Caliber 9R01
9R SPRING DRIVE MOVEMENT
Manual-winding 8-Day Power Reserve Spring Drive
Caliber 9R01
By 2014, Spring Drive had proven its worth as a mechanism and was widely appreciated as a significant advance in watchmaking. The Grand Seiko team were proud of what had been achieved but sought to make further advances. All Spring Drive movements already offered a remarkable 72 hours of power reserve. The challenge was clear. Could this be extended still further?
The team at the Micro Artist Studio thought so and the Grand Seiko 8-Day Spring Drive is the result. To maintain perfect timekeeping for up to eight days (192 hours) requires greatly increased power, which is provided by a linked series of three barrels. This remarkable caliber, 9R01, was designed throughout to maximize energy efficiency, reducing friction between parts that would otherwise lead to loss in the transmission of the energy derived from the mainspring.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Quick correction function of time difference
What makes 9R Spring Drive special?
Spring Drive, one of the great innovations in modern watch making history, regulates a spring-driven movement with state-of-the-art electronic technology that functions without batteries or other external power source. Its sole power source is a mainspring, which drives a series of gears. A rotor, connected to the end of these gears, generates a small electrical charge that activates an electronic circuit and quartz oscillator. Its accuracy is unprecedented for a watch wound by a mainspring. The development of the 9R Spring Drive movement was possible only because Grand Seiko is one of the few manufacturers with expertise in both mechanical and electronic watches.
