There was a time when Credor seemed to belong only to Japan: designed for its market, distributed almost exclusively within its borders. A well-kept, almost domestic secret, far from the noisy dynamics of international haute horlogerie.
Today, something has changed. The resurgence of interest around the brand, thanks in part to the rediscovery of the Locomotive, with its sculptural and sinuous bracelet that ideally dialogues with other icons signed Gérald Genta, has rekindled the spotlight on a house that has never stopped working in depth.
The Credor Locomotive, designed by Gerald Genta in 1979.
Founded in 1974 as the most refined expression of the Seiko universe, the house has always taken a side road that preferred attention to aesthetic detail to the technical precision of Grand Seiko grammar, focusing on reinterpretations of artistic muses suited to the sensibilities of the Rising Sun.
For the new edition of the Goldfeather, Credor has entrusted the dial to Imari Nabeshima porcelain, one of the finest expressions of traditional Japanese craftsmanship. The model, produced in 60 pieces, continues the path taken by the maison in recent years, which it has transformed with this historic collection into a continuum between watchmaking and applied arts.
The history of Imari Nabeshima porcelain
A Nabeshima porcelain plate, Edo Period (1615-1868), late 17th, Christie’s.
Nabeshima porcelain originated in the Edo period, during the 17th century, intended exclusively for the shogun’s court as a diplomatic gift. Not intended for the market, it was considered a sign of power and control, whose deliberately limited production, entrusted to a select few ateliers, remained subject to very strict aesthetic standards. Even today, workmanship follows a slow process that intersects decorative interventions performed before and after glazing with long and numerous stages of firing.
The entirely handcrafted dial
For the new Goldfeather Imari Nibeshima, Credor collaborated with Hataman Touen, an atelier active in the ceramic village of Okawachiyama, known as that of the “secret kilns” in Saga Prefecture. A remote, almost isolated place that has preserved intact its relationship with the long time of craft production, where the gesture is handed down and the deliberate repetition of the decorations guards a rigorous sense of discipline quite distinct from seriality.
A porcelain made by the Hataman Touen atelier.
The dial develops, on a translucent white porcelain base, a gradient of cobalt blue. The decorative motif alternates between barely perceptible white and blue feathers that, as they are juxtaposed, tend to overlap and dissolve into each other, creating a subtle play of transparencies and color variations from milky white to dusk blue.
The manufacturing process is, of course, extraordinarily complex: the dial endures five separate firings and is then precisely reduced to a thickness of about one millimeter, while maintaining structural solidity and a slight curvature, designed to follow the convex profile of the case.
The reference to the feather, already in the name Goldfeather, refers to the theme of lightness that has characterized this collection since its origins. The first Goldfeather, launched by Seiko (the parent company) in the 1960s, was one of the slimmest mechanical watches of its era.
Credor ‘s contemporary interpretations have recovered its formal approach, declining it through dials made with precious traditional techniques such asurushi, raden, and the artistic “basse-taille” enamels of the latest Credor Goldfeather GBBY969 and GBBY971.
Introduced in 2025 by Credor, the Credor Goldfeather GBBY969 and GBBY971 feature low-taille enamel dials made by the Japanese atelier Ando Cloisonné: a silver base engraved in bas-relief is covered with layers of translucent enamel, fired several times in a kiln. The whole is encased in a 37.4 mm 950 platinum case and animated by the 1.98 mm ultra-thin manual caliber 6890.
And that is why the use of porcelain represents a continuity with previous models rather than a break: a different material for the same approach, which conceives the dial as a handcrafted surface to be entrusted to knowledge outside watchmaking in the strict sense.
The New Credor Imari Nabeshima
The stainless steel case measures 37.1 mm in diameter and 8.3 mm thick. The lines are essential, the profile slim, the proportions perfect for a contemporary dress watch. Inside works the manual caliber 6890, one of Credor‘s historic ultra-thin movements, 1.98 mm thick, displaying hours and minutes. In this version it promises a power reserve of about 37 hours .
A choice consistent with the design approach, which favors overall balance over the introduction of complications. The back of the case is engraved with the Hatamam Touen atelier symbol, and the curved bridges of the movement are decorated with broad Côtes de Genève and hand-finished anglages.
Paired with a crocodile leather strap, blue or black depending on the market, with a steel folding clasp, the Goldfeather Imari Nabeshima is marketed outside Japan with a target price of about 15,000 euros. Production is scheduled to begin in February 2026.
Conclusions
The new Goldfeather Imari Nabeshima is a timepiece that works on perfectly calibrated classic cases and dimensions, but at the same time manages to confirm the Goldfeather collection as the guardian of these small, fragile and often forgotten bubbles of craftsmanship that can undoubtedly be effective design tools.
A debut that makes it natural to wonder what the maison has decided to reserve in Geneva this year for its first appearance at Watches & Wonders, while its commercial presence outside Japan remains a relatively recent and still selective phenomenon.
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