Back to 1984!

For a keen student of horology, there is no better 'time travel machine'  than watch catalogues which provide accurate snapshots of the ever revolving door of watch fashion. Today we are traveling back to 1984. What was in - and what was out? Contrary to one would expect - out of hundreds of watches on offer, Seiko had only two divers watches: Gold Tuna PYF018 in Titanium and PYF028 in steel. Both were powered by a high precision quartz mechanism calibre 7549.  Clearly, in 1984 divers and sports models were a hard sell for Seiko. What sold like hot chips were digital ‘combo’ watches. Both volumes list page after page of duo timers offering stop watch, alarm and count down time functions in sleek, slim line cases. One could have had five or six of them for a price of a Golden Tuna! Lady’s fashion: even more slim liners, both on leather strap or matching bracelet. And millions of pendant watches in all shapes and forms.

Gong through the 1984 catalogue one would quickly conclude that we were definitely less concerned about time and timekeeping and more abut form, design and fashion. Demand for ‘fine art of mechanical watchmaking’ was simply not there any more; neither in Switzerland and especially not so in Japan. It would take another two decades for major manufacturers to ‘rediscover’ their roots, and this is why we considered the 80s and 90s as lost decades of horology.  Yet there was one humble timepiece which remained as relevant as ever: Seiko railway pocket watch. The pocket watch which has seen and marked the technological milestones of timekeeping, yet remained practically unchanged for almost 100 years. In 1984 RW was fitted with the same robust quartz calibre movement as the Golden Tuna (cal 7550). And here is my prediction so mark my words - one day, sooner or later, Seiko railway pocket watches will be fitted with Astron GPS solar movements! Can’t wait for it!

We've got it!

It's been ages since we spoke about pocket watches, and today I'm very pleased to share some good news. After many months, a very special long awaited pocket watch has finally arrived. It is a Showa 3 (1928) Seikosha railway pocket watch. What a beauty! Known as type 19 (52mm case size), it became the official railway pocket watch of Japanese National Rail from 1928 to 1945. In 1945, type 19 was then replaced with Seikosha 9119, featuring the same mechanism but in a slightly smaller case (50mm). Type 19 was the El Primero of the Japanese railway saga. Of course, Seikosha was not the only watch to be used on Japanese Rail as a time keeper. From the late 1880s, Japan imported high grade pocket watches from both the USA and Switzerland. Waltham, Omega and Longines were already well established in the land of the rising sun. But one can only imagine the euphoria which culminated with Seikosha's technical mastery to manufacture a high grade pocket watch as good as foreign. Proving itself as robust and reliable in less than a decade, Seikosha established itself as the official JNR supplier. While foreign railroad pocket watches remained in service until their 'expiry date', National Railway favoured Seikosha over all other suppliers. Externally, design-wise, the Seikosha type 19 is heavily inspired by the 1920s American Illinois Bunn railroad pocket watch. The most prominent feature is the crown bow which clearly is not an imitation of American style, but rather one of the most elegantly designed European inspired bows, rooted in the Art Deco era.

The best way to understand and appreciate the true value of a high grade railway pocket watch is to remind ourselves of what such high precision instruments cost in the 1930s. While a top of the range Rolex Oyster Perpetual was advertised for 14 pounds, the cheapest Illinois Bunn was sold for $65 USD. And the Seikosha type 19 was not any cheaper than its American equivalent. A high grade pocket watch, especially a railway issued piece, should be a corner stone in any ambitious watch collection. If you are yet to acquire your first piece, the time to look for one is now while the prices remain very reasonable. If you are interested in a pocket watch from a particular year, send us an email and we will keep an eye out for you!

