Presentation

The Japanese word "wadokei" or 和時計 doesn't really have a translation in English. It's made up of two parts, wa or 和 which is a prefix meaning "Japanese" - not in the sense of nationality but origin as in the words washi for Japanese paper or washoku for Japanese cuisine - and tokei or 時計, which means "watch". Literally, wadokei means "Japanese watch". But above all, the word refers to a type of clock specific to the Land of the Rising Sun, developed during Japan's isolationist period, using the then-employed way of counting time.

Day and night were divided into 6 "hours" each. The duration of these "hours" therefore varied with the seasons, and a whole art of watchmaking had to be developed around this specificity. These large clocks became totally obsolete overnight when Japan adopted the Western time system at the end of the 19th century.

Beyond this fascinating facet of Japanese watchmaking culture, the idea behind the Wadokei blog is to bring out the wa 和, the purely Japanese essence of Seiko and Grand Seiko, which separates this fine brand from the rest of the watchmaking production.

Let me offer you a different look at the news, history and secrets of these two very special brands.

Enjoy !