I acquired the two pocket watches above several years ago and I must admit a tinge of nostalgia each time I get reacquainted with them. The watch on the left features a central seconds hand and a 21,600 beats per hour (bph) movement. The other watch has its seconds indicator at the six o’clock position, and features lovely blued hands on the main dial, with a movement that beats at a rate of 18,000 bph. Both are over 35 years old but they still keep impeccable time—accurate to within a few seconds per day.

Giving each watch crown a few turns is enough to get their smooth movements ticking away. And what strong “tickers” they are—you can hear their tiny heartbeats ticking from 10 feet away! (That’s 3.05 meters for you metric people.) While both pocket watches appear to be totally different from one another, they do share a common bond. Both timepieces are genuine railroad pocket watches that were officially issued by Japan National Railways (JNR). Perhaps it’s time we learned more about Seiko’s role in keeping the Japanese trains running on schedule.

In 1872, JNR, the national railway network of Japan, was established. Just nine years later, a jeweler named Kintaro Hattori established K. Hattori & Co., Ltd—the company that would later become Seiko Corporation. The paths of these two respective organizations would soon cross.

Towards the end of the 19th century increasing railroad traffic fueled the demand for accurate timepieces. In 1884, the adoption of the worldwide 24-hour time zone system, with its reference meridian at Greenwich near London, produced a standardization of time that further increased the demand for precise watches. In 1892, Hattori established the Seikosha clock manufacturing plant in Ishiwara-cho, Tokyo. Initially employing ten workers, the firm primarily made wall clocks, which at that time were the most popular type of timepiece. Three years later the firm began producing pocket watches. Finally, a Seiko timepiece could be carried comfortably by a person. This was not lost on the executives of JNR, though it would be a few years before they would make a historic move.

Japan National Railways appointed pocket watches from Seikosha to be their official timepieces in 1929, and railway employees were soon seen sporting these pocket watches. Train engineers even had wooden cutouts on their consoles where they could rest their pocket watches and keep them within their line of sight while driving trains. Thus began the relationship between Japanese trains and Seiko watches that continues on, even until today.

Mention Japanese trains and the first thing that usually pops to mind is bullet train, or Shinkansen. The Shinkansen name was coined in 1940 when plans for a high-speed rail system were initially conceived. Bullet train is actually a literal translation of the Japanese term dangan ressha—a nickname given to the project. The name stuck due to the Shinkansen locomotive’s resemblance to a bullet, and to its high speed. The project was abandoned due to the Second World War, but was taken up again after the conflict finished. In 1964, just in time for the Tokyo Olympics, the first Shinkansen segment between Tokyo and Osaka went into service.

Japan was well on its way to becoming one of the leading nations in high-speed rail commuting, providing a safety and on-time record that continues to be admired and envied. And along for the ride are the omnipresent Seiko timekeepers. The pocket watch below was issued by West Japan Railroad, the company that built the first Shinkansen route mentioned above.

The railway system in Japan originally consisted of a network of railway lines operated by several nationalized companies under the control of the Railway Institute. Each company was responsible for operating and maintaining the network in a certain geographical area of Japan. In 1987, under a burgeoning debt load of $200 billion US, the JNR was privatized and became the Japan Railway Group, more commonly known as JR.

West Japan Railroad is now known as JR West, and it operates sleek, futuristic, bullet trains such as the one seen below. Significantly more modern than its predecessor seen earlier! Japan is highly committed to passenger rail service and continues to invest heavily in developing faster and safer trains.

Seiko continues to maintain its long-standing relationship with the rail system of Japan. From the sophisticated timing systems in the control rooms, to the clocks at the railway stations, to the wristwatches worn by a new generation of train conductors, Seiko’s involvement is clearly obvious.

History has shown us that for an organization whose mission is to provide affordable transportation that is safe, reliable and punctual, strategically partnering with an organization whose mission is to provide highly-accurate and reliable timing devices makes perfect sense. The next time you are in Japan and are fortunate enough to take a trip on one of JR’s trains, keep this in mind. As you settle comfortably in your seat for your journey, take comfort in knowing that a great deal of sophisticated technology is taking place behind the scenes to get you to your destination on time. And perhaps recall that one component in the entire complex system might just be a simple pocket watch.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 20th, 2007 at 7:37 pm and is filed under Seiko. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.