I attended an exclusive ‘insider’ session at Thong Sia Singapore on 26th Sep 2009. The event was jointly organized by Ogilvy Public Relations, the PR agent of Seiko Japan and Thong Sia Singapore, the distributor of Seiko watches in Singapore. Together with me was my friend Knight Lim and strongman Badern.

Now, let me take you along with me to the event.

The Invitation
SEIKO Japan and Thong Sia Singapore would like to invite you down for an exclusive “insider” session, where you will get a hands-on experience with watches from SEIKO’s latest luxury range – Ananta [http://www.seiko-ananta.com].

This session will also give you a personalized behind-the-scenes look at Thong Sia’s showroom and browse the full range of SEIKO watches that are available in Singapore.

Venue: Thong Sia Building
30 Bideford Road, #04-00
Singapore 229922

Time: 1000hrs – 1100hrs
Date: 26 Sep 09

On top of that, in conjunction with the current “I Love MY SEIKO” YouTube contest, our camera crew will be on-site to give you an opportunity to submit your SEIKO stories for the contest. So do remember to bring down your favorite SEIKO watch and enter the contest for a chance to win an Ananta of your own.

The Actual Day
Knight and I met outside Thong Sia Building at 9.45am. Badern was running a little late but managed to arrive before 10am. This was the first time I met him in the flesh and he was able to recognize me by the SBDX011 on my wrist.

Product Knowledge Session
We went up to Thong Sia’s office on the 4th floor and were ushered into a conference room where the other participants were already seated.

The session started off with the quick introduction of the 5R66 Spring Drive movement by Jon Loh, the manager of the service centre. A movement model (shown below) was used to show the components of the Spring Drive movement.

A representative from Ogilvy Public Relations then showed us the latest Ananta video that he received from Seiko Japan a day before the event. The video shows how the Ananta watch was made from case publishing to assembly of the movement. It was an impressive video and I could see that the Ananta is hand assembled watch.

The sales manager, Teddy Chan from Thong Sia summed up the product knowledge session and did a Q and A session before the Ananta hands-on session.

Hands-on Session
Having been briefed on the 5R66 movement and the background of the Ananta watch, we finally got to handle the magnificent Ananta Springdrive GMT, SNR021J1. I like the sword hands and sharp hour markers as well as the unique case design that the Ananta watch has.

Here’s my attempt to capture the side profile of the Ananta watch using my cell phone.

During the session, some Seiko catalogs and publications were passed around for the participants to read. This one titled “The Magic of Seiko” is probably the latest. It contains literature of Seiko’s latest product including the Spring Drive Spacewalk watch.

The Service Centre Tour
After looking at the sweet Ananta Spring Drive GMT, the  participants were brought to the service centre for a quick tour. Both Jon and Teddy were there to answer questions posed by the participants.

I personally confirmed with them that JDM Seiko watches sent here for servicing will be sent to Seiko Japan on behalf of the customer.

The service centre consists of a front desk that accepts watches from customers. Behind the front desk is where the technicians work. It consists of watch and clock repair as well as a parts department.

The Seiko Boutique Tour
Next, we took the escalator down to the ground floor to take a tour of the Seiko Boutique.

This Seiko boutique was designed by a Seiko designer from Japan and was launch in July 2005 in conjunction with the launch of Grand Seiko in Singapore. I had the privilege to attend the launch event that year.

**** End of Part I ****

Part II

Part III