Seiko Japanese Railway Pocket Watches

PRODUCTION HISTORY, MODEL REFERENCE BY YEAR I didn't really plan to talk about this today however a number of subscribers are specifically interested in finding out which Seiko model was produced in which year. Chronologically the entire production can be divided into 9 distinctive periods with almost no overlapping. The first railway Seikosha was issued around 1929 and it is known as Type 19 Size 16. The current production run is SVBR003 introduced in 1999 and has been unchanged for the past 20 years. Here is a visual breakdown:

Omitted form the list are a few special / limited edition models, like SCVR001 silver pocket watch issued in year 2000. as well as 'labelled dial' examples which are essentially  just a cosmetic variation of the same models. Basically, if you are looking for a Seiko railway watch made and issued in a certain year (your birth year for example) then this list will assist you figuring out which model you are after. Early models are all mechanical manual wind, followed by mix of quarts/manual and after they are all quartz. However, the first quartz model 38RW only produced for 2 years (1978-1980) and it is extremely hard one to find. Back in 1978, it sold for over $600 and cost more than a brand new Rolex Submariner 5513! It goes without saying that you absolutely MUST have at least one Seiko Railway pocket watch in your collection. For many decades, Seiko pocket watches were regarded as the most accurate in the world - and this reason alone is worth the investment. Please do not copy/forward/publish any of above because this is still 'research in progress'  with more fine tuning required.

The four horsemen of the apocalypse

It is not often that we have four military watches in our workshop at the same time. While the intention is to introduce them individually next week, here is a lovely group photo of four of them: German Grana Wehrmacht, Australian Department of Defence Pierce, Japanese Imperial Army Seikosha and a British Moeris. While the watches vary in size, the quality of workmanship and the style, the question we are trying to answer is which one was the best of the lot. Let’s start with the German Grana. Grana is a Swiss-made watch manufacture established in 1888 as Gebrüder Kurth by Adolf and Alfred Kurth. They started manufacturing movements and supplies for the watchmaking industry with just three employees. In 1906 the brand Grana was introduced for watches and immediately won awards for its high quality. However, the Swiss Law for Protection and Regulation of the Watch Market of 1934 (Uhrenstatut) prohibited the supply of watches and ebauches simultaneously. As a consequence, Kurth Frères concentrated on the watch manufacturing. In 1939, the brand Certina was registered for cheaper volume models, while Grana was used for top models. However after the WW2 Grana production was discontinued and after the 1949 Certina remains the only KF brand name. Clearly, the Wehrmacht was interested in Grana and not the cheaper Certina. Grana manufactured wrist watches as well as pocket watches. The Wehrmacht requested watches with a black dial with Arabic figures, luminous hands and figures, sub second on the "6", water resistance and a screw back. Such watches were produced for the officers of German Army during WW2. The watches were signed with the letters D and H as well as a number. While H clearly stands for Heer (army), it is the letter D that divides horological historians. It either stands for Deutsches (German) or Dienstuhr which means service watch. We are still waiting for an official clarification on this matter. Apart from the robust nickel case and stunning black glowing dial, it is was the water resistance that made Grana so very special: a screw lock case back with a Dichtung! To be continued...

1952 Seikosha Japan National Railway Pocket Watch

Bringing to life a long written off pocket watch is always a challenge. Getting a vintage timepiece to run let alone keep correct time is not a matter of cleaning, oiling, and adjustment; that only works on modern watches. It is always a matter of solving the problem of wear and tear and replacing the corroded and broken parts. And this Seikosha (early name for Seiko) is the perfect example of how easy it is to underestimate the time and effort required. The heart of the watch (shown on the last photo) known as the balance complete was beyond rescue. Luckily we had a donor watch. So four hours later after the complete rebuild, this 67 year old Seikosha was full steam ahead! The dial restoration is something I am extremely proud of. Anything to do with chemicals is usually beyond the expertise of a watchmaker and until the last moment the outcome is unknown. Removing the embedded grime that built up on the dial over decades was tedious and painstaking and you can see how the dial looked before and after the process. The calibre 9119A was introduced in 1949 and remained in production until 1971 (Showa 24 - Showa 46). And here is one juicy bit. Unlike most Swiss railroad watches, Seikosha pocket watch comes with original "second setting". It is a hack mechanism that enables the railman to set and restart the watch at the exact 00 seconds signal. When the stem is pulled out, the watch continues to run until the seconds hand reaches the 60 mark, then it stops and the time is set to the exact hour and minute when the time radio signal is next expected. At the last radio beep the stem is pushed in and the minute and seconds hand are synchronised properly. This synchronisation is much more difficult to achieve with a standard Swiss hack method. As promised before, I am on the constant look out for original Seikosha Railway pocket watches and any duplicate will be offered for sale to subscribers. I appreciate your patience.