Seiko’s competitiveness and how with its advent, the race for high-frequency movements began. The creation of the company’s first Hi-Beat GS (Grand Seiko) elevated the brand to standards that were unheard of. However, the quest for Hi-Beat movements was not without its rivals. In fact, Seiko had so much going on, that the closest competitor for the Grand Seiko came from within…
Back in the 1960s, King Seiko, a sub-brand from the company’s elite lines, set its sights on dethroning Grand Seiko as the company’s top of the line brand. Accuracy-wise, the GS did have a head start, but the makers of King Seiko were making strides that could give Grand Seiko a run for its money. The competition was only halted by the growing favor for the rising quartz technology. The real question was never really answered…
is a “KING” ever equal to a “GRAND”?
What sets King Seiko apart ?
Well we have to start with the earliest model of the King Seiko which was produced in 1963 by Daini Seikosha as an answer to the release of the 1960 Grand Seiko by Suwa Seikosha. The internal rivalry between the two factories had led to the race of becoming the company’s flagship brand. The perfection of accuracy and precision was their common driving force each creating a Hi-Beat timepiece. When the first King Seiko was produced. It was a hand-wound, unnumbered 25-jewel caliber. The first King Seiko never really made in roads as the lack of chronometer rating gives an impression that it was a lesser model of the original GS.
King Seiko caliber 44A models were then released which were housed in various cases and back emblems. These 44-series calibers (18,000 bph) produced by Daini went toe-to-toe for years with what the Suwa group had developed for the GS line. By 1964, the first chronometer King Seiko was produced, but was later renamed as a 44GS (did GS just steal the KS movement?)
What for the King next?
Higher-frequency movements. The result was the creation of the King Seiko 45 series, a manual-wound movement with 25 jewels which beat at an astounding 36,000 bph or 10 bps, thus relegating the 44 series to what was now considered the low-beat calibers; the 45 was the new Hi-Beat movement in town
The King Seiko 45 series came with a range of 'standards', from a regular KS to Superior Chronometer rating, and labeled as such on the dial and case back designs. The standards here were not exactly for show: a superior chronometer standard can have a timepiece with an accuracy of -6/+9 sec/day. And let us not forget that this was a true Hi-Beat (10bps) timepiece made in the 60s.
Quartz knocking on the door?
The accuracy was so unreal for that period of time that Seiko began labeling them to be at the class ‘A’ standard for Seiko as far as accuracy was concerned. Then finally, just before the quartz crisis changed everything, the KS 5246 was released, the first automatic Hi-Beat KS; it only beat at a frequency of 28,800 bph, less than the 36,000 bph true Hi-Beat, but higher than most other automatic watches from that period.
52 series King Seiko.
The 52 caliber series may have lagged in the frequency race, but it held its own in terms of accuracy. The models with ‘Special’ were said to be at a standard near or even equal to the GS ‘AA’ standard. The whole fascination with accuracy and Hi-Beat movements at that time was bordering on becoming an unstable obsession for Seiko; so these 52 calibers may have lost out on the frequency race, but won back their fame by their durability and stunning abilities
Then the end, the story of the GS and KS stood still during the quartz revolution. GS did make a daring comeback in 1998, which finally established it as the company’s flagship brand. Unfortunately for the KS, it did not receive the same treatment, until recently with mixed feelings. But nonetheless, the KS remains one of Seiko’s biggest stepping stones to creating a truly Hi-Beat timepiece. It is obvious that the intense rivalry between the two subsidiaries was for the purpose of product development and to mitigate risks. As far as competition goes, one had to be declared a winner and another a loser. Grand Seiko may have actually been crowned the company’s flagship watch and now a stand alone brand, but in the eyes of collectors, aficionados and experts, and as far as feats of technology are concerned, the ‘King’ was never inferior to the ‘Grand’.
