Grand Seiko Officially Opens New Melbourne Boutique: Photo Report

Last week, Grand Seiko hosted a gala event to open its new Melbourne boutique in style. Watch Advice was there to cover all the action, and enjoy the festivities, of course!

Earlier this year, Grand Seiko opened up an exquisite new boutique on Collins Street in Melbourne. Situated at the corner of the historic Block Arcade, Grand Seiko joined the growing number of luxury boutiques that now call Collins Street home. Grand Seiko is known for taking inspiration from the surrounding environment, and this is the same with their new Collins Street boutique. They have taken this philosophy of Fūzoku, meaning a deep appreciation of seasonal changes and natural phenomena, inspiring everything from art to watch dials. In this instance, “The Nature Of Time” serves as the inspiration for the new Grand Seiko boutique, with the three main principles of: Aesthetic Inspiration from Nature, Uncompromising Craftsmanship, and The Flow of Time, all being represented here. The boutique serves as a physical reminder and space of how Grand Seiko brings its art and craftsmanship to life.

Some of the spaces inside the new Grand Seiko Boutique in Melbourne.

Seeing this first-hand, you are somewhat transported to a serine world where time, ironically, seems to stand still as you enjoy the surroundings and admire the clean, modern, yet warm interior that just flows seamlessly from one area to another – all across three floors and 250 sqm of space. So to celebrate the new boutique, Grand Seiko held the boutique’s official opening last week to showcase the best the Japanese brand has to offer and show off the new space that is designed for customers and watch lovers in general to enjoy. And enjoy we did!

To mark the official opening, the ribbon cutting was performed by Senior Vice President of Grand Seiko Munehisa Shibasaki, Vincent Cuche, Head of Grand Seiko ANZ, Managing Director of Seiko Australia Ms. Kinuyo Sakata, and other dignitaries.

Cutting the ribbon to mark the official opening.

It was a fun-filled night of cocktails, canapes, wine and whisky, as guests enjoyed the food and drink, were able to wander through the boutique and see the latest pieces from Grand Seiko, many of which are exclusive to the Melbourne Boutique!

Some of the latest pieces from Grand Seiko, including the Tentagraph and new Evolution 9 UFA pieces. Below, is a range of vintage pieces on display for a limited time in the Melbourne boutique.

To welcome guests, Vincent Cuche welcomed all and introduced Senior Vice President of Grand Seiko Munehisa Shibasaki all the way from Japan. After some short speeches, a traditional opening ceremony called the Kagami Biraki, was performed using wooden mallets to break the lid of a ceremonial Sake barrel, which is to symbolize opening up to harmony, good fortune, and new beginnings. Very Grand Seiko!

Across three levels of the boutique, guests were able to explore both the watches as well as experiences that all tied in with Japanese culture and heritage. Downstairs, the Whisky bar turned into an area of culinary experiences with Chef Koichi Minamishima of Minamishima in Melbroune putting on a show with his expert skills preparing some of the best Sushi I have personally had, well, ever.

Salmon and tune Sushi rolled in gold leaf – perfection on a plate, and below, Chef Koichi Minamishima doing his thing prepping the Sushi and it was certainly worth it!

The private VIP lounge was transformed into a Japanese Whisky tasting room, with some very nice and smooth Suntory Whiskies on offer from Yamakasi, Hakushu and Hibiki. If you haven’t tried Japanese Whisky, then do yourself a favour and do so. My personal favourite is the Hibiki, it’s smooth and goes down so well and is great for after dinner to sip on.

Up in the private Mezzanine area, a Calligrapher was available to do your name in Kanji, and in between, painted small wooden jewellery boxes with the three principles of Grand Seiko watch design – Precision, Beauty and Legibility. I’d have to agree with all these as Grand Seiko makes some of the most beautiful dials in the business, which are in turn inspired by the beauty of nature and the landscapes found in and around the Grand Seiko workshops in Shizukuishi and Shinshu in Japan. They are also easy to read and with their spring drive, and this year, the Evolution 9 UFA collection, accuracy is second to none in the mechanical watch world.

Above, the Calligrapher paints the wooden boxes with the principles of Grand Seiko watch design expertly. Talking to her, she had been studying and doing this for several decades. As someone who tried to learn Japanese in high school for four years, (most of which is non-existent now), I can say this is not easy to do. Below, are the three principles and some of the brushes and tools used to create the artwork.

Throughout the night, the food and drink kept coming, and I’ve said it before, a cocktail event needs to have a lot of food, and drink. There is nothing worse than leaving an even hungry, but thankfully this was not the case, and I can commend Grand Seiko for making sure all the guests had ample of each.

Admittedly, I can not recall what these were called, but, I did eat quite a few, especially the lobster bites in the first image above. Below, a selection of cocktails that were on offer on top of the Champagne and Suntory Whisky.

Being in the Grand Seiko boutique, it meant that all in attendance could try on all the current collection and new pieces as well. There were some clear favourites on the night too, like the newly released Tentagraph Lion and the Evolution 9 UFA. Outside these, the Heritage collection saw some action with astute collectors, like the 18k Rose Gold SBGH368.

Image 1: The new Tentagraph Lion. Image 2: The Evolution 9 UFA. Image 3: Evolution 9 dress watch from the current collection. Image 4: The SBGH368

Over the night, guests mingled with the media talking all things watches, and even though Grand Seiko was the topic of most conversations, as they say, watches were the winner on the night.

Some of Australia’s premier Watch Media were in attendance. Image 1 – Local watch enthusiast and photographer Anthony Do, image 2 – Andy Green and Felix Scholz from The O.T Podcast and Revolution, Image 3 – Time+Tide Australian Editor, Jamie Weiss and in the last image, Watch Advice Founder, Chamath Gamage. Oh, I was there too, on the other side of the camera!

This is probably the best thing about these events – having a range of people in one place who all have a love for watches. Some are new to the hobby and just getting into it, some are fans of the specific brand with a love that runs pretty deep, and others are just enthusiastic collectors in general. It’s always a great mix and catching up with new and old friends is one of the many aspects that makes a great night.

The new Grand Seiko boutique in Melbourne is a showcase of what watch brands can do with a space to create an atmosphere of not only luxury and sophistication but also one of warmth, and one that is highly welcoming. It’s a stunning boutique, and we would encourage you to head in to see it. Even if you’re not a Grand Seiko fan, it is well worth the visit, and who knows, after you may well be! And with this, some final few pics of the new UFA movement and below, the amazing Kodo Daybreak – a piece that is very rare, and you will not see many places at all!