Credor Eichi II dress watch combines tech with material elegance
The launch of the Eichi II in 2014 marked two milestones -- Credor's 40th anniversary and 15 years of the Spring Drive watch.
Described as the "ultimate in simplicity", the second-generation Eichi is a larger and refined version of the original released in 2008. The power reserve indicator was even moved to the back side for a pure and uncluttered dial.
Credor's minimalist model is made by an elite team of watchmakers at the Micro Artist Studio, located within Seiko Epson Corporation's plant in Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture.
Two of them, Tetsuo Oguchi and Masatoshi Moteki, were recently in Bangkok for a Credor event that highlighted the beauty of the Eichi II and other masterpieces.
The Micro Artist Studio, at heart, was established in the year 2000 to pass on watchmaking crafts to the next generation. Oguchi has been in charge of manufacturing the characteristic porcelain dials since 2014.
Rose gold version of Eichi II with a white porcelain dial.
"The dial looks very simple and clean. Yet the porcelain painting goes into great details to give the Eichi II the perfect face in order to aesthetically enhance the value of this elegant model," said Oguchi, who began his career at Seiko Epson in 1981.
Two decades later he became a member of the Micro Artist Studio team and took charge of polishing movement parts. The veteran recalled how he attended a training course on painting china organised by a high-end tableware producer so as to acquire new skills for the dial-making.
"As the watch dial is much smaller than plates and dishes, the porcelain painting requires more dexterity. In addition, we need to master how to achieve the right and consistent colour, the repeated firing and other tasks in the painstaking process," he said.
The Credor Eichi II in a 39mm platinum or a rose gold case features a white porcelain dial. Oguchi personally loves the platinum version with the hand-painted hour indices and Credor logo as well as the three hands in a contrasting blue colour against the white face.
Eichi II Ruri Edition with the platinum case paired with a deep blue dial.
"The dial of this model is inspired by the winter landscape in the mountainous Shinshu region while the blue seconds hand evokes a bird flying around the snowy scenery," he said.
Crafting the blued steel hands is another demanding process involving over 20 steps. Each hand is tempered individually by an artisan, who knows exactly when to remove the hand from the flame to achieve the exact shade of blue required. Not only the hour, minute and seconds hands but also the power reserve hand and screws are tempered in the same way.
The hands and indices are in white on another platinum variation boasting a porcelain dial in lapis lazuli blue known as Ruri in Japan. The Eichi II Ruri Edition debuted in 2021 as one of the commemorative models for Seiko's 140th anniversary.
The Japanese company introduced Credor in 1974 as its luxury dress watch line and subsequently positioned it as a high-end brand, whose name comes from the French Crete d'Or and refers to "the ultimate of gold".
Japanese for wisdom, Eichi reflects on the fusion of Seiko's heritage and the technically-advanced Spring Drive movement.
Movement designer Masatoshi Moteki, left, and porcelain painter Tetsuo Oguchi.
After joining Seiko Epson in 1993, Masatoshi Moteki was engaged in the second phase of developing this technology, which merges know-how on mechanical and electronic micro-engineering to achieve quartz-like accuracy.
The Spring Drive epic began in the late 1970s, when engineer Yoshikazu Akahane at Suwa Seikosha (currently Seiko Epson) conceived the original concept.
The primary development on the groundbreaking mechanism started in 1982 but was cancelled a year later. Likewise, it resumed in 1993 for only another year.
"Despite the aborted attempts, I personally did not give up on this project. The third development phase continued in 1997 and this time round we made it happen," said Moteki.
Basically, the Spring Drive technology combines the high torque of a mechanical watch with the high precision integrated circuit (IC) control system of an electronic watch.
One of the technical challenges was to develop an IC capable of being driven by low power. Eventually, the circuit design team found a way to reduce the power consumption with a breakthrough IC for the Spring Drive movement.
Moteki, who's currently the Micro Artist Studio supervisor and movement designer, still wears an original Spring Drive watch released in 1999.
"The beauty of the Spring Drive movement is that it makes the seconds hand glide silently, without a tick or shudder, around the dial to represent the continuous flow of time. Ideally, the larger the dial, the longer the seconds hand for this mesmerising glide motion," said Moteki.
The Credor Eichi II is powered by Calibre 7R14, a Spring Drive and mechanical manual-winding movement with an accuracy of -1/+1 seconds per day. The proprietary Torque Return System, developed in 2008, contributes to a high power reserve of 60 hours.
The caseback's sapphire crystal displays the calibre with a two-piece bridge structure and the power reserve indicator in a well-balanced position. A closer look reveals Credor's finest craftsmanship such as the hairline finishing of the bridges, whose contours and bevelling are expertly polished to a mirror-like finish with a circular motion.
The rims of the bridges, the holes for rubies and screws are polished by hand with a special wooden tool to ensure that light hitting each round edge enhances the metal's natural beauty with no distortion.
"The movement is not only about Japanese technology. We artistically designed the Calibre 7R14 and our artisans further make it a work of art," said Moteki. "We imagine the rubies as little flowers, a stream leading to the mainspring barrel, whose cutout motif depicts a Japanese bellflower, which is a symbol of Shiojiri -- home to the Micro Artist Studio."
Besides delivering Eichi timepieces, the studio is also the birthplace of Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie (2006) and Spring Drive Minute Repeater (2011) that had the dedicated movement designer working on chiming complications in expanding the Japanese brand's haute horlogerie.
This article was downloaded by calibre from https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/social-and-lifestyle/2762894/simply-the-best
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