Seiko has had a long and rich history in watchmaking when its founder, Kintarō Hattori founded and opened a shop selling and repairing watches and clocks known simply as "K. Hattori & Co." back in 1881. Just 11 years later, he started to create clocks under the name Seikosha, which eventually became the catalyst for the Seiko Group that we know today. It wasn't until 1960 when the Manufacture released Grand Seiko and 17 years after that, saw the first design concept of the Spring Drive calibre come into development that has since evolved into the 9R movement we know of today.

Since its introduction, the Spring Drive calibre has been Grand Seiko's go-to movement for many of its watches. But what exactly is the 9R Spring Drive movement all about? Essentially, it generates energy like every other high-end mechanical watch but combines this with an electronic regulator to deliver a level of precision that no mechanical watch can match. Its use of a mainspring to go with its tri-synchro regulator was what propelled Grand Seiko to new heights with its revolutionary creation.

The main spring acts as the primary source of energy that would be transmitted through a gear train, much like how a mechanical watch functions. But Seiko decided against using an escapement and balance wheel and instead, opted for its tri-synchro regulator to act as a quartz movement. This allowed it to have three main functions not only controlling the mainspring's mechanical energy but also generating electricity for the low-consumption quartz oscillator as well as generating a magnetic force to regulate the glide wheel.

This is what gives the Spring Drive calibre its smooth and seamless flow of time without any sounds of ticking as well. To think that all this is due to replacing the traditional escapement with a magnetic brake instead. So how did the 9R Spring Drive movement come about?

The story of the Spring Drive first came about in 1977 with Yoshikazu Akahane, a young engineer at Suwa Seikosha, now known as Seiko Epson Corporation. His dream was to create the ideal watch that had the best of both worlds by combining the accuracy of an electronic watch that is powered by a mainspring. But it wasn't until after 20 years of research and development that there were any significant improvements to the Spring Drive.

While the Spring Drive was first announced in 1997, it wasn't until 1998 that it made its official debut during the Basel Watch Fair. The first watch to make its debut with the Spring Drive movement was the Seiko SBWA001, which was soon followed up with the SBWA002, which featured a yellow-gold case as opposed to steel on its predecessor. Both watches were released in December 1999 alongside the GLBG999 in platinum, which was from Seiko's other brand, Credor.

But it wasn't until the turn of a new century did the 9R Spring Drive movement truly made itself known, specifically in 2004. This saw the release of Grand Seiko's first spring drive automatic movement known as SBGA001, which has since been a part of the brand for the last 20 years. Ever since then, the arrival of Grand Seiko's 9R Spring Drive movement has brought about a new level of functionality and convenience, which is kept in tune with the brand's mission.

This was a gargantuan step for Grand Seiko for multiple reasons. Aside from it being a fully automatic watch, it also had a 72-hour power reserve, which was much more than what its earlier models were able to accomplish with only 48 hours. Ever since then, Grand Seiko has not looked back on the 9R Spring Drive movement. This is evident with its existence over the last 20 years, which has since seen it become the Manufacture's raison d'etre.

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the landmark 9R movement series, which Seiko has kept as part of its repertoire of watches since then. Known for the smooth glide of its seconds hand, this has allowed many Grand Seiko watches to rotate around the dial without a discernible tick or shudder, which is common in a mechanical watch. This is all down to the 9R Spring Drive, which has allowed all of its parts to turn and rotate in one fluid motion.

With time being eternal whilst it passes by silently, the 9R Spring Drive is a representation of what time is derived as and has since been seen as a symbol of Grand Seiko while also embodying its philosophy, "The Nature of Time." But it's more than just how Grand Seiko views time as it also aims to brings aesthetically pleasing movements to its watches. The Manufacture's Spring Drive watches have long conveyed an affinity towards Shinshu and its natural surroundings while also being the same place it was created and where its makers drew inspiration.

This was evident with the bridges and gear trains of the 9R65 calibre, which were configured with the image of the Hokata mountains in mind. This was because it could be seen out in the distance from the Shinshu Watch Studio where the Spring Drive Watches were made. It wasn't just the mountain range that Grand Seiko used as inspiration for its calibre as previous models had a design motif inspired by fir trees cut from nearby mountains and used for the Onbashira Festival, which happens once every six years. It would go on to be a forerunner for Grand Seiko's nature-inspired dials as the motif would go on to grace other watches that came out in 2016, the very year the Onbashira Festival took place.

One of Grand Seiko's more recent creations that also drew inspiration from nature around Shinshu was the SLGA021, which is powered by the Spring Drive 5 Days Caliber 9RA2. The dial of the watch resembles the gentle waves wafting over the body of water from Lake Suwa, located to the southeast of the Shinshu Watch Studio. The mould of the watch's dial was also created by hand with the skilled craftsman using only a hammer and some other tools.

Grand Seiko also pays tribute to Shiojiri City with the manually wound 9R02 movement that adopted its shape from a bellflower, which is seen as a symbol of the city. The movement itself features a barrel housing two mainsprings set in parallel alongside a torque-returning system to provide up to 84 hours of power reserve while its three concave shapes are polished by hand to truly link itself with the region it was created.

