Boasting anything between 200 and 300 moving parts, mechanical watches need to show a wonderful consistency of function in the bits of these parts to make sure the accuracy of the movement. Seiko uses Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology in the making of its escapements, dragging the mechanical precision of its pieces to the reaches of technology. Simply parts, however, will not be able to create the heights of quality for which Grand Seiko is known.
The need to assemble Grand Seiko comes from craftsmen and women who have managed to develop their abilities so much that they can change parts by hand to just one hundredth of a millimeter. This highly complex craftsmanship is exactly has resulted in the creation of the very accurate timekeeping created by the 9S mechanical movement.
Mechanical watches utilize an escapement, a device unto itself that uses its power from the motive force of a mainspring and has the same energy to maintain the rapidity that the spring unwinds at. It is a system which has not changed since moving hands were initially utilised to record time.
As an element of the mechanism, a wound-up mainspring uses force to turn gears at a set speed as it uncoils. The efficacy of the thing is controlled by this and the escapement mechanism together, using the balance, pallet fork, and escape wheel. The pallet fork sets the pace for the moving escape wheel and it, itself, works in tandem with the oscillating balance.
The balance moves back and forth, making sure that the mainspring uncoils at a consistent pace and over a period of time. As a result, the balance helps along the slow rotation of the hour, minute, and second indicators. The hairspring is the key piece at the heart of a mechanical watch which controls its accuracy.
The carefully coiled hairsprings are similar to living beings, with a uniqueness of their own. Our craftsmen and women can see and work alongside this, placing pincers into the spaces inside the coil to create adjustments by hand along with an accuracy of one hundredth of a millimeter. The gorgeous rippling vibrations of a correctly adjusted hairspring can force a smile to the face of anybody.
The balance wheel has a key role of making sure there’s a frequent beat. The part is so important to the total precision of all Grand Seiko watches that its weight is brought up to within tolerances of one ten thousandth of a gram. Due to the fact that it is so sensitive, even the slightest temperature drop can affect it, perhaps changing the shape of it. The 9S mechanical movement has less of an effect of temperature on the balance wheel and makes sure of overall accuracy by utilising a fourth arm. While this use of smarts increases itself up to the aim of work needed in the fabrication of pieces, Seiko is intent on stopping balance wheel contortion and keep up total precision.
The premier Grand Seiko, made in 1960, was given the official name of chronometer according to the top chronometer standard of the era. It had the word ‘Chronometer’ on the face. Today’s Grand Seiko pieces, in fact, do not have this designation because, in the 1970’s Grand Seiko made their own to a much better standard. The current iteration of this standard, the New GS Standard, was made in 1998 and established new norms that were more strict than others.
