Inspired by the legend of Shizukuishi. Engraved by hand.

Legend has it that, about a thousand years ago, an old man who lived in what is now Shizukuishi started to hear a strange sound coming from deep underneath a huge old cedar tree. People traced its source to what seemed to be a bottomless cave and realized that the sound was that of water drops, “shizuku” in Japanese, dripping from the ceiling of the cave onto the rocks, “ishi,” and resonating throughout the cave and beyond. The area became known as Shizukuishi and it is this legend behind the name that provides the inspiration for the engraving on the dial and on the hands. The hands feature a water droplet motif along their full length and each hour marker carries the pattern of water splashing onto rock.

Every aspect of the watchmaking of this creation is handled with meticulous care but the engraving, especially, is a true labor of love. Master engraver Kiyoshi Terui and his small team engrave all the elements on the dial by hand. Their work covers not only the hands and indexes but also the Grand Seiko name and the star mark at the 6 o’clock position. Every stroke of the blade has to be exactly right, a task that is all the more delicate with this watch as both the plates on which the indexes and the minute track are engraved are curved. These plates and the dial itself are made of 18k white gold. The engraving of each watch requires many days of this intense and highly skilled work.

The engraving may be intricate but it is also powerful. Its straight lines accentuate the legibility of the time, making this watch true to the Grand Seiko aesthetic, while the whole watch has the soft, gently angular profile that is part of the Elegance Collection’s signature.

This second Shizukuishi-inspired watch features the same 9S64 manual-winding caliber but the case is in 18k rose gold and the dial has an intricate yet sharp pattern that only very precise machine engraving can achieve.

The dial pattern takes the imagination to the forest of white birch trees near the studio where the watch is made. As the viewing angle changes, the dial shimmers in green and white, just as do the trees when summer sunlight catches the leaves and the white bark of their trunks and dapples the forest floor. The soft, natural feel of the watch is completed by the slim profile of the case and the curved dial whose contours are followed exactly by the hands that are shaped by hand.