Quote:
Originally Posted by PJ S
Another factor in the eternally contested Rolex/GS debate, is that GS are entirely hand assembled, and combined with the figures for Credor, Galante, and the Prospex models made at the same Studios, they output around 15K pieces annually.
And with most of what’s made being sold in the JDM, there’s not an awful lot left for the few export markets that can official order Grand Seikos.
Even then, when I spoke with Seiko UK, it was revealed that not all models are on the export list, including those with a different coloured dial – so the trade price differed too.
Bit of a weird set-up, but that’s how it is, apparently.
Now compare that to Rolex’s 850K+ annual production, which pales to insignificance with the number of watches the 3 main Japanese brands produce each year.
As I’ve probably said before (elsewhere), there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Or put another way, many small drop make a full bucket.
Grand Seiko will never really compete directly with Rolex, as the typical buyer for each brand is very different. Forget about us lot on forums like this – we’re not the target market.
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Another interesting fact about Grand Seiko... when it is said hand-made, it means each watch is assembled in it's entirety by 1 watchmaker. If that watch comes back for warranty work it is sent directly to the exact watchmaker that built it originally for repair. There's something cool about that.
On another forum there was some data assembled from multiple internet sources about Grand Seiko volume/scale. Since it's international launch in 2010 to Baselworld in 2014 sales had tripled, per a Seiko executive. I can only assume by now they have quadrupled or more. The Spring Drive and Quartz GS are assembled in one facility, the automatic movement watches in another. The latest estimates are automatic watch annual production is approaching 20K-30K units and quartz/spring drive GS is approaching 40K-60K units.