An Evening with Credor Minute Repeater
The signage of SEIKO Holdings and SEIKO Watch Co. in the lobby.
I
had a pleasure to be invited (well, truth be told, I persistently asked
for it...) to SEIKO head office the other evening and could finally
see, touch, handle and hear the Novelty Credor Minute Repeater which
debuted at the Basel last month. This piece went to Basel, came back
and was displayed at Wako (high-end department store at the Ginza
4-chome crossing, owned by SEIKO) for two weeks and was on its way back
to Shiojiri Manufacture for further refinement/ tuning. So this exact
specimen is the one some of you actually saw, touched, or heard in
Basel.
1. Where is this made by who?
I
think I have to explain a little bit the story about the two major
manufactories of SEIKO here. There is one in Tohoku Region (where the
major disaster hit recently) called Morioka Seiko Instruments Inc. in
which there is SEIKO Shizukuishi Watch Studio. I reported the factory
visit in February home.watchprosite.com.
There is another major factory in Nagano prefecture, near Suwa City,
called SEIKO Epson Shiojiri factory. That's right, this one belongs to
SEIKO Epson Corporation, which is a separate public company listed on
Tokyo Stock Exchange, a different entity from SEIKO Watch or SEIKO
Holdings or SEIKO Insruments Inc. which owns Morioka Seiko and
Shizukuishi Watch Studio. There is no cross holding of the stocks
between SEIKO Holdings and SEIKO Epson - again, both are listed public
companies. SEIKO Epson is far more famous for its printer products, as
you may know. Watch division of SEIKO Epson is really the fraction of
its total revenue.
This somewhat strange organization is due to
its history that involves some influence of the WW II. As I explained
the history of SEIKO in the Shizukuishi visit report, there was SEIKOSHA which was making clocks and very early part of
watches and then DAI-NI (The Second) SEIKOSHA was later set-up
which started making only wrist watches. They were, of course, sister
companies owned by the same parent entity. And there was the War and
DAI-NI SEIKOSHA moved its major part of production facilities to Suwa,
Nagano to avoid the intense air raid (Tokyo was of course the major
target). After the WW II, DAI-NI SEIKOSHA Suwa Factory merged with a
local manufacturer and changed its name to Suwa SEIKOSHA Later Suwa
SEIKOSHA again changed its name to SEIKO Epson.
Enough of history
class here. The bottom line is that the Shizukuishi Watch Studio
which makes mechanical Grand Seiko, and SEIKO Epson Shiojiri factory
which makes Spring Drive (for Grand Seiko and others) and Quartz (for
Grand Seiko and many others) are NOT in the same corporate family, in
terms of the ownership. Surely, the founder's family may own part of
both companies, but their stocks are both publicly traded. In pure business
term, SEIKO Epson is one of the suppliers of SEIKO Watch on the contract
basis.
Going forward in this article, when I say "SEIKO", that should mean both
companies/ manufactories for the convenience of the readers - in fact
the watch division of SEIKO Epson is treated that way by SEIKO Watch
Corporation as well.
2. Credor Minute Repeater
Sorry to have kept you waiting. Here is the report of the product:
(1)
Is the Minute Repeater part of the watch operated electronically (with
the power generated by the unwinding of the main spring)?
No.
The MR part is TOTALLY mechanical. But the MR part and the watch
(Spring Drive) part share the same twin barrel as the power source.
This plate is meant for the owner to ask for engraving something.
(2) The MR
function is triggered by a push button, not the lever to be pushed up
which we usually expect. Is the MR triggered electronically?
No.
The push switch is like the push button of the chronograph. It makes
the power released by the unwinding spring go to the MR mechanism as
well. There is a safety feature which locks the crown and the push
button while the MR mechanism is working (and the all-reset push button
as well). See figure below. Please see and hear the first video. Note
that this is the decimal repeater - it gongs each hour and 10 minutes
and a minute. 10 minutes counting is more familiar with Japanese
culture.
Without MR, the twin barrel has 72 hours of power reserve. Roughly speaking, one MR function eats 2-3 hours of power reserve. About water resistance - the movement is tightly sealed and protected while the gong is placed outside the seal.
The
pusher besides the MR button is "(emergency) all reset" button in case the MR
function stops due to the lack of main spring winding while all others
are still totally locked by the safety feature.
Safety mechanism that locks crown and the push button while MR is in action
Video #1 - just listen.
URL=http://youtu.be/h6-s4Y5petg?hd=1
(3) The Concept of this Credor MR
There
are many brands that make minute repeater and SEIKO did not want to
make the similar one, but something different. They chose MR Japanese
way by using the materials of hundreds of years of tradition and secret
recipe - the wind bell, particularly the one seen here. The wind bell
has been one of the most typical and common scenes of summer in Japan -
its pure, clean and transparent sound gives cool feeling from the ears.
Some use iron/ steel like this one, some use glass, and some use other
materials - each region has one with its tradition for hundreds of
years. To the ears of SEIKO Team, this particularly in the pic was especially good.
Sadly, nowadays, the most household have A/C and keep the window
closed, thus less wind bell are seen or heard....
