As a new year begins, it’s always fun to think about which brands are poised to do something meaningful over the next 12 months. Obviously, every brand starts with high hopes and great intentions, but inevitably there are just a few who really become conversation drivers in the industry. It can be fun to speculate who is in a good position to do that. Lots of time, it will be a brand in the midst of a big anniversary celebration (Vacheron Constantin and Breguet in 2025 were great examples of this phenomenon). I’d like to posit that another way a brand can make a big splash is by simply having a presence at Watches & Wonders in the spring – any brand making their first appearance at the show is going to have a great deal of attention thrust upon them. This year, Audemars Piguet makes their first appearance at the show, and of course everyone will be keeping an eye out. But everyone’s always keeping an eye out for AP. I’m more interested in another brand coming to the Palexpo for the first time: Credor.
Credor of course is part of the Seiko family, and can be thought of as the high end, artistic, and craft forward expression of the watchmaking family. Credor’s watches are uncompromising and beautiful, but they are wildly underseen. They are rare, of course, and tough to find outside of Japan (similar to Grand Seiko a decade ago) but they also require a bit of a learning curve in how collectors and enthusiasts understand what the brand is all about. And that’s the power of Watches & Wonders. Credor is about to have a platform to showcase what they can do unlike any they’ve had before. They’re one of the brands I’m most looking forward to seeing when we head back to Switzerland for the big event in just a few months.
To start 2026, Credor has introduced a new piece in their Goldfeather line of ultra slim dress watches made with artisanal dials. The new watch is a tribute to traditional Imari Nabeshima porcelain, a specific variety of porcelain that flourished in the Edo period and was associated primarily with feudal lords and fired in historic kilns in Okawachiyama, a location renowned for its porcelain production going back centuries. The dial here has been created in collaboration with the Hataman Touen kiln, which is known in the world of fine porcelain to uphold the longest held traditions of the craft. The dial features a traditional translucent white base with a cobalt blue gradation that gets darker at the outer edges. It’s simple and refined, and pays homage to traditional Japanese porcelain craftsmanship in an understated but beautiful way.
This Goldfeather is rendered in stainless steel, in a case measuring 37.1mm across and a hair over 8mm tall, a perfect size for a classic dress watch silhouette. It runs on Credor’s Caliber 6890, a thin manually wound movement that is nicely decorated and visible through the exhibition caseback. It has a power reserve of 37 hours. The retail price of this new Goldfeather, which carries reference number GCBY991, is €15,000. It’s a limited edition of 60 pieces.
This is just one example of what Credor can do, and it exists at a more approachable end for the brand. The watches in the Eichi line are perhaps more fawned over, and rightly so, as they offer far more elaborate hand finished dials and movements that represent different expressions of Japanese artistic craft. What draws Credor’s watches together is a focus on aesthetics, sometimes over mechanics, that is a very different proposition than even the highest end watches from Grand Seiko, such as the Kodo. It will be fascinating to see how people respond to Credor this year as they exhibit alongside Grand Seiko at Watches & Wonders, showcasing their unique take on Japanese watchmaking. Credor
Zach Kazan
2026-01-08 15:00:00