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A watch movement is the mechanism inside a wristwatch that powers the hands, date, chronograph and any other function on the dial. It’s the heart and soul of a timepiece and it’s entirely responsible for the precise measurement of time. As you can imagine, choosing the right movements for our watches requires plenty of consideration but so far, Seiko have yet to let us down.
Seiko Pioneer Movement Making Set-up - Credit Geckota
Seiko is known for manufacturing some of the best movements out there and thankfully for us, they don’t hold them exclusive to their own designs. Many luxury watch brands use Seiko movements, including Breitling, Invicta and of course, ourselves here at Geckota. They are celebrated for their dependability and are a great choice for watch manufacturers like us that want to keep our timepieces affordable and reliable.
Seiko are a watchmaker with many firsts and for some, they are considered largely responsible for heading the quartz revolution. They created the world’s first quartz watch, the Seiko Quartz Astron, back in 1969 which was far more accurate that the mechanical watches of its day. The movement kept accurate to within five seconds per month, and confidently cemented Seiko as a leader in movement manufacture going forward.
Seiko Quartz VK63 Movement - Credit Geckota
The Japanese movement maker are no strangers to mechanical movements either. In fact, they began creating mechanical movements a decade before their first quartz calibre. The Seiko Marvel watch of 1956 was powered by their first fully in-house mechanical movement. Not long after, they created their first chronograph watch with the Seiko Crown during the 1960’s.
Their modern range of mechanical watch movements continues to impress for their accuracy, reliability and affordability. Seiko’s 7S movement line has always provided accessible workhorse movements and has powered many well-known watches in the industry. The family includes movements like the NH35, otherwise known as the unbranded version of their 4R35 movement, which features in Seiko watches from their Prospex and Presage collections. Let’s take a look at this movement, and some others, in a little more detail…
Seiko NH35 Movement - Credit Geckota
Seiko’s NH35 is one of the most popular, affordable automatic watch movements on the market. It’s universally admired for its reliability and accuracy and has a decent set of specs to boot. We use the Seiko NH35 movement within our Geckota Pioneer watch, our popular cushion-cased, vintage-inspired dress watch.
Seiko VK63 Movement - Credit Geckota
As well as creating many impressive quartz and mechanical movements, Seiko are the geniuses behind the mecha-quartz movement. What is a mecha-quartz movement, we hear you ask? It’s a type of hybrid movement that uses quartz technology for the main functions of the watch and a mechanical module for fuelling the chronograph complications. The ingenious infusion allows for a chronograph watch with a sweeping hand movement.
Seiko have two well-known mecha-quartz movements. The first is the Seiko VK63 which we use in our FORZO Enduratimer Chronograph. Its sporty tri-compax layout mimics the functionality of a mechanical chronograph movement with an instantly resetting seconds hand and joins it with the reliability of a quartz movement.
Seiko VK64 Movement - Credit Geckota
The Seiko VK64 calibre offers much of the same specification as the VK63, but for a classic bi-compax dial layout, it removes the small seconds counter at 6 o’clock. It is still a mecha-quartz movement with a sweeping hand, chronograph complication and a 24 hour dial. We use it in our FORZO Drive King watch which takes inspiration from the classic motorsports chronographs of the 1960’s.
Seiko VK64 Movement - Credit Geckota
So, there you have it, a brief introduction to some of Seiko’s best known in-house movements and the Geckota and FORZO watches that use them.
If you want a further insight into watch movements, you can also check out our in-depth blog on watch movements here.
