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 exceptional full-serviced 1974 King Seiko 5625-7041 "Tokyo Met" Chronometer automatic dress watch here, on its original strap and with KS instructions manual and Seiko box – in the same breath.  Seiko phased out the King Seiko in the 1970’s, virtually ensuring the Grand Seiko would remain more famous.
 
Why do we call this a "Tokyo Met" King Seiko?
 
Engravings on the caseback of this crisp King Seiko indicate it was a gift in "Commemoration of Long Service" to a loyal employee of the Mutual Benefit Association for Tokyo Metropolitan Government Employees.  
 
The Mutual Benefit Association for Tokyo Metropolitan Government Employees (MBA, 東京都職員共済組合, Tokyo-to Shokuin Kyosai Kumiai) is a Japanese public pension and welfare institution established in 1948.  The MBA provides comprehensive health, pension, and welfare services to employees of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government
 
Funded by the insurance premiums paid by the members and contributions from the national government and Independent Administrative Institutes, the Association focuses on short-term benefits services, long-term benefits services, and welfare services.
 
The MBA system was established as part of the social insurance system to contribute – through mutual aid – to the stability and welfare of the lives of members and their families and to the efficient execution of job duties.
 
The association operates under the Local Public Officers Mutual Aid Association Act and provides three primary categories of service:
Short-Term Benefits (Health): Medical care, maternity benefits, and childcare leaves for members and their dependents.
Long-Term Benefits (Pension): Management of retirement, disability, and survivor pensions, often integrated with the national Employees' Pension Insurance (EPI) system.
Welfare Services: Financial assistance such as loans, health checkups, and management of recreational or accommodation facilities for government personnel. 
 
The MBA is one of the key Local Public Service Mutual Aid Associations in Japan, alongside similar groups for police personnel, public school teachers, and municipal employees.  These associations collaborate through the Pension Fund Association for Local Government Officials (Chikyoren) for large-scale asset management and pension administration.
 
Its members consist of national public servants who work full-time for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Japan Sports Agency, the Cultural Affairs Agency, and other national government organizations, as well as executives and regular employees who work full-time for the National University Corporations, the Inter-University Research Institute Corporations, and the Independent Administrative Institutes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
 
But let's get back to the King Seiko on offer here...
 
The King Seiko 5625’s contoured case is pure "Grammar of Design" - the 5625 example here is also a chronometer model, with chronometer certification.  Seiko's Grammar of Design was implemented in Grand Seiko and King Seiko lines from 1967 onwards, making these watches instantly recognizable as status symbols in the hierarchical Japanese business world of the 1960s and 1970s.  
 
In fact, King Seiko's were - and are - held in high regard in Japan, and often gifted by Japanese corporations as awards for decades of service within them.  We love watches like this, and each has a special and usually unique story to tell.
 
But now for some King Seiko history - in 1959, Seiko split up their Suwa subsidiary into two separate entities—Suwa Seikosha and Daini Seikosha—to promote friendly competition and product development within the company, with both operating separately under the idea this would incite good-natured one-upmanship to produce better watches.
 
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."  
 
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 its original leather Seiko strap (including its KS buckle), and with nylon strap, rugged travel case, springbar tool, King Seiko instructions manual, and Seiko box.