On November 9, 2006, the annual awards event, known as the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie, took place in Geneva’s Grand Theatre. 10 awards were made by the jury, and the SEIKO Electronic Ink watch won the 2006 prize as the best Electronic Watch of the Year 2006.

This is the first time that SEIKO has won a Grand Prix award, and it is recognition of the extraordinary advances represented by the SEIKO Electronic Ink watch. The SEIKO Electronic Ink watch is a world first from SEIKO, and it is a new landmark in SEIKO’s long history of mastery in electronic watch technologies. The SEIKO Electronic Ink watch was first shown at the 2005 Baselword Exhibition, and it was placed in the market in early 2006. New products will be planned although this watch itself will no longer be produced.

The watch uses electronic ink technology, which allows time or any other data to be presented across a wide display area, with perfect legibility at any angle. Furthermore, the display incorporates a wide range of presentation graphics for the time, including a “day and night” background that shows, in a dazzlingly simple graphic style, AM and PM.

The award was received by Mr. Shu Yoshino, a General Manager of SEIKO Watch Corporation. Accepting the award from Miss Switzerland, 2005, Mr. Yoshino said:

We are extremely honored and pleased by this prize. The SEIKO Electronic Ink watch is only one of the expressions of SEIKO’s innovative technology. Alongside this watch, we introduced Spring Drive last year, and Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie this year, which mark a fundamental step into a new era in watch making. I hope I will come back to Geneva next year where we don’t have many chances to visit.

Other winners of Grand Prix included Cartier for its Santos Mysterieuse, Patek Philippe for its Gondolo Gemma Ref 4991, and Tag Heuer for the Carrera Calibre 360.