Last summer I had the opportunity to travel to Japan to visit my girlfriend. Her and I had been dating for a couple years doing long distance. I was slated to graduate and finish all my schooling and training in early July.
I've always had a love affair with the UG compax, unfortunately my discovery of the watch came along side thousands of others whilst reading publications from Hodinkee and the likes. Understanding that the hyperinflation of the watch will forever be out of my reach, I have held onto the unlikely dream of finding it somewhere in Japan in a shop unknown to the modern world. As naive as it sounds due to the interconnectedness of everyone in the community and the mediums of marketing, buying and selling, I will continue to dream.
As a collector and someone who appreciate watches, I consider myself very limited in terms of horological knowledge. I do know what I like, and I do have an idea of the collector I want to become; however, in terms of how a watch movement works, and how a hairspring works I am hopeless (for now).
The following thread will be a collection of pictures that I had the chance to take while on a random watch hunt. By "random," I mean that my girlfriend's mother's boyfriend... Yes... girlfriend's mother's boyfriend happened to be a huge horological nerd. His collection ranged from Rolex's to Breitlings' to a very dear Walthams gifted to him by his father.
I don't speak any Japanese. My girlfriend however speaks perfect English. During dinner one night, she was translating for me my preferences for certain watches and was communicating this to her Mother's Boyfriend, let's call him Y. Y was positively surprised by my interest in watches and offered to take me to his favorite watch marketplace.
A few nights before I had to fly back home, Y offered to take us into Tokyo. It was a whole family affair for two men who were simply in love with these soulful objects.
I don't believe in keeping secrets and hiding what's good to myself so I am can share to you guys "real local knowledge" that was shared with me about where to find watches. If you're planning to travel to Japan, sure you can go to small boutiques in Shinjuku, or go to retails shops in Ginza, or "lemon" a watch boutique that is highly regarded, but it's strenuous to hit up all those places individually. I highly advise against going to joint camera and watch shops, or department stores that sells watches because there's nothing special about what's being offered there. Only common retail brands for retail brand prices.
If you're hunting for vintage, or horologically unique references or pieces that you won't find elsewhere, you need to visit Nakano Broadway. Nakano Broadway houses a collection of shops that will definitely satisfy your needs.
A simple caveat before continuing reading this thread. The photos were taken by a Gopro Camera by a very excited person. The camera has no stabilization software. I chose the best photos I could to share with you guys. So be patient with me
View attachment 354494
I took this picture as I was leaving Nakano Broadway, I was rushing out of there so sorry for the blurriness.. Jack Road was probably my favorite shop in all of Nakano Broadway. It housed a collection of rare and vintage watches of many notable brands.
View attachment 354495
View attachment 354501
A nice collection of vintage Wakmann, Heuers, and Breitlings. Some of these references I've never seen anywhere before.
View attachment 354505
View attachment 354506
Vintage Tudors
View attachment 354508
View attachment 354509
Beautiful Sunburst blue omega chronograph Reference 176.007. Was very tempted to buy this watch.
View attachment 354511
Some beautiful Tudor Chronographs in superb condition. Excuse my finger.
View attachment 354512
Some Tudor Divers alongside some Prince Oysterdates.
View attachment 354515
Explorer 1 heaven, as well as an endless supply of Submariners. As you can see they aren't cheap either, I would say the prices have a hard time competing with the online grey market.
View attachment 354516
A very blurry photo of an entire case full of pre-owned GMTs. Pepsi for days...
View attachment 354520
A 6265 Daytona. If you have a cool 60k USD. Are you seeing a trend? Unlike North American watch shops with over the top security for their boutiques.. in a lot of shops in Japan.. having it behind a glass cabinet is sufficient security.
It's an inclusive environment, you don't need to be a man in a suit in order to have access to timepieces that are a mid-tier luxury.
View attachment 354523
A Paul Newman listed at 14.5 Million Yen which equates nearly 130K USD. The steel hammer was calling me to casually break the glass and walk out with a nice down payment on a couple of condos, a car, and a new life.
View attachment 354524
The beautiful Patina of a vintage sub, for all you rolex collectors out there.
View attachment 354522
Autavias!! Not a fan of the cushion case autavias, but nonetheless some very unique references that I've never seen before.
View attachment 354526
View attachment 354530
Jack Road consisted of a shop full of watches as well as small tables set up for customers who wanted to try on watches. Their staff were multilingual often times speaking a few languages. All were very kind and considerate. You can see that most of the people there were in casual attire. At no point was I ever ill-treated for wear jeans and a T-shirt.
