Pre-Owned Picks: For Less Than $5,000 You Can Own The Best Of Japanese Watchmaking With Grand Seiko
Grand Seiko used to be the insider’s watchmaker, only known outside of Japan to the most well-traveled of the watch community. This started to change in 2017 when Grand Seiko decided to go worldwide and began selling watches outside of its homeland. What attracted those watch collectors to these watches now became the selling points used to spread the gospel of Zaratsu polishing: Every single part of these watches is developed and produced in-house, each movement is assembled by a single watchmaker, and the finishing of the exterior components is unsurpassed.
The brand has quickly gained a following that will, for good reason, happily tell you how none of the bestselling watchmakers can compare with what Grand Seiko offers. Annual production numbers are at best a guess, but if rumors are true then the annual production is well below the 100k mark, and as the worldwide popularity grows so has the average sales price of one of these Japanese gems.
It is still possible to grab some Grand Seiko’s for under $5,000, especially in the pre-owned market. Below are five selections from the Hodinkee Shop that live up to the watchmaker’s reputation and are some of the best watchmaking prowess per dollar you will ever come across.