Akio Naito sees Grand Seiko’s next challenge as reaching beyond watch enthusiasts without losing what makes the brand distinctive. In interviews published in October and November 2024, the Seiko Watch Corporation president discussed the brand’s Japanese identity, its Melbourne boutique, the difficulty of making enduring icons, and practical product questions such as bracelet design.
Who is Akio Naito?
Naito’s career spans legal work, overseas marketing and senior management. Time+Tide reported that he served as managing director of Seiko Australia from 2002 to 2006, making his 2024 visit to Melbourne a return to a market where his overseas watch-business career began. “This is a bit of a homecoming – Australia was where it all started for me,” he told the publication.
Seiko Group’s 2025 annual-meeting filing records Naito’s appointment as president of SEIKO WATCH CORPORATION in April 2021 and lists him in that position at the time of the filing. His earlier roles included work in the Legal & Intellectual Property Department and chairman and CEO of Grand Seiko Corporation of America. The filing confirms his position as of its publication on 29 May 2025; it does not establish whether his role changed afterward. Seiko Group’s 2025 AGM filing
What does Naito think about Grand Seiko’s future?
Naito described the next stage as expanding awareness from watch enthusiasts to a wider community. That means more than attracting new buyers: he emphasized communicating Grand Seiko’s Japanese identity and the stories behind its creations. In his October 2024 interview with Hodinkee, he also addressed the tension between a crowded field of limited editions and the need for a range that customers can understand. Read the Hodinkee interview
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- Three-fold clasp with push button release
- Dual-curved sapphire crystal
- Power reserve display on the back
- Power resrve Approx. 72 hours(3 days)
Why open a Grand Seiko boutique in Melbourne?
Naito said Sydney had been the priority for an Australian boutique, but opening one in Melbourne was a personal ambition: he wanted people there to discover the watches in person without travelling to Sydney. The Melbourne opening also connected the brand’s retail strategy with his earlier career in Australia.
For Naito, the reason to see a watch in person is visual, not simply transactional. He said the way Grand Seiko dials and cases interact with light and reflections cannot be fully conveyed in a photograph, however well it is shot. That is the case he made for direct viewing—not a claim that a boutique is the only way to buy or assess a watch. Time+Tide’s interview with Naito
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- See-through case back
- Date display
- Screw-down crown
- 40mm Diameter
- Weight 178.0 g
What did Naito say about Grand Seiko bracelets?
In the October 2024 Hodinkee interview, Naito said he had long been aware of concerns about bracelets and was strongly advocating internally for improvement. On micro-adjustment, he said the feature had not yet been fully executed and that there was no timeline at that point.
Those comments describe the situation as reported in October 2024. They are not a current product announcement, and they do not establish a launch date or confirm that a later change has or has not occurred.
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- 24-hour hand (dual time display function)
- Power Reserve Approx. 55 hours
- See-through case back
What does “making icons” mean in this conversation?
Grand Seiko’s growth and its effort to reach a broader audience sit alongside a harder, longer-term task: making watches that become recognizable and enduring rather than relying on a steady stream of new releases. Naito’s remarks connect that ambition to clear storytelling, a distinct identity and products people can appreciate directly. The interviews do not provide a market-growth percentage or a quantified measure of how successfully the brand has achieved it.
Quick Recap
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