SEIKO: THE COMPLETE CHRONICLE: A Master Watchmaker's Definitive Reference to Vintage Calibers, Grand Seiko, and Horological History

SEIKO: The Complete History and Technical Reference Thirty-three chapters. One hundred and twelve reference tables. Thirty-five original technical drawings, including ten full exploded views — every one of them made for this book. From a Tokyo clock shop in 1881 to the movement that ended the Swiss monopoly: the full account of how Seiko became the most technically ambitious watchmaker in the world, written for the collector who wants the mechanism and not the marketing. The illustrations are engineering drawings, not photographs. Cutaways, exploded views, decoders and comparison plates — drawn to show what a photograph cannot. Inside: Ten exploded views: the automatic movement, the Magic Lever, the balance assembly, the barrel, the keyless works, the day-date module, the 6139 chronograph, the Spring Drive 9R, the 9F quartz module, and a diver's case Calibre 6139, the world's first automatic chronograph — column wheel and vertical clutch, shown piece by piece Spring Drive and the tri-synchro regulator, diagrammed properly rather than described in slogans The Magic Lever drawn and explained: Seiko's own bidirectional winding, the mechanism almost no book illustrates Grand Seiko — Zaratsu polishing, the Snowflake dial, the 44GS design grammar, and the 9S, 9F and 9R families Prospex dive engineering: monocoque, cushion and shrouded cases in section Reference and serial number decoders — date any Seiko from its case back Suwa against Daini: the internal rivalry that produced Seiko's greatest decade Market values, rarity, an acquisition sequence, servicing and long-term preservation For the collector who has passed the beginner stage and wants the calibres, the dates and the reference numbers in one place — and wants to see how the mechanisms actually work.