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Gonna brain dump a few thoughts on this stuff.
The success that Akio (not Aiko as repeatedly misspelled in that article) Naito had in launching and growing GS in the States is what got him the top job globally. The money they threw at Hodinkee in particular was crucial to that, and they’ve continued to do that with other watch sites and people like Teddy Baldassarre on YouTube. And because their watches look frankly incredible under a macro lens, that kind of online marketing and placement has suited them down to the ground. They also got their western brand values sorted out with all the Japanese cultural / nature references etc. (whatever your opinion of that stuff) and haven’t wavered from it.
Pre-IG and Youtube and Hoodwinkee it would have been a much harder job.
The GS9 club stuff is interesting, I kind of suspect it has had less impact / ROI than the other stuff but in the US they do much more lavish events than over here so maybe it has worked for them. It is definitely a different, almost opposite approach to the Swiss brands that want their customers at arms length, if they must deal with them at all.
Regal-
because their watches look frankly incredible under a macro lens
This point is huge. The Japanese have a well-earned reputation for setting themselves almost impossibly high standards when they want to get established in a premium niche. GS dials are wearable art. They really make you want to pay the high price.
nick_h.
Oh well. Anyway, hats off to Seiko for increasing the status of quartz so much. It's a most surprising postscript to the quartz crisis.