The Seiko Epson Corporation facility is located a few hours west of Tokyo in the city of Shiojiri (in the Nagano Prefecture – home of the 1998 Winter Olympics). If Morioka Seiko Instruments is most interesting because of the quality of the high-end pieces it produces, Seiko Epson Corporation is most notable for the range of pieces it produces. Think about it – all under one roof: 50 9F quartz movements and eight hybrid quartz/mechanical Spring Drive movements are assembled per day; meanwhile, in the micro-artist studio, the indexes of the Credor Eichi II are hand-painted and the chime of the Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie – based on the traditional Orin bell – is perfected. Oh, and one of Seiko's most interesting recent innovations is also produced here: the Astron GPS Solar, the new line of solar-powered pieces with a ring antenna that enables the watch to adjust time zones automatically.

Yoshifusa Nakazawa (above), an expert in sonnerie chiming, is one of 11 specialists who work in the Micro Artist Studio, which opened in 2000.