SEIKO 5: the Merchant Seafarer’s Watch.
Arnie Schwarzenegger has one and so does Sigourney Weaver, Brian May et al other celebrities (a Seiko watch, that is).And Novak Djokovic was presented with one upon winning a recent tennis championship.Okay, it’s likely that some are paid by Seiko – product exposure during Hollywood movies is as good as advertising but the basis of Seiko’s success in bring reliable, inexpensive watches to everyone is nothing but short of legendary.
The rise of the Seiko Clock and Watch Corporation in Japan started in 1881 when Kintaro Hattori, a jeweller in Tokyo began experimenting with watch manufacture using components from Switzerland.This wasn’t uncommon, as Japan, at the time, had a lot of catching up to do with Western industrialisation, a process started with the American ‘Black Fleet’ in 1859: briefly, Japan was hitherto a closed feudal society until the Black Fleet forced the Japanese to open up for business.
They didn’t take long to progress. By way of trade, credit facilities and industrial spies, Japan quickly realised the value of ‘reverse-engineering’, or in other words, purchasing technology from overseas manufacturers to copy and refine. From a nation which didn’t know what steam propulsion was in 1859, they soon possessed a naval and merchant fleet, both initially reverse-engineered from shipyards in Barrow in Furness, Chatham and Glasgow.
In a further example involving the aero industry – a new enterprise even in Europe in 1911 – Japan was copying design and construction (1); but to this day, a legacy of ships of the Japanese Imperial Fleet remains, especially in Barrow with street names of Yamato Street and Mikasa Street echoing ships which were built for the Imperial Japanese Navy.
In fact, Japan achieved a quick industrialisation programme helped by the Black Fleet; there are volumes of books around such as Walworth’s Black Ships off Japan (2), but if you want a easy cinematic account to get into look no further than Hollywood’s The Last Samurai (1997).It’s an absorbing film starring Tom Cruise as the Black Fleet’s sailor Nathan Algren who arrives in Japan entrusted to trading technology he states of the Japanese:
“they are an intriguing people. From the moment they wake they devote themselves to perfection of whatever they pursue.”
This is TheLast Samurai’s comment about what we now know as the Japanese ‘workaholic’ culture, but also the never-ending search for quality – cars, electronics and opticals especially bearing the label ‘QE’ for Quality Engineering which sets a high benchmark.
Anyway, returning to watches and over a hundred years after the Black Fleet, Seiko was enjoying an unprecedented boom in watch manufacture. The Seiko 5 seemed to be the most reasonably priced value watch of the range and after my first trip I noticed that about two thirds of the crew were wearing them.
Newly-arrived to Japan, I was in Yokohama which was probably the best city to visit: the original port city is very accepting of foreigners, something which cannot always be said of smaller towns – indeed, in smaller places a seafarer is liable to be refused admission to certain Japanese bars – the reason being they’re ‘Japanese-only’ – a phrase which the door-staff seemed completely able to pronounce in English, even if they can’t pronounce much else.I never encountered any such places in Yokohama, but although impressed by the Seiko 5’s of my shipmates, I was nineteen and instead really wanted to enjoy the bars and nightlife.A popular bar which I believe is still open is Windjammer, located close to Chinatown and the stadium – no doubt it will do well in this year’s Rugby World Cup.
However, and on a subsequent visit to Yokohama, my old Timex watch had died but finding a Seiko 5 was easy – in fact, watch sellers tended to look for customers but not in a pushy way as is found in Singapore or Hong Kong. The Seafarer’s Centre sold them, and downtown most watch-shops were stacked out with Seiko 5’s, Grand Seiko’s and early divers’ watches. And there was always literature (in English) describing that ‘Seiko’ is a Japanese word meaning ‘exquisite’ or ‘success’; that all Seiko watches were produced entirely in-house: items such as micro-gears, motors, hands and crystal oscillators – even the light lubricating oil was a Seiko brand.
Their booklets described how Seiko watches were waterproofed on a scale ranging from Actus 5 – which only had minimal waterproofing (3 metres) – to the advanced divers’ watches, proofed to 1000 metres for submerged use. Anyway, I bought a Seiko 5, revelling as much in the purchase as the Japanese retail experience of superlative politeness and manners. After this the watch was boxed and wrapped up in silky paper – a practice which goes on today for even the most humble department store purchase. I was given a business-card (“in case of problems”, they said) and quickly learnt the respect and ritual of business-cards: the recipient takes the card and places it carefully in a wallet, never in a back pocket.One of the American sailors from Yokosuka US Naval Base explained: “it’s the ultimate rudeness to put a Jap business card in a pocket right next to your ass”
The Seiko 5 was named for five key attributes – revolutionary at the time – which were:
1) Automatic winding
2) Day and date in single window
3) Water resistance
4) Recessed crown at 4 o’clock position
5) Tough steel case and bracelet
So although the company pushed back frontiers in watch technology, my own Seiko 5 was entry-level – silver dial and basic waterproofing – but back aboard ship, I found shipmates were glad to share their stories, some having purchased in Singapore or Hong Kong where vendors could be less scrupulous than the Japanese (to this day, copy watches are strictly forbidden in Japan) – so one or two guys said they bought Seiko’s which were waterproofed to 10 bar pressure. But in fact they weren’t – the water resistance was only to 3 bar!
