Watchmaking in Japan


Watchmaking in Japan

When Japan inspires Swiss watches

GALLERY

By Anders Modig Davin
July 2024


When Japan inspires Swiss watches

Urushi combination techniques, enamel miniaturisations of heritage artworks, architectural theory, comic influences, origami, engraving and motifs from nature – this mix of current and vintage timepieces shows how Japanese influences enhance Swiss horology.

Year of the Dragon

The 2024 Chopard L.U.C XP Urushi Year of the Dragon is an artisanal expression of luck and prosperity which marks the Chinese zodiac cycle (which is also celebrated in Japan). The dial - whose dragon represents imperial authority, wealth, fertility and auspiciousness – is made with urushi lacquer, gold powder and mother-of-pearl inlays using the maki-e technique.

Twenty-Year Flyback

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of its Tokyo Boutique in the Omotesando district – a very important step in the brand’s history – F.P.Journe released the Chronographe FB, a 40mm titanium-cased flyback chronograph with a burgundy strap.

Midnight in Paris

The Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight Extraordinary Japanese Lacquer – a collection of five limited edition timepieces – was made in collaboration with artist Hakose San (2010). These watches are part of the 2024 Van Cleef & Arpels and Japan: an artistic encounter exhibition in Paris.

Meditative

Koï’s Garden from Louis Vuitton combines hand engraving and miniature painting to capture a classical view of the Japanese garden fish.

The Beauty of Nature

Voutilainen’s long-term Japanese collaborator Mr. Kitamura made the dial of the Voutilainen Setsu-Getsu-Ka by combining urushi lacquer with kinpun (gold dust), jyunkin-itakane (gold leaf), yakou-gai (great green turban shell) and awabi-gai (abalone shell from New Zealand). The combination of snow, moon and flowers is a Japanese expression and theme in art and design, which became popular in the late Edo period (1603-1868).

All that glitters

A dozen layers of urushi lacquer are applied, over an entire month, to the dial of the Bulgari Diva Finissima Minute Repeater Urushi, finished with a sprinkling of gold.

Mirror on The Wrist

Bulgari has worked with several architects, including Pritzker laureate Kazuyo Sejima, co-founder of Sanaa. For the mirror-polished Octo Finissimo, she sought to “create a constant and dynamic exchange between the watch itself and everything that surrounds it.”

Time For Art

For the 2024 Biennale Arte in Venice, Swatch presented a collaboration with famous Japanese graphic artist Verdy. The art piece celebrates Vick, the artist’s most famous character.

A Single Flower

Hublot has made a series of watches with the artist Takashi Murakami, one of the latest being this colourful flower for the 2024 Only Watch auction.

Waterfall

Jaeger-LeCoultre pays homage to Japan’s most celebrated 19th-century artist Katsushika Hokusai with a miniature reproduction of Waterfall at Ono on the Kisokaido Road.

Rare crafts

Patek Philippe’s 2023 Rare Handcrafts exhibition featured exquisite timepieces inspired by Japan, including this table clock with origami cranes, created with cloisonné enamel.

Crystal clear

Shown at the Van Cleef & Arpels and Japan: an artistic encounter exhibition on Place Vendôme in Paris, this 1957 table clock portrays two female figures, sculpted from rock crystal, holding a clock in yellow gold, sapphire and diamond.

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WATCH FILES
Watchmaking in Japan  

Urushi: rise and shine

July 2024
For 9,000 years, the durable urushi lacquer – a natural sap from the urushi tree – has been used in Japan. It is an exquisite and challenging material that (...)

Otsuka Lotec: a retro touch

July 2024
With 1950s engineering design cues, Jiro Katayama and his Otsuka Lotec brand, which makes around 180 pieces per year, have recently started receiving (...)

Hajime Asaoka: a multifaceted contribution to Japanese watchmaking

July 2024
Hajime Asaoka is arguably the most famous among the growing number of independent Japanese watchmakers. Alongside an extremely individual and subjective (...)

Japanese ephemeral papers

July 2024
In Japan, it is often said that the packaging is more important than what’s inside. In a gift – or simply with the food one brings home from the market – (...)

Daizoh Makihara: horological delicacies

July 2024
This former cook made a radical career change in the mid 2000s. In a process that is the horological equivalent of slow cooking, he makes one watch per (...)

Knot: the Japanese champion of customisation

July 2024
Knot watches range from solar- and quartz-powered fashion-oriented models to premium automatic timepieces incorporating Japanese artisanship, including (...)

