Grand Seiko unveils Spring Drive U.F.A.: a new pinnacle of precision and poetry

For Grand Seiko, the pursuit of precision has always been more than a technical ambition — it is a philosophy. Since 1960, when the very first Grand Seiko timepiece was born, accuracy has stood at the heart of the Maison’s values. In 2004, this vision reached a milestone with the introduction of the Spring Drive Calibre 9R65, a movement that fused the power of a traditional mainspring with the precision of electronic regulation, achieving a monthly rate of ±15 seconds without a battery. It was hailed as nothing less than a revolution.

Now, two decades later, Grand Seiko ascends to an even higher summit with the Spring Drive Calibre 9RB2, proudly bearing the U.F.A. designation — Ultra Fine Accuracy. With an extraordinary annual precision of ±20 seconds, it is the most accurate wristwatch movement powered by a mainspring in existence today. This achievement is the fruit of refined techniques: a three-month-aged quartz oscillator, rigorously measured at multiple temperatures, thermo-compensated by a newly engineered IC, and protected within a vacuum-sealed chamber to safeguard against humidity, static, and light.

Yet Grand Seiko never allows technology to eclipse beauty. The watch’s dial is a tribute to the Kirigamine Highlands, where frost-coated trees glisten under crystalline skies near the Shinshu Watch Studio. Its icy silver-blue texture shimmers like a frozen landscape, animated by the graceful sweep of a tempered blue seconds hand.

Sized at just 37 mm — the smallest Grand Seiko Spring Drive ever created — the case achieves elegance in perfect proportion, while a newly designed bracelet clasp offers micro-adjustments in 2 mm increments for a seamless fit. The result is a timepiece that is as wearable as it is groundbreaking: a marriage of quiet artistry and the most exacting precision ever achieved in mechanical horology.