Hello Jack,
Thank you for sending in this pocket watch to mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to help you with that tonight.
TITLE:
Military, vintage, ‘fine nickel’, pendant wound and pendant set, open face pocket watch, Japanese Army issue, SKS movement, Government Serial No. 1557, made by the Seikosha Watch Company, Tokyo, Japan circa 1940s.
PROVENANCE:
“This watch was found in an abandoned storage unit that I won at auction. The owner of the watch was Dr. Donald Harper of Lafayette, Louisiana. Dr. Harper passed away January 10 with no living relatives, according to his obituary.”
DESCRIPTION:
CASE: (Size not provided) Assumed to be approximately 50mm diameter (not counting the pendant and bow), three leaf, “fine nickel” metal cased open face pocket watch with a fluted nickel ball pendant and round bow placed at the twelve position relative to the dial. The case is not hinged and likely the back cover unscrews rather than opens with a hinge. The bezel should unscrew in the same manner. On the back cover are two Japanese stick figures with the government watch serial number ‘1557’. The figure in the middle means “Army” while the slightly more complex figure above it indicates the “National Land” or “Homeland”. The inside of the watch is not shown but this watch style was used often by the Seikosha Watch Company of Tokyo and resembles their earlier pocket watch called the Empire Model. That looked very much like this later example and the Empire model was made from c. 1909 through the year 1935 (see History below). They replaced the Empire model with the brand name 'Seikosha'. On the Seikosha model, this open face pocket watch with inner cover would have had a Seikosha case number and is usually marked with their SKS trademark within an arched banner and the metal is described as “Fine Nickel”.
DIAL: Round white enameled dial with bold black Arabic hours, open bar minute track with black Cubist markings placed every five minutes, with a subsidiary seconds dial @6, steel Continental style Spade hands and the upper dial printed, “SEIKOSHA”.
MOVEMENT: Not shown but their movements were fairly standardized and usually were a split three quarter nickel plate layout with fifteen jewels (the earlier Empire movement used 7 jewels), exposed ratchet and crown wheels, bimetallic balance wheel for temperature compensation and a Japanese made index regulator marked for faster and slower. The name Seikosha should be engraved with fifteen jewels on the plates
CONDITION:
Case - Moderate surface wear with modest surface scratches and scuffs.
Dial – Complete and in good to very good condition with oil stains (from over oiling the movement) around the base of the hands and in the subsidiary seconds dial.
Movement – Not evaluated, but for purposes of this appraisal will assume that it is original, genuine and we do not know if it is functional.
HISTORICAL:
Seikosha Clock & Watch Company:
The Seiko Company produced both watches and clocks. In 1881 Hattori, the predecessor of today's Seiko Corporation was established in the Ginza district of Tokyo. In 1892, 11 years after the establishment of Kintaro Hattori & Co., Kintaro founded the Seikosha Factory in the area of the present Sumida Ward in Tokyo to produce wall clocks. The Factory began with wall clocks for two reasons: they were more easily produced than pocket watches and a competitor in Japan had already demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of Japanese-made wall clocks compared to imports. In addition to processing and assembling the mechanical parts, the factory produced most of the dials, hands, wooden cases, and other exterior parts. The production of some parts was converted from outsourcing to exclusive affiliated factories. Seikosha’s vertically integrated production produced items of much better quality and enabled product development at greater speeds. In six to seven years, the Seikosha Factory was the largest producer of wall clocks in Japan.
It was during these early years that the Japanese clock industry, Seikosha included, began to successfully copy American clocks and export them to compete directly with the Connecticut clock companies. Frequently these imitations, well-made and made both in Japan and in Germany in very large numbers, had no makers name on the movements. This was done so that buyers in Europe and America would think they were buying the better known American products. Seiko, still owned in part by the Hattori family, continues today to make quality clocks and watches. . . . . . . .
