The “Grand Seiko Special Standard” delivered a mean daily rate of between -3 and +3 seconds per day and the “Grand Seiko Very Fine Adjusted Standard”, achieved a mean daily rate of between -2 and +2 seconds per day. A lot further.Īpart from the “Grand Seiko Standard”, there were two further standards that defined even greater levels of chronometric performance. But there are a few references, from both the vintage and modern periods, that go further. To this day, all mechanical watches from Grand Seiko are produced to at least meet this standard. At the time, the Swiss standard – still under the auspices of the same chronometer testing agency – was between -1 and +10 seconds. In 1966 Seiko introduced its own certification – the now famous “Grand Seiko Standard” of a mean daily rate of between -3 and +5 seconds. Consequently, the “First”, along with the subsequent 439-9990 references proudly displayed the “Chronometer” on their dials.įollowing a decision by the Swiss agency that only watches tested in Switzerland could be referred to as chronometers, Grand Seiko could no longer label their watches as such, but the Japanese watchmaker responded in the best way possible. It was the first wristwatch from Japan to receive an “excellent” rating from the Bureaux Officiels de Controle de la Marche des Montres, then Switzerland’s official chronometer testing agency. The merely Grand, the Special and the VFAīack in 1960, the Grand Seiko “First” was launched with its 3180 calibre designated as having achieved a chronometer standard of a mean daily rate across the 5 tested positions of between -3 and +12 seconds. This quest for ultimate precision in a mechanical wristwatch reached its zenith with the V.F.A, short for “Very Fine Adjusted”, references that first launched in 1970. Facebook Linkedin Twitter Pinterest Weibo Mail Instagramįrom the release of the very first Grand Seiko in 1960, through to the end of the production of mechanical Grand Seiko watches in 1975, one of the key aims of the brand was to produce watches that were as precise as possible.