(4) The Sound
The sound is from the wind bell with hundreds of
years of history at Himeji area (Himeji is the place my family
cemetery has been for the past several hundreds of years and it is in
the western part of Japan - a bit west of Osaka
and Kobe.) The secret of the clean, transparent sound of that wind bell
is its iron made with secret recipe. Acoustically speaking, in general, higher
frequency dies faster than the lower frequency because the higher freq.
get killed by the air - simple physics. But with this special iron/
steel, the high frequency somehow survives longer (than the normal iron,
I take it). SEIKO did confirm by measuring it, of course. These are
the hammers made with the special iron/steel. And there is a ring of
the same iron/steel inside the case between the case and the movement
with just right width of the air chamber to fine tune and vibrate the
sound.
Please see video #2 and hear the sound again while seeing the hammers move.
Mr. Motegi - the designer and the architect of this movement.
Video #2 - listen and see the hammer
URL=http://youtu.be/PIHB9gd6EYA?hd=1
(5) Slow Governor
Slow
Governor is one of the necessary mechanism for minute repeaters to
maintain the rhythm of the gong. SEIKO here came up with another unique
solution by using "viscosity of the air". Traditional governor gives
relatively loud background noise and it is getting less noisy in the
newer repeaters. This new governor mechanism does not touch anywhere
mechanically and there is no background mechanical noise. See the photo
below. On the left hand side is the rice, and see the two springs in
the main part of the governor on the right hand side. This governor
rotates at high speed when MR mechanism is engaged. When it rotates
fast, the governor expands its "wing" and in the air-tight sealed
compartment this part is placed in, "viscosity of the air" or air
resistance increases and the rotation speed slows down (just a little
bit). When it slows down, the "wing" retracts (just a little bit) and
the "viscosity of the air" or air resistance decreases and it speeds up
again..... and it maintains the speed of rotation.
Please see the
video #3 paying particular attention to the fast rotation of the
governor from the front glass (maybe too fast to actually see it for
most of us, though). Also please see the slow rotation of the barrel on
which Shiojiri's City Flower - Bell Flower (what a correct name it is!)
is engraved - as explained above, MR and Spring Drive share the same
spring/ barrel as the power source.
A Rice and Governor parts
Governor module
The Governor from the front glass.
Bell Flower - City Flower of Shiojiri
Bell Flower on the Barrel
Video #3 - TRY to see the governor rotate and the Bell Blower rotate as well.
URL=http://youtu.be/5LIo9WRLGJM?hd=1
(6) Finish
The
finish is also superb, especially the edges of the various bridges.
They use many types of files and Gentian (a shrub). Mr. Shiohara - see
below; highly decorated watchmaker at Shiojiri - has become very
friendly with Mr. Philippe Dufour over the years of correspondences (Mr.
Shiohara had been a big fan of Mr. Dufour), who suggested Gentian for
polishing (he uses that method, too).
(7) Other shots
3. New Grand Seiko High Beat
I
also had an opportunity to see the newest addition to Grand Seiko.
Although there has or will be no official press release, this is the
newest Hi Beat - SBGH013. Will be available sometime this week by the
end of April. Very cool, retro looking, reminds me of SBGW003 LE. This
is not LE and this is
not manual winding.... I am waiting for the day when SEIKO releases the
manual winding Hi Beat, but in the meanwhile, this may be good... this
one is growing on me more and more...
4. Appendix
After
the private viewing of this marvelous MR, we went to dinner and Mr.
Hara of SEIKO Watch PR team showed me his watch of the day. Wow! The
one I reported last time - Mr. Sakurada's 68xx movement and this is
120th anniversary LE (10 yrs ago). See the logo "U.T.D. (Ultra Thin Dressy)"? THAT
is the signature of the legendary 68xx calibar models.....
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That's
it. Hope you understand a bit about the little known fact about the
relationship of Shizukuishi and Shiojiri. I also asked the very
question you all might have - why don't you make "all mechanical" MR?
The technology and the skill of the Shizukuishi mechanical watch studio +
the design and structuring the complication of Shiojiri must yield a
fantastic "all mechanical Grand Seiko MR" in the future.... The answer
is not conclusive as of today. Those two manufactures are now kinda
"rival" under separate umbrella, but one day these two will hopefully
work together.
Shiojiri Manufactory has Mr. Shiohara who
mainly tuned the sound of this model and Mr. Nakata who is the master
watchmaker at Shiojiri - they have both been chosen
as “Contemporary Master Craftsmen” of Japan and Mr. Shiohara also has
been awarded “Yellow Ribbon Medal” from the government, just like Mr.
Sakurada (master watchmaker at Shizukuishi) and Mr. Terui (Master
Engraver at Shizukuishi). The potential of SEIKO is enormous, I dare
say, with these talents.
Mr. Shiohara - "Contemporary Master Craftsman" of Japan, and "Yellow Ribbon Medal" recipient.
Mr. Nakata - "Contemporary Master Craftsman" of Japan
Thanks again, SEIKO PR Team - Mr. Matsumoto, GM, and Mr. Hara.
Thank you for reading through.
- Ken