What is a Seiko Credor?
Seiko is a watch brand that is reputed for its general affordability and quality in workmanship. It’s emerged as one of the leaders in the everyday wristwatch market with some more luxurious examples produced in the past several decades. The brand maintains strong posturing in the watchmaking industry as one of Japan’s leading manufacturers. Its production of the Seiko Credor has taken the brand to a new level of maturity and respect within the community of watch enthusiasts. To fully appreciate the Seiko Credor requires a closer look and explanation of its qualities, along with the features that make it an exceptional timepiece worthy of discussion.
What is the Seiko Credor?
The Truth About Watches, the staff explains what sets the Credor apart from other watches produced by the Seiko brand. It’s akin to the differences between a Lexus and a Toyota. Although the Toyota Motor Company owns the Lexus brand, it is set aside by its luxury designation and although a member of the gestalt, has earned its place as a separate entity. The Credor is best described as the Credor made by Seiko, or even as a standalone title as a subbrand of superior luxury watches. It’s comparable to the Grand Seiko in luxury features and technology, along with premium materials and top-notch craftsmanship.
If you’ve not yet heard of the Credo by Seiko, don’t feel bad or alone. It’s not a subbrand that has been marketed in the United States, but that does not negate its merit or the need to become acquainted with this magnificent timepiece. The rationale for keeping the Credo out of the US market is to avoid rivalry with its closest kin, the Grand Seiko, which is doing quite well in the luxury watch segment. It wouldn’t make sense to upset the applecart and disrupt the popularity of a model that occupies outstanding posturing. The Seiko Credor is he bolder and more daring experimental design that remains unrestrained and less conservative than its cousin the Grand Seiko. It’s a modern iteration of Seiko’s advances in watchmaking technology, and it would present a chaotic situation for the Grand Seiko. This makes it unlikely to ever see the watch on the market in the United States.
The Credor Collection
The Credor Collection is a line of high-end watches that originated in 1974, manufactured by the Seiko brand. According to the Seiko Boutique, the name is derived from the French expression Créte d’Or, which is translated as ‘’the ultimate of the gold,’ in the English language. It indicates that the master craftsmen in charge of the creation of each Credor timepiece use premium materials only while adhering to the delicate and lovely aesthetics of Seiko’s Japanese design. The materials are expensive and the styling melds high-end technology with contemporary designs that take chance now and then, perhaps even bordering on the line of tastefulness as they stretch the limits of imagination and creativity. There are currently eighteen examples in the Credor collection offered to select shoppers around the world. The price range averages between $3,200 for the least expensive variant in the collection, to $10,500 for the most expensive. All feature analog displays with two to three hand functions.
Credor Men’s watches
The Credor Men’s GBAR012 is a men’s watch featuring a 34.8 mm case made of 18K yellow gold. The crown is a matching pull-out style. The dial is champagne colored with baton-style hands and hour markers in 18k yellow gold with a mirror-polished finish with the same applied to the thin bezel. The dial is covered with a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal lens. This Credor is powered with a quartz caliber 8J81 movement with an SR916SW battery featuring 3 years of life expectancy before replacement is warranted. Functions include hours, minutes, and seconds with 3-hands functionality. This movement is accurate to plus or minus ten seconds annually when exposed to normal temperature ranges. It affies to the wrist with a brown leather strap.
The Credor Men’s GBAR016
The GBAR016 is a variant that features the use of rose gold for the metal components of the case, bezel, crown, hands, and hour and minute markers in rose gold. The price for each is listed at $5,800.
Credor Women’s watches
We chose one representation from the Credor line of women’s watches as an example. The Credor GSTE927 ladies watch, retails for $3,500. The timepiece features a stainless steel case that measures 27.1 x 20.9 mm in an oval shape. The crown, bezel, and band are made of matching materials in the same tone. Uniquely, the inside of the bezel features a lining of yellow gold that complements the single gold Credor logo just under the 12:00 position on the brilliant white background of the dial. It’s a simple yet elegant feature. The dial is protected with a sapphire crystal lens. It is made of mother of pearl material with dial markers in baton styling in yellow gold. The hour markers are small diamonds with silver outlines. The crown is a pull-out style. This model is powered by a quartz caliber 1E70 movement with 2 hands function and battery power. The battery life is approximately 2 years, and the accuracy rate is within plus or minus 15 seconds per month at normal temperature ranges.
Final thoughts
There are multiple variations and models in the Credor collection of men’s and women’s luxury watches. They’re Seiko’s division of high-end timepieces that are comparable to the relationship between Lexus and Toyota, which seems to be a trend within Japanese business culture that has worked very well for them. It’s a top-of-the-line sub-brand under the Seiko umbrella that has become distinguished as a representation of the finest examples of watchmaking within the Seiko family.
