Lot 380

Daini Seikosha, Movement No. V-376, 195 x 200 x 190 mm, circa 1943
A rare Japanese ship's chronometer with 56h power reserve
Case: mahogany. Dial: silvered, signed "Seiko longitude". Movm.: brass movement, decorated, gilt, seconds contact device, chain/fusee, spring detent escapement according to Thomas Earnshaw, bimetallic chronometer balance with 4 weights and 2 screws.
After the horological industry in Japan discontinued the development of proprietary maritime chronometers – most likely after to a major fire disaster in the 1920s – the industry focused on the remake of a Ulysse Nardin chronometer. In his book "Geschichte der Uhren der japanischen Streitkräfte im Zweiten Weltkrieg" (history of timepieces in the Japanese military during WWII) in Klassik Uhren 5/2001, p. 12ff, Konrad Knirim describes a model identical in construction to this one, with a movement that looks exactly like a Ulysse Nardin model from the same time period. Daini Seikosha, a branch of the Seiko company founded in Tokio by Kintaro Hattori, is said to have produced approximately 500 chronometers before the end of the war. Naturally, these timepieces hardly ever appear on the European market.
Movement and case are in excellent condition, only the seconds contact is not working.

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