Masahiro Kikuno: time is anything but linear

July 2024
Masahiro Kikuno made his mark on the horological map with the Wadokei, back in 2011. Since then, he has produced no more than one or two watches a year, (...)

Minase: windows on rare crafts

July 2024
The growing Japanese brand specialises in unique case-in-case designs, Sallaz polishing and the inclusion of artisanal crafts.

Casio: calculating time

July 2024
Exactly 50 years ago, in 1974, Casio, the leading name in calculators, launched the Casiotron – a completely novel concept of time measurement not as gears (...)

Citizen: en route for the next 100 years

July 2024
In 1924 the Shokosha Institute brought out its first entirely Japanese-made pocket watch and named it Citizen. A century later, Citizen is a heavyweight in (...)

Iconic japanese calibres

July 2024
Our thanks to Hirota Masayuki (Chronos Japan) for this selection.

Credor: 50 years of understated sophistication

July 2024
Founded in 1974, Credor is both the most understated and the most sophisticated brand in the Seiko galaxy.

Grand Seiko Dô: the way of precision and elegance

July 2024
Travellers to Japan in the 2000s discovered that Seiko offered a collection of beautifully made, fine quality mechanical watches. This range, named Grand (...)

100 years of the Seiko wristwatch

July 2024
A century ago saw the first wristwatch bearing the Seiko name on the dial – the start of a new endeavour that would change the global horological landscape. (...)

“Japanese brands have all come to the same conclusion: move upmarket”

June 2024
Hirota Masayuki has been the face of Chronos Japan magazine for two decades. He is also one of Japan’s leading watch market specialists. We asked him about (...)

A year of symbols for Japan

EDITORIAL

June 2024
An interesting development, perhaps even a major shift, is taking place in Japanese watchmaking. The Japanese watch industry has long set itself up to be (...)

Naoya Hida: Japan’s handcrafted watches for vintage lovers

February 2024
Naoya Hida, a Japanese watch sales professional for several decades, was able to develop a hobby brand into a solid brand and a full-time profession. Since (...)

Orient Star is rising

February 2024
Orient Star denotes the top range of mechanical watches from Orient, a watchmaker with a history dating back to 1901 but fully integrated into the Seiko (...)

Miyota: from movement-maker to brand name

October 2023
Miyota is on a mission to convince the global mid-range segment of the virtues and importance of mechanical calibres. In other words, to put the movement (...)

Watch Q&A with... Akio Naito – Seiko, Grand Seiko

June 2023
“A unique sense of beauty rooted in traditional Japanese aesthetics – sublime, yet understated and restrained”

Grand Seiko unveils its first mechanical complication

April 2022
Grand Seiko’s new Constant-Force Tourbillon Kodo combines a constant-force mechanism and a tourbillon as one unit on a single (...)

King Seiko: a 1965 classic is re-born!

December 2020
Never before in the company’s history had there been a period of such creativity and achievement. From the first Grand Seiko in 1960 to the automatic (...)

Orient revives the M-Force Sports collection

October 2020
Orient is bringing back its popular M-Force model, a much-loved member of the Orient Sports Collection. The first four models of the new third generation (...)

Citizen Super TitaniumTM

WHEN INNOVATION MEANS MATERIALS

October 2020
As illustrated on the cover of the lastest edition of Europa Star, in 2020 Citizen is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the first titanium (...)

Grand Seiko’s new addition to the 60th anniversary collection

October 2020
The revolutionary automatic caliber 9SA5 and a powerful new look are completing the Japanese brand’s celebration. Discover the three innovations that set (...)

Grand Seiko’s chronometric quest

INNOVATION AS A CONSTANT FORCE

October 2020
To widespread surprise, in September Grand Seiko presented a wholly unprecedented concept movement, the T0 (T-Zero) Constant-force Tourbillon. Its (...)

Grand Seiko’s special relationship with nature

September 2020
The brilliant blue sky over Mt. Iwate at dawn that greets the watchmakers and technicians of the Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi inspires a new limited (...)

Seiko Presage Sharp Edged Series

September 2020
Sharp, angular and refined: a new Presage series features a Japanese Asanoha or hemp leaf pattern, familiar in Japanese culture for its use in design since (...)

Seiko Prospex LX line Limited Edition

August 2020
The LX line was introduced in 2019 from the Prospex collection as the pinnacle of Seiko sports watches. The line’s name, LX, hints at the Latin word for (...)

The Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi opens its doors

July 2020
A new chapter in the 60-year history of Grand Seiko opens with the inauguration of an entirely new studio dedicated to the production of Grand Seiko’s (...)

Grand Seiko celebrates its 60th Anniversary

BRAND FOCUS

July 2020
This year, Grand Seiko is celebrating 60 years of existence. Called “kanreki”, this anniversary is especially important in the Japanese culture. To mark the (...)

Citizen: the titan of titanium

COVER STORY

July 2020
Exactly fifty years ago, in the golden age of the Apollo missions, Japanese brand Citizen introduced a new material into watchmaking that had hitherto been (...)
Europa Star

Citizen sets its sights on the moon

SPACE

August 2019
The world’s first commercial lunar exploration program, HAKUTO-R, will be equipped with Citizen’s Super Titanium™ on components used in the lunar lander and (...)

A history of sports timekeeping

1964: A TURNING POINT FOR SEIKO

August 2019
The Olympic Games held in Tokyo in 1964 changed Seiko for ever. That edition, the first ‘technological’ Olympics, brought the Japanese company into the (...)

Seiko: “We want to go beyond functionality”

JAPANESE BRANDS

August 2019
How to convey not only the functional aspect of Seiko’s and Grand Seiko’s collections, but also the Japanese sense of beauty found in these timepieces? An (...)

The secret calendars of Japanese prints

HISTORY

July 2019
To circumvent the state monopoly on calendars, ingenious Japanese craftsmen designed prints that revealed – to initiates only – the alternation of short and (...)

Visiting Seiko Dream Square in Tokyo

CONCEPT STORES

July 2019
Last December, Seiko inaugurated this space, which differs greatly from a traditional boutique. Rather than simply displaying watches, the Japanese giant (...)

In the world’s largest movement factory

REPORT

July 2019
A quartz calibre is produced every second at the Saku factory operated by Miyota. The Citizen Group’s movement manufacturer equips a plethora of entry-level (...)

Orient: the watch brand of Epson

JAPANESE BRANDS

July 2019
Orient, which specialises in automatic watches, wants to take advantage of Epson’s global infrastructure to make itself better known (...)

Minase: Japan’s best-kept horological secret

REPORT

July 2019
Minase is a good example of how technological innovation in Japan can also be an ode to nature. We paid a visit to this family company in Akita, in the (...)

Visiting Tissot’s new boutique in Tokyo

CONCEPT STORES

July 2019
This year, the Swiss brand opened a new boutique in the Daikanyama district, which is popular with designers and has many art galleries, bookstores and (...)

Casio: “We must do better in the metal analogue watch”

JAPANESE BRANDS

July 2019
The first generation of G-Shock used plastics, the second one incorporated metal, and the new one is made of carbon. Simultaneously, the brand intends to (...)

Citizen: “Reaping the benefits of our acquisitions”

JAPANESE BRANDS

July 2019
The Japanese giant is active on a number of fronts: developing record accuracy with the Caliber 0100, moving towards the connected world with the Eco-Drive (...)

Japanese watchmaking wants to change its image

ANALYSIS

July 2019
Seiko, Citizen and Casio now offer models at prices that were unthinkable a few years ago. Japanese companies intend to move from a highly technological (...)

Master of the swords

PORTRAIT

July 2019
Swordsmith Sadanobu Gassan works with Casio to craft watches for a dedicated MR-G line. The heir to six generations of artisans, he explains how he works (...)

The enigma of Japanese youth

ANALYSIS

July 2019
Japanese people aged 20 to 40 are much less into luxury than their parents, who experienced the country’s industrial boom. They prefer to save for their (...)
Europa Star

A new era for Japanese watchmaking?

EDITORIAL

July 2019
As demand for Japanese quartz movements continues to fall, due to declining interest in the fashion watch, and as the arrival of the smartwatch causes (...)

Citizen Caliber 0100

THE ONE-SECOND CHALLENGE

June 2019
In a world first, the Japanese brand is introducing three new Eco-Drive watches that achieve an accuracy to within ±1 second per year. They draw directly on (...)

“Strengthening the appeal of G-Shock for mature buyers”

INTERVIEW WITH SHIGENORI ITOH CEO

May 2018
G-Shock is 35 years old in 2018. Among the most striking anniversary models that Casio has launched this year are the Red Out, the Gold Tornado, the Big (...)

Minase, a window on the watch [Video]

JAPANESE CRAFTS

April 2018
Originally a family company specialized in the production of cutting tools in the Akita province of Japan, Minase is a growing-up watch artisan aiming at (...)
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