Horological Meandering

KIH
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Two Meisters of SEIKO - Part II

Here is the second installment of the SEIKO Shizukuishi Meister series.  Part II is of Mr. Terui - master engraver.  Please pay particular attention to what is different from "conventional" engravers.

Please see here: home.watchprosite.com
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2. Master Engraver – Mr. Kiyoshi Terui

Now I turn to Mr. Terui. He has been with SEIKO for 40 years (joined in 70), but to my surprise, he started engraving just 15 years ago, out of his 40 years career at SEIKO. 15 years is not such a long time for the master artistic work like watch engraving. Prior to being assigned to engraving, he was in charge of cases.

When I turned to him he had already started practice before the demonstration time.

He does that (practice before the real work) every morning even at the factory. He practices to see how his fingers, hands, and elbows and such are and wait until his body is 100% ready for the task. Some engraving work takes five days and with one wrong stroke due to less than perfect physical condition, the effort of the past several days can be lost, just like that.

The sketch is done by using the NC machine with rounded tip needle – so the surface does not get scratched. It used to be done with ink, but that sometimes ruined the engraved. So, he came up with the idea of using such machine (similar to Computer Numerical Control Lathe) with rounded tip needle.

Next, please compare those two. The same pattern, the left hand side was done by an ordinary/conventional engraver and the right hand side was done by Master Terui. The preference is a matter of your own taste, but the difference is pretty obvious. Mr. Terui’s engraving looks more shiny and bright with more distinct contrast.

By a conventional engraver - a bit coarse - because the engraving is done with an assumption that it will be polished later.




By Mr. Terui - with engraving alone, the lines are more straight and the surface is more shiny and more contrasty.




Video of the more comparison of those two above.  The first half is of the conventional engraver and the latter half is of Mr. Terui.

How?

He came up with his own new tools. SEIKO cannot be too eloquent about this, but let’s just say that the tools are made with the harder metal.

One chisel (can't tell you which is his own special tool

Another one.

1. Harder metal chisel -> can draw long line with one stroke so the surface of the engraved groove is flat and already mirror-like after one stroke,

2. No need to re-polish on the groove and plate surface so the edge stays edgy and contrast with the non-engraved part of the surface is more prominent.

Surely there are more unspoken secrets, but these are what he volunteered to share with the audience. He also has another chisel that actually engraves and brushes at the same time so he can make two tones of brightness.

In this example, the bright flower is meant to be closer and the brushed flower is meant to be further.

Mt. Fuji and the wave



Mt. Fuji






Fireworks



Peacock

This particular plate has only 0.25mm thickness and the maximum depth of engraving is just 0.15mm. All are done by hand and customized microscope.

Cal. 6899 base done by Mr. Terui - how it is engraved step by step.

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Limited Edition of only ONE – JPY10,000,000 (USD122K).

I hope you enjoyed the detail of the works of SEIKO's two masters – Mr. Sakurada for the ultra thin movement, and Mr. Terui for the engraving.

Thank you very much, Master Sakurada and Master Terui.

Also thank you very much, Mr. Mitamura of SEIKO Instruments Inc. and Mr. Hara of SEIKO Watch.

Ken

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