King Seiko 44KS
The 44KS was a high-end hand-wound mechanical watch from Seiko.
Introduced in 1964 and produced through 1968, the 44KS spawned the famous Grand Seiko 44GS, with which it shared a movement and factory. It was built by Daini Seikosha as their high-end alternative to the Suwa Seikosha-produced Grand Seiko line.
The 44KS is a simple but elegant watch, with no date window or other complications. It is manually-wound and runs at a leisurely 18,000 A/h. It was only available in stainless steel, though a screw-back case gives 50 m water resistance. One unique aspect of the 4420A movement in the 44KS is that a tiny weight was attached directly to the hairspring to improve accuracy. This is often removed during servicing, since most watchmakers are unfamiliar with this practice.
The 44KS was phased out in favor of the Daini-produced King Seiko 45KS in 1968.
Variants
There were two revisions of the Daini 4400 watch:
- 4420A was introduced in 1964 as a King Seiko, and is known today as 44KS
- 4420B appeared in 1967 as a Grand Seiko with the legendary 44GS case
See Also
External Links
- The History of Grand Seiko
- Interview: Akira Ohira - watchmaking "Father" of modern mechanical Grand Seiko
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