Mention high-end Seiko, and relative newcomers to Seiko will assert Grand Seiko as the be-all end-all, but experienced Seiko hands will always mention King Seiko – like this crisp seldom-seen 1971 King Seiko 5626-7110 dress automatic here, with original King Seiko box and instructions manual – in the same breath.  Seiko phased out the King Seiko during the 1970’s, virtually ensuring the Grand Seiko would remain more famous
 
The King Seiko 5626’s contoured case is reminiscent of the legendary 1967 Grand Seiko “44GS” but perhaps even more attractively rendered.  Like the 44GS, the 56KS features a beveled ring around the crystal that sits above the sharply-sculpted and polished body and lugs.  That said, the 56KS differed with its long, elegant lugs that draw attention to the dial rather than the case. 
 
The long, thin applied chiseled hour markers haven’t been duplicated by Seiko or Grand Seiko since the 5626, standing out in contrast to the fatter markers found on the 44GS and modern watches.  Even more unique, the King Seiko eschews the trademark sword hands of the Grand Seiko line for impossibly-thin pencil hands that complement these fine markers.
 
In 1959, Seiko split up their Suwa subsidiary into two separate entities—Suwa Seikosha and Daini Seikosha—to promote competition and product development within the company, with both operating separately under the idea this would incite competition and each would try to one-up each other and produce better products.
 
Well…it worked.
 
That same year, Daini Seikosha hired a young designer by the name of Taro Tanaka, the man who would in the early 1960's create a set of design principles that he called “The Grammar of Design.”   In 1962, Tanaka noticed Swiss watches "sparkled brilliantly" and realized the design of high-end Seiko watches could be radically improved through the implementation of "flat and conical surfaces perfectly smooth and free of distortion."  
 
This "Grammar of Design" was implemented in Grand Seiko and King Seiko lines from 1967 and made these lines instantly recognizable as status symbols in the hierarchical Japanese business world of the 1960s and 1970s.
 
Tanaka’s rules would go on to fundamentally change Seiko’s design language.  All surfaces and angles of the case, dial, indices and hands had to be flat and geometrically perfect to best reflect light.  Following this aesthetic, the bezels were to be simple two-dimensional faceted curves.  And third, no visual distortion from any angle was allowed, and all cases and dials had to be mirror-finished.  In “A Journey in Time: The Remarkable Story of Seiko,” Tanaka’s approach to the new style is described as follows:

“He started by creating cases and dials that had a perfectly flat surface, with two-dimensional curves on the bezel as a secondary feature.  Three-dimensional curves were not used, as a general rule.  He also decided that all distortion should be eliminated from the dial, too, so that it could be finished with a mirror surface.  This formed the basis for the new Seiko style.”
 
This King Seiko comes on a leather strap, and with nylon strap, rugged travel case, springbar tool, King Seiko box, and King Seiko instrctions manual.