My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

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timeonourhands
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My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by timeonourhands »

Hello fellow watch-addicts. I hope you are all well.

The other day, I had the opportunity to visit the Seiko museum in Tokyo. This is a summary of my trip.
Buckle up it's longish.

Location

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The Seiko Museum is situated in the east of Tokyo, just next to the Sumida River.
The area is quieter than other parts of Tokyo, which can be a welcome break, especially if you’re not a huge fan of busy cities. The closest train station is Higashi-Mukojima, which is on the Tokyo Skytree line.
Incidentally, Tokyo Skytree, which is only two stops from Higashi-Mukojima, is Japan’s tallest structure standing at 634 metres, and is a nice tourist attraction to visit, if you have energy left after visiting the museum.

Website details: http://www.tokyo-skytree.jp/en/

Although the Seiko Museum is ‘a little out of the way’ by the manager’s own admission, there is a 7-Eleven next door and a Denny’s restaurant across the road, if you’re peckish.


The Museum

In order to visit the museum, you must call in advance and book a spot. I called a few days in advance, which wasn’t a problem, but for busy periods (Rugby World Cup 2019, Tokyo 2020), calling earlier would be better to make sure of a spot.

I was told that I could experience the museum with an ipad-based tour (available in a variety of languages), or I could have a guide. I opted for the guide. There are guides who can speak English and Japanese. The guide met me in the reception of the museum, introduced himself and then spent around an hour and a half taking me around and explaining the exhibits.

My experience exceeded my expectations and I definitely recommend it to any horology lover.

The museum not only had exhibits showing the many periods of Seiko's evolution from when it was founded in 1881 by Kentaro Hattori, but also horological exhibits from other countries and early time pieces from Japan. My guide was very knowledgeable, as one would expect, and answered all of my questions with a great understanding of the subject.

An interesting thing I heard from my guide was that Seiko do not have a version of each watch they ever made. The museum is continually trying to source pieces in good condition to add to its collection.

At the end of my tour, the guide introduced me to the manager, who had been guiding a group of Chinese tourists around, and he told me he had lived in London for a time, whilst working for the retail arm of Seiko. The lovely guide, the introduction to and the chat with the manager and a little pendant gift from the receptionist as a souvenir, all added to what was a lovely day out.

The reception has a few displays of new Seiko watches that you can buy.

Oh, by the way, entrance to the museum and the personal guide for an hour and a half was all free.
I couldn’t believe it.

If you get the chance, I hope you go. And for those of you who would like to go but can’t, there are virtual tours on the website that you can experience.

http://museum.seiko.co.jp/virtual/en/

Photo time

On the train

An appropriately chosen watch and a hairy leg

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On my way to the museum I spotted a lovely little shrine

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The view from outside - looks like Spiderman is just to the right of the pic fighting some villain.

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The reception with some watches on sale

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Some of the exhibits

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I don't think this one goes on your wrist

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A few divers (if you can zoom in, you can see the year of production and the price at the time of sale)

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Old Grand Seikos

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King Seikos

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Lord Marvel Hi-Beat

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Quartz

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World's first TV watch

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Chronographs

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A very rare Seiko - chronograph with counter

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Japan's first automatic chronograph with a day-date display

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The Pogue

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Bellmatic
The world's first bell-alarm automatic watch with a day-date

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The 'spacewalk' watch

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Some stopwatches

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The Astron, the World’s first quartz wristwatch cost 450,000 yen, which was the same as the cost of a car back in 1969 Japan, “Hi honey, come and see what I spent the car money on”.

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The Presage series

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I wasn’t that interested in these when I first saw them / read about them on the internet, but after seeing them in the flesh and metal, I opened my wallet, chucked away the picture of my wife and replaced it with a cut-out from the Presage brochure.


Incense timers

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The museum had some incense timers that were used by geisha back in the day to measure how long a patron had had the pleasure of their company. At the end of the party, they’d be charged by the stick.

Hope you enjoyed the post. I did find time to go watch-hunting, but that’ll be in a different post.
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Re: My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by nbg »

An excellent post, with pics of some lovely watches. :thumbup:

Thanks for taking the time to put that together. I will have to seik out the museum if I go to Tokyo.

Sounds like a great way to spend a few hours.

Neil
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Re: My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

Looks an amazing place, and how wonderful to have your own guide like that. Thanks for taking the time to post that. :thumbup:
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downer
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Re: My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by downer »

Thank you for taking the time to make this excellent post. And what a fascinating place to go. If I ever get to Tokyo (unlikely, I guess) I would try to get to the museum.

Thanks again.
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Re: My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by killersp »

Thanks for creating this post. Congratulations for the trip.
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Re: My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by tempusmaximus »

A very interesting post with some great pictures . I would like to visit the museum some day , looks like a fascinating place .
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Re: My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by StrappedUp »

nbg wrote:I will have to seik out the museum if I go to Tokyo.
Nice :lol:

Very interesting photos, thanks for posting. Certainly some desirable watches there *drool*

But now I've got the sudden urge to hunt down one of the models you posted :problem:
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Re: My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by Kip »

Thanks so much for taking the time to share this wonderful experience.

Not Likely I shall ever get to Japan at this point so I am off to see the virtual tour.
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Re: My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by Savagemouse »

looks great, when i eventually get myself out there ill have to see if i take a look. The photos are a great vitrualish tour for now
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Re: My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by what-time-is-it »

If I'm honest I didn't know Seiko had a museum. :oops:
It's unlikely I'll ever visit, but seems others also find it a worthwhile place to go.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractio ... Kanto.html
Current collection incl Citizen, G-Shock, Rolex, Seiko, Sinn & Tag.

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Re: My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by albionphoto »

Thank you for a great post. That museum looks fascinating. If I ever go to Japan I'm sure this is a place I should visit.
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Re: My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by Thegreyman »

Thanks for an excellent post on your trip to the museum, really informative and great photos too.

I did visit Tokyo a number of years ago for a couple of days but unfortunately wasn't really into watches then so didn't even think of going. If I ever go back I'd definitely want to include this on the itinerary.
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Re: My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by TigerChris »

Great post, a good read and good pics. I’m not a massive Seiko fan, but if I’m ever in that part of the world I will definitely take a look. Being a Yorkshireman anything free is worth a go :D
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Re: My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by Vansflyer »

Great info, thank you.
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Re: My trip to the Seiko Museum in Tokyo

Post by oberonfoto »

Fascinating. Another thing to add to the bucket list.
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