Joseph Kirk, Brand Curator and National Training Manager, Grand Seiko Corporation of America
November 2, 2020, Joseph Kirk, Brand Curator and National Training Manager, Grand Seiko Corporation of America
Since its birth in 1960, Grand Seiko has been dedicated to perfecting the essentials of watchmaking. With the goal of making the ‘ideal watch’, Grand Seiko strives to attain the ultimate in accuracy, legibility, durability and beauty, and uses its resources and history of mechanical watchmaking to craft the best possible movements they can in quartz, their proprietary Spring Drive technology, and since the launch of the brand, finely adjusted, purely mechanical calibers.
Kodō is Japanese for heartbeat. This lecture will cover Grand Seiko’s philosophy in mechanical watchmaking, the frequencies used and the advances in the mechanisms themselves, such as the newly introduced 9SA5 Hi-Beat 36000 80 hours with Dual Impulse Escapement and the new T0 Constant Force Tourbillon with the world’s first fully integrated constant force tourbillon on the same axis. While Grand Seiko offers various movement types, it is the purely mechanical type that is the beating heart of Grand Seiko.
Zoom Webinar to begin promptly at 7:00pm Eastern Time (US and Canada).
Webinar registration is required.
About Joseph Kirk
Joseph Kirk is the Brand Curator and National Training Manager for Grand Seiko Corporation of America. Kirk has worked in the watch industry for over 15 years, in retail, media and educational formats. His knowledge of timepieces was gained through hands-on experience and time; along with the help of many watchmakers, engineers and designers from the industry overall, as well as the brand itself.
Special Guest: Akio Naito, Chairman and CEO of Grand Seiko Corporation of America, will be in attendance. In addition to his work at Grand Seiko Corporation of America, Naito oversees the rest of the international markets outside Japan for both the Grand Seiko and Seiko businesses. Naito also serves concurrently as Deputy Chief Operating Officer for Seiko Watch Corporation, Chairman of Grand Seiko Europe S.A.S., Seiko Europe B.V. and Seiko UK Ltd., as well as a member of the Board of Directors for Seiko’s subsidiaries. Naito brings over 35 years of dedication to the well-known international watchmaking enterprise, having held leadership roles also in Australia and Japan.
Special Guest: Takuma Kawauchiya, Product Development Dept. of Seiko Watch Corporation will be in attendance. Kawauchiya was born in Shizuoka city, Shizuoka Prefecture in 1978 and gained his bachelor’s degree from the Dept. of Industrial Engineering and Management, Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2000. In 2010, he received his diploma from WOSTEP (Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Educational Program) and joined Seiko Instruments where he became involved in the research and development of mechanical watches. This year, after 7 years of development, his concept creation the T0 Constant Force Tourbillon was announced to the world.