models.

Seiko

Seiko creates all types of watches from automatic mechanical, and quartz analog, to digital. The majority of their watch cases will be made of stainless steel.

The dial windows are made of Seiko’s own proprietary material known as Hardlex. Hardlex is more scratch resistant than typical mineral crystal dial windows, however, it is not as tough as sapphire.

Water resistance in their watches will vary among the different styles and can range from anywhere between 30 up to 200 meters of resistance.

Build Quality Summary

As we can clearly see, the build quality of Grand Seiko watches will be much more in line with those of Swiss luxury watches. Seiko watches, on the other hand, are more comparable to Casio watches.

Next, we’ll look at the design and style differences.


Grand Seiko Vs Seiko: Design & Style

grand seiko vs seiko style

Grand Seiko

As expected, Grand Seiko models the designs their watches after the typical styles found in most Swiss luxury brands. They have the usual assortment of chronographs, dive watches, and business casual among others.

They don’t really stray too far from this formula. Most everything offered here, you have seen somewhere before. Overall, though, the high quality of these watches is readily apparent.

Seiko

Seiko has as many different styles as it has watch types. Their watches run the gamut from sports styles to luxury styled watches, dive watches, chronographs, casual, and more. You have a lot of options to choose from here as far as styles go.

As with Grand Seiko, Seiko’s styles are going to be similar to the types of styles you are used to seeing in other brands. There are a lot of choices, but not a whole lot that really stands out too much from the crowd.

Design & Style Summary

By now you could probably predict that Grand Seiko’s designs closely resemble the designs of Swiss luxury brands. Seiko’s styles, on the other hand are more all around. Now, lastly, we are going to look at the pricing differences.


Grand Seiko Vs Seiko: Pricing

grand seiko vs seiko price

Once again, it is probably obvious what to expect here. Seiko watches are going to be pretty affordable for the most part, with prices sticking from low to mid tier. While some models will be comparably more expensive, you won’t find too many extremely high priced Seiko watches.

Grand Seiko, on the other hand are high dollar watches. These prices are going to match the prices you see in other high end Swiss luxury brands. Know that you will be spending a lot of money to obtain one of these.

Check Grand Seiko Prices on Amazon

Check Seiko Prices on Amazon


Conclusion

As you can clearly see, Grand Seiko and Seiko each serve entirely different purposes. While Seiko watches are mostly everyday watches, Grand Seko watches are true luxury watches, and should be treated as such. In fact, one of our previous articles compares Grand Seiko to Omega and it holds its own pretty well.

That concludes today’s comparison of Grand Seiko Vs Seiko. If you enjoyed the contents of this article, feel free to check out some of our other similar comparisons. You can find those here

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