SKU: 24818
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WHAT WE LOVE:
The King Seiko story deserves to be told more often than it is. While Grand Seiko was produced at Suwa Seikosha, King Seiko originated at Daini Seikosha — Seiko's second factory — and was positioned as a direct rival, both to the Grand Seiko and to Switzerland's finest export dress watches. The 56KS, introduced in 1968, marked the King Seiko's transition to automatic winding — and the ref. 5625-7000 is the original case in that transition: the first automatic 56KS reference, produced for a window of approximately three years before successive case references replaced it, and widely regarded among KS collectors as the definitive 56KS configuration.
The 7000 case is immediately recognisable to anyone who has spent time with the early King Seiko range. The thick, squared lugs — stronger and more architectural than those of successor references — the single-piece stainless steel monocoque construction, and the Zaratsu-polished surfaces with their crisp transitions between brushed and mirror-finished planes are exactly as Taro Tanaka's Grammar of Design specified them. The silver sunburst dial radiates directionally under light, changing character entirely between direct illumination and shadow. The applied thin baton markers, the doubled 12 o'clock index, the applied "KS" medallion at lower centre, and the "Hi-Beat" designation confirm both the calibre and the generation.
WHAT'S INSIDE:
The 5625-7000 is powered by the Seiko Calibre 5625A — a 25-jewel automatic movement beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour (Hi-Beat for its era), with quickset date, hacking seconds, and a notably low-profile architecture that keeps the case proportions slim for an automatic of this period.
FIVEFORTYFIVE SIX MONTHS WARRANTY
