Hokusai made over 30,000 works in his lifetime and famously said he felt he'd only just begun to understand his craft at 73. The man behind this dial, master engraver Kiyoshi Terui, recognised by the Japanese government as a Contemporary Master Craftsman, has that same obsessive relationship with his hands and his tools. It shows.
 
Credor doesn't get nearly enough attention outside of Japan, and that's partly by design. It sits above Grand Seiko in Seiko's own hierarchy, but it doesn't really behave like a luxury tier; it behaves like an atelier. Small numbers, specific intentions, craftspeople who have been doing one thing their entire careers. The Fugaku series is the clearest expression of that. It was built around a single question: what happens when you stop asking a watch to be useful and just ask it to be extraordinary.
 
The GBBD963 came out of the Shizuku-ishi Watch Studio in 2016. Kiyoshi Terui did the engraving, Hokusai's Great Wave cut directly into white gold by hand, with a graver, at a scale that only really makes sense under a loupe. Isshu Tamura handled the lacquerwork underneath, pulling the palette from a Mt. Fuji sunrise in a way that's subtle enough that you keep noticing it differently depending on the light. The movement is fully skeletonised, sitting just behind all of it, so you're looking at the wave and the mechanics at the same time. It sounds like a lot. In person, it's remarkably composed. This reference is limited to 30 examples only.
 
This example is in excellent condition with original box and papers. 38mm white gold case on alligator. If you've been waiting for one of these to surface, this is the one.
 
Ships from Tokyo, Japan.