Possibly my favorite SEIKO watch - The Gyro Marvel with the automatic Cal.290 movement from the Suwa factory beating at a sedate 18000 BPH. Perhaps it is no coincidence that it's introduction in 1959 coincided with the hiring in the same year of Taro Tanako who introduced the now famous "Grammar of Design" to the SEIKO brand. The Gyro Marvel was SEIKO's second generation automatic watch and the first self-winding watch equipped with SEIKO's proprietary “magic lever" system, the innovative mechanism that uses the simple “claw lever system” to efficiently transmit power from the oscillating weight in both directions. Magic levers are still used in SEIKO's self-winders today. This low-cost mechanism with excellent winding quality pioneered the popularization of self-winding watches. The watch was also a precursor to the very first 'Grand Seiko' produced in 1960 shown below (though the Seiko Crown is widely attributed as the base model). The original hand winding Grand Seiko-3180, also produced at the Suwa factory was the first chronometer grade watch ever produced in Japan. It's 25 jewel movement oscillating at 18000 BPH (like the Gyro above) was certified internally rather than by a body like COSC, but to standards even more stringent than the Swiss organization's. The development of the GS line eventually became a thorn in the side for the Swiss -More about that on our home page.