The brand’s relationship with nature has been an ever-evolving cycle of inspiration, as showcased through previous watches that took shape of the watchmaker’s natural surroundings. Grand Seiko also recently released the SBGA499 as part of its Elegance Collection of watches, which drew inspiration from the beautiful autumn sunrises of the Hotaka mountain range. Created in commemoration of the Spring Drive 9R’s 20th anniversary, the SBGA499 is the quintessential polar opposite of the SBGA211 ‘Snowflake’ with its bright red dial that emulates the autumn leaves bathed in golden morning sunlight.

Encased in a stainless-steel exterior, the SBGA499 has a power reserve of 72 hours, while its indicator rests on the dial in a copper pink shade. This helps to provide greater depth to the dial while enhancing legibility as well as being a point of contrast to its overall design. The Grand Seiko logo that resides at 12 o’clock is draped in rose gold for further vibrancy against the bright red dial.

This September, Grand Seiko has also released the SLGA025, which was inspired from the enchanting Atera Valley of Shinshu. The dial of the watch is coated in the colour known as ‘Atera Blue’, a blueish-green dial that reflects the serene beauty of the Atera river. It features a newly developed press pattern that helped to capture the river’s graceful flow to go with an overlay of captivating hue gradation that transitions from vivid emerald green to deep forest green.

This can also be said for the entirety of Grand Seiko's dial and movement designs with hopes that they serve an everlasting connection between the craftsmen and women alongside the watches they create with their own two hands.

Having been around for the past 20 years, Grand Seiko's Spring Drive movement has been at the forefront of the majority of the brand's watches. It also tells more than just time with the way Grand Seiko approaches its design philosophy, whether it be about the movement or even the dial. But what has kept people coming back to Grand Seiko and its watches is the precision the Spring Drive movement is renowned for.

What started as an ambitious dream has since taken shape to be a pivotal point in watchmaking history after the release of the first-ever Spring Drive movement. Grand Seiko had visions for the future of watchmaking that saw both tradition and innovation coexist in duality. Its creation would represent both ends of the horological spectrum – a conventional mainspring movement, but with exceptional accuracy due to high-precision integrated circuits alongside a crystal oscillator.

Both components used in the Spring Drive were developed and created in-house at Seiko Epson, which also posed its own challenges during the process. With only a spring and no battery, the IC and crystal oscillator had to use its power sparingly to maintain accuracy at all times. The first Grand Seiko Spring Drive movement known as the 9R65 calibre saw its IC power consumption to be as little as 25 nW, which was just one per cent of what the first development prototype was capable of back in the 1980s.

The 9R65 calibre had an accuracy of ±15 seconds per month newer models of the 9R Spring Drive movement would see that cut down to just ±10 seconds in the near future. However, this was only limited to certain models like the 9R01 calibre from the Micro Artist Studio. This also includes specially adjusted movements like the 9R15, 9R16, and 9R96. But for its newer 9RA series of movements, it required a brand-new IC to allow for greater accuracy of ±10 seconds per month.

It made its debut just four years ago in 2020 and the new IC came equipped with a temperature sensor, but it also consumed more power. To mitigate its larger power consumption, the new IC for the 9RA series of movements featured a different circuit design and manufacturing process that was unheard of at the time. Its placement of the new IC with the 90-day aged crystal in a vacuum-sealed package was what eliminated temperature differences between its sensor and the crystal oscillator. Because of this, it allowed for highly precise temperature adjustments while its new construction also prevented external influences like humidity, static electricity, and light from affecting its overall accuracy.

An ample power reserve was one of the significant specifications that Grand Seiko wanted in its movements. For this to be realised, the 9R65 calibre came not only with 72 hours of power reserve but also with a highly efficient automatic winding system. This saw the introduction of the Magic Lever, first developed by Suwa Seikosha (now Seiko Epson Corporation) in 1959. Its pawl-lever system ensured the mainspring was wound regardless of the direction of the oscillating weight.

This was first introduced into certain Grand Seiko automatic watches from the 1960s like the 62GS and 61GS to name a few. Its longevity within the Manufacture was down to its simplicity, efficiency, and relatively small number of parts to put together. As for the first 9R Spring Drive movement in 2004, the Magic Lever system was utilised once more but with major enhancements. The new Magic Lever found in the 9R65 had greater efficiency and movement when it came to a wearer's arm movements as opposed to its predecessors.

For the new 9RA series of movements, the Magic Lever was improved once again to feature an updated winding system with numerous design and performance considerations. The 9RA was soon equipped with dual-size barrels, each containing a mainspring that needed to be wound. The 9RA featured dual-size barrels with each containing a mainspring that needed to be wound. Its automatic winding mechanism was also improved for better-winding efficiency through the shape of the teeth on its gears.

The 9RA was also a much slimmer movement overall, which called for a shift in its movement design. This saw the Magic Lever with a crank wheel be arranged offset from the centre of the movement to reduce the number of overlapping parts. This allowed the 9RA2 calibre to have just 5 mm of thickness, which made it 0.8 mm slimmer than 9R65 while also offering five days of power reserve as opposed to just three.

Given the rich history that Grand Seiko has developed over the years, it wouldn't be at all surprising to have Grand Seiko live on for another 20 years with the development the 9R Spring Drive has gone through. The highly diversified movement platform has been the catalyst of many of the brand's signature watches that have gone on to be perennial favourites of collectors and enthusiasts alike. Japan also being a nation that features a harmonious blend of classic and contemporary vision with design, the 9R Spring Drive movement is in good hands with Grand Seiko for the foreseeable future.

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