I never had any problems with my own – keeping it out of swimming pools and showers – but in Singapore we met up with some Blue Funnel crew who insisted the ‘Tiger Beer test’ was to best way to check out a fake: buy one from a nearby shop, then drop it in a tall glass of ‘Tiger’ beer – if it’s still working after a few glugs of beer, then it’s a real Seiko.”If it ain’t”, they said – “don’t delay for your money back”.
But genuine Seiko’s are very durable and forgiving. On a later date, we’d just left a Canadian port bound for Southampton when the chief engineer announced he’d dropped his Seiko down the bilge. When we descended into the bilge to look for his lost watch the desire to cop for a case of beer as a reward superseded any concern about getting covered in oil. Except that we looked and looked again, but couldn’t locate it. Finally, and in sight of Lands End lighthouse, a cadet discovered it trapped under the sea strainer having been sloshed around in bilge water and diesel for nine days.
After swilling it in warm soapy water, the watch was ticking just as if it had come out of the factory, but whether the cadet did get a case of beer for his doggedness I never knew. I do know that in another tribute to Seiko 5 robustness, it was quite easy to remove and replace the snap-back cover; some used an electrician’s screwdriver whilst I also saw a Tennants’ beer can opener do a good job – the idea of opening it in the first place meant that the owner had usually had had it in a bucket of soogee or similar.
But back in Japan the watch culture defines itself by the type of time-piece a citizen wears. There weren’t so many Rolexes and Omegas in the 70’s although these are now sought after amongst more affluent Japanese.Again, and at a later time I revisited Yokohama to notice little has changed although the city is modern in a futuristic sense: indeed it’s now a cityscape of glass, concrete and chrome and very reminiscent of a Ridley Scott movie – impressive indeed.
But the watch shops were still welcoming with enthusiastic vendors and at the heart of it all is Gira,the Japanese cultural dynamic which roughly translates as ‘selfless honour and service.’ Gira is a part of Japanese life wherein, for example, employees will only buy the company brand of consumer goods out of a sense of honour to their boss. And in most retail establishments of higher-value goods this is usually manifested by a polite bow, followed by offers of green tea, or sometimes rice wine.Like most seamen, we found mastering Japanese difficult but we all responded to their courtesy with thanks in their language – domo arigato!
So it was a surprise when I went into a well-known UK high street jeweller ostensibly for a Seiko and the conversation went something like this:
“Good morning, sir – can I help you?””Yes, I’d like to buy a Seiko, please””Ok, how much do you want to pay…….?
Well, this was the preamble to a sale and I don’t know about you, but when someone asks ‘how much do I want to pay?”, I find it a tad patronising. It could be phrased differently, i.e..”what price range do you have in mind?Or, “we have a wide choice – would you like to compare?”
Anyway, fancy trays of watches ranging from the high-end to the low weren’t attractively presented; neither was there any porcelain cup of green tea or wrapping paper of Kyoto cherry blossom trees. And neither was there a business-card presentation.So the Japanese quality retail experience wasn’t transposed to the UK at all – sorry, H. Samuel & co, but I came away thinking you really need to learn from Japan.
But at this point, it’s worth mentioning that many vintage Seiko 5’s still achieve good prices through Ebay. Reserve prices range from about £30 to in excess of £500 depending upon condition.The caveat is, depending upon condition – vintage watch shops in Japan always have tired Seiko 5’s from diverse places: a US Pacific Fleet sailor told us: “these cheaper Seiko’s have been won and lost in many a card or dice game from here to San Diego.”But obviously those with an original box and receipt command higher prices. In 1974 I paid 21,000 yen for my low-end watch (about £35) – evidently it’s still worth the same without box and receipt because it’s not too bashed about.But otherwise there is a lot of rubbish around, certain sites in India selling vintage Seikos incorporating aftermarket parts, for example – buyer beware!Elsewhere the best Seiko 5’s to check out are the ‘King Seiko’, ‘Grand Seiko’, and the 5 model ‘6119’ – all of these have extra jewels and bulletproof movements – but more than likely the one with best residual value is the Seiko 5 Navigator (see picture).
A Navigator watch in pristine condition can realise £1000 in an on-line auction which is probably twenty times more than it cost in 1970.Which despite that price hike seems to make more sense than the recent £1000 paid for a 1968 John Lennon autograph. (4)But of course this begs the question in the crazy world of collectables: why are people interested in retro stuff – watch or autograph – to pay so much? The huge interest in TV programmes such as Antiques Roadshow and American Pickers certainly tells us that some folks don’t always look for what’s fresh and fashionable.
So if you do have an Seiko 5 it has probably owed you nothing and you may get a good sale.As for my own, I rummaged in the top drawer to give it an airing recently, but rather than sell it I’ll probably just give it to a grandchild.If he or she is more keen on stuff such as the latest Applewatch, then I’ll take someone’s Ebay bid and give the money to a poor family in south-east Asia.Next trip would be a good time, and kind of symbolic that £30 would buy an Indonesian family more than a fortnight’s groceries.
1) asianhistory.oxfordre.com (10.02.16) Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Asian History 1900-19502) Black Ships Off Japan, Walworth A., (2008) Walworth Press3) ‘The Last Samurai’ Edward Zwick, (2003), Warner Bros
4) www.telegraph.co.uk.finance (06.07.14)