View attachment 354525
At the other side of the hallway was an area that was primarily for only trying on watches. It was more of a lounge where I suppose the customers could spend more time with the representatives. I love this aspect to Jackroad, although I can only assume the guards were hidden behind some secret door ready to bust people like me. But this is Japan, they were probably hidden behind invisibility cloaks.
View attachment 354531
At last! I stumbled upon a corner in Jack Road where they hid all their Vintage UG watches. Unfortunately, but expected, there were no signs of Nina or her evil sister. Even if they were there, I am sure they would be more expensive than if they were listed on Chrono24.
View attachment 354532
Some of these Longines watches were reasonably prices though. A very sharp looking 1940's time only watch.
View attachment 354529
Before Leaving Jackroad I took a few more pictures for you guys. Shoutout to all Panerai lovers out there. Here you have a nice Pamily portrait.
View attachment 354527
Some German dude apparently made these watches.... Never heard of them.
View attachment 354528
View attachment 354542
View attachment 354541
Goodbye Jack Road.
Are you guys done with this post yet? I am quite tired a this point.. Take a coffee break people, only a few more pictures to go.
View attachment 354540
Just down the hallway, there was a very neat little shop that sold rare dials and bezels along with rare specimens in their entirety.
View attachment 354544
View attachment 354548
If you're ever in need of buying a bezel for each day of the week for the GMT. 50 shades of Pepsi.
View attachment 354545
Some more vintage subbies..
View attachment 354546
You can see some nice examples of reverse panda rolex dials behind that stunning GMT.
View attachment 354547
Feeling like a gold 1675 today? Not me.
View attachment 354551
If you ever mess up on baking your own dial, this is the place to go to find properly baked dials... There must be something special about Japanese convection ovens.
View attachment 354552
A Freccione in the flesh. Drool....
View attachment 354554
Ever heard of a 16550? It's nicer in person. That cream isn't just lighting my friends..
View attachment 354555
View attachment 354556
Just a few more goodies from this store.
View attachment 354558
The watch had a nice selection of leather straps as well for the average strapaholic. Last photo of the shop before I left for the final shop for the day.
View attachment 354575
This shop seemed be less oriented around vintage pieces and more geared towards modern pre-owned watches.
View attachment 354577
Walking into the store I was greeted by an iced out Hublot, not really my taste but some eye candy that currently isn't being worn on the NBA courts.
View attachment 354578
Towards the door there were some preowned Longines watches, cheaper models and not too difficult to find elsewhere in Japan.
View attachment 354579
Good to see some Junghans grace the shelves of Japan. A. Lange shouldn't be the only german maestro around here.
View attachment 354580
Moving inward in the shop there was an amazing selection of Panerais, they definitely have a lot more charm in person given their enormous case size.
View attachment 354581
A nice selection of pre-owned Rolexes and Tudors.
View attachment 354582
You can't complete a watch trip without trying on some Monacos. Plot twist.. they look terrible on my wrist.
View attachment 354584
Well I moved on to looking at the infamous El Primero that Mr. Benji Clymer (shout out) loves so much... I decided not to try it on to keep the dreams alive.
View attachment 354585
Unfortunately in this case full of IWC's was quietly sitting a vintage Mark 12. After lusting for this watch for 2 years.. I got to try it on. Once again my heart was broken at how underwhelmed the beautifully crafted 36mm brushed case looked and felt. After that I just decided to stop trying them on and rather appreciate them from a distance. I couldn't take a picture of the watch because it was simply too painful.
View attachment 354586
I decided to move on to Preowned Rolex divers, watches that unfortunately don't call out to me even the slightest at this point in my horological journey.
View attachment 354587
Some nice samples of OMEGA.. of course the best brand out there.. Cough Cough. Omega Forum admins.. but seriously.. nice speedmasters, but nothing I've never seen before.
View attachment 354588
More speedmaster references that you've probably seen powersellers like kringily and kaberui sell.
View attachment 354589
Before you are some very expensive ETA watches... I think they're called Breitling. Professional instruments made for Pirates I believe. Yes.. Pirates.
View attachment 354590
If you look to your right, more pirate watches. Black Bays.
View attachment 354591
A brand that I know Robert Downy Jr. really adores. Some Seikos lol. "Hold Frame"
View attachment 354594
The guy next to me is wearing some very expensive sandals, I promise.. the shop only allowed him to come in to witness the magic of German engineering only if he had expensive sandals.
View attachment 354593
5 points if you can identify those sandals. Glad I had the opportunity to see this watch in person. I didn't get to see the movement though, they didn't open the case due to security concerns (guy to my left).
Last photo guys.. it's been a nice journey sharing my experiences with you all. I hope you enjoyed this thread. Please post a comment or a reply. I need to reach 200 posts so I can begin selling on here. hehe.
Cheers!
Click to expand...