– Grand Seiko is pivoting away from watch enthusiasts as its primary target audience.
– The brand’s “third phase” focuses on attracting consumers unfamiliar with watch forums.
– The strategy is heavily US-centric, leveraging the Shohei Ohtani ambassador deal.
– This marks a deliberate shift away from the enthusiast community that built its global reputation.
Grand Seiko’s New Direction
In an interview that was released today on Hodinkee Japan, Seiko Watch Corporation president Akio Naito said the quiet part out loud: Grand Seiko is done trying to win over watch enthusiasts. That isn’t the target anymore, apparently. He was speaking to Hodinkee Japan editor Masaharu Wada at Watches & Wonders Geneva 2026, and Naito talked about what he calls the brand’s “third phase”. It seems to be this deliberate marketing stance toward customers who have never opened a watch forum in there lives before.
“How do we deliver our appeal to people who are not watch enthusiasts?” Naito said. “That is our theme right now.” It’s an interesting admission from the leader of a brand that built itself globally almost entirely on the back off enthusiast goodwill. Grand Seiko’s rise beyond Japan is mainly a word-of-mouth story. These collectors discovered the brands finishing quality, Spring Drive movement tech, and stunning nature-inspired dials long before mainstream luxury publications were even paying any attention. That community, in a lot of ways, basically performed the marketing function themselves.
The Strategy Shift
Now the brand is obviously gunning for a completly different audience. And the strategy to reach them is somewhat clearer now. Seiko’s watch division has been outpacing Swiss rivals in both growth and margins, with strong US demand driving a large chunk of the momentum — and Naito is putting extra emphasis on that market specifically. The Shohei Ohtani global ambassador deal, which was announced earlier this year, is explicitly a American play. Naito added that European visitors at W&W responded to Ohtani with relative indifference, while American audiences had the absolut opposite reaction. At this stage, its clear this isnt a global campaign so much as a targeted US brand-building excercise.
Implications for Collectors
However, it continues to be determined whether the enthusiast community — the exact people who got Grand Seiko to its current position — will feel comfortable with where the brand is going. That is a completly different question altogether. The brand made its name off the back of careful finishing and unique technology like Spring Drive, which enthusiasts celebrated for years. Now, as the company pivots toward a broader, less-knowledgable demographic, the core values that attracted its original fanbase risk being diluted in pursuit of greater market share from casual consumers who just want a luxury watch.