Representatives of Grand Seiko told me that when the original Kodo was released, they immediately got a number of inquires from VIPs at brands like Audemars Piguet and Richard Mille, and it’s easy to see why. At the price – now $365,000 – customers often look for more than just rarity. Grand Seiko has never had anything in their collection that looked like the Kodo, but it plays off themes AP and RM (or even brands like Lange) do well: depth, complexity, and openworking. When you look at the movement of a Lange Datograph, you feel like you can fall into it. When you look at an openworked AP or Richard Mille, you get a visual complexity that just feels expensive and accentuates certain technical aspects that the brands can be proud of. To piggyback off the Daybreak theme, the Kodo is the dawn of a new age for Grand Seiko and will set the tone for what we hope to see from the brand for a long, long time.