Between 1899 and 1906 Kintaro visited American and European watch factories which helped dramatically improve Seikosha’s manufacturing technologies, expand its sales, and enhance its organization. In his visits to the Waltham and Elgin factories in America, Kintaro learned rational layouts for standardized mass production lines for the components of wall clocks and pocket watches, as well automated manufacturing management systems for parts. In Germany, France, and Switzerland he had the opportunity to study unique small-lot production systems for various table clocks and pocket watches with unique designs. He also visited timepiece schools and dormitory systems set up in European factories. Impressed by the mass production system in America, he started to employ young workers and built a dormitory in his factory. Teachers invited from nearby private schools came to the factory at night to tutor his workers on subjects such as Japanese and mathematics. In spite of the competition Kintaro posed as a foreign manufacturer, his personality and natural virtue are thought to have won over the major timepiece manufacturers in Europe and America. Kintaro was welcomed into their factories.
The Empire model, the popular pocket watch introduced in 1909, became a smash hit thanks to the factory’s automatic pinion lathe, a technology that enabled mass production. The Japanese market was dominated by two products, Swiss-made pocket watches and the Empire. K. Hattori & Co. decided to begin the full-fledged export of its Japan-made masterpieces to China. The Empire was to stay in hot demand for all of the 26 years it was produced, a period spanning through the Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa periods, all the way up to 1934.
In 1911, the 19th year from its founding, Seikosha Factory commanded a 60% share of production in Japan and became a dominant player in Japanese timepiece industry.
K. Hattori was incorporated and the Seiko brand was first placed on watches in 1924.
In 1964 Seiko was the official timekeeper for the Japan Olympics. In 1969 Seiko introduced their first automatic chronograph watches and their quartz movements. In 1981 Seiko took over Jean Lasalle, a Geneva luxury brand that had gone bankrupt.
COMPARABLES:
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/97141576_wwii-imperial-japanese-army-seikosha-stopwatch (SEIKOSHA STOPWATCH SOLD IN 2021 FOR $300)
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/89049797_wwii-japanese-navy-pocket-watch-seikosha (missing back cover and with dial damage this watch sold in 2020 for $30)
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/6711029_167a-unusual-1940-s-seiko-seikosha-pocket-watch (Gold filled case this pocket watch sold in 2009 for $100)
~https://www.ebay.com/itm/VTG-Seiko-Seikosha-Extra-Flat-Steel-Works-3adj-Japan-Pocket-Watch-4-Repair-Parts/254505107777?hash=item3b41afc141:g:SpQAAOSwcbleyQap (sold for $79 on eBay.)
~https://www.ebay.com/itm/Seikosha-Manual-Pocket-Watch-Small-Second-Nippon-Railway-Antique-/353377538805?hash=item5246f152f5%3Ag%3ATJsAAOSwA8FgHMQv&nma=true&si=mH8Wi1PlmDsr7HAT05%252FCs8tIE8w%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
(Sold on EBay for $170 with significant case damage)
~https://www.ebay.com/itm/Seiko-Seikosha-Chronograph-Japan-Military-Pocket-Watch-Repair/154291193201?hash=item23ec78c571:g:nGIAAOSwjTRf~GCp
(Military chronograph sold for $175 on EBay)
~https://www.ebay.com/itm/Early-Seiko-Seikosha-Military-Ticks-Pocket-Watch-To-Restore/333855563875?hash=item4dbb57a063:g:HnQAAOSwcnVf~f8R (24 hour dial, military watch sold for $69 on eBay.)
PRICING:
This is actually a fairly middle of the road pocket watch in terms of case metal (expected in the military where in Japan, the choice was either steel or nickel), middle of the road movement, i.e. with very modest amount of jewels and design and a bold dial almost looking like and American railroad watch dial. The best thing about this watch is that is in overall good condition for its age. I think if offered today at auction it should sell in the $200-$250 range, especially for collectors of military style watches. If this type of watch was American made and not made for the military it would bring at best, $100-$125. The retail value is usually about twice the fair market value. Hope you enjoy it and if possible, keep it clean and running.
Thank you for choosing mearto.com for you appraisal. I hope you found it of some interest.
My best,
David