I'm staying in Tokyo for almost a month for a project. Naturally, watches are part of the stay. I was looking forward to meeting some Tokyo-based watch f(r)iends. The wife and I got here on the 6th. But for the first week, I had to get my bearings, work-wise; and also spent most of my free time with the wife. After taking her to the airport to go back home on the afternoon of the 13th, I met up for dinner with Eric ("jewpanese" on IG), who is friends with some of our members here. Here were the stuff he brought: I never thought I'd fall head over heels for a Camaro. But this one is a stunner - with its dark gray dial! A couple of days later, I went to one of my favorite places in the world: My friend, Taku-san ("tchrono" on IG) was there to meet me. Taku praised what I was wearing - the Zenith Chronometre which I bought from our very own @Tony C. which I consider a big compliment considering the source: The last time we met, I requested to see his UGs. This time, I asked to see his sector dials and Longines. (these pics don't do the watches justice as the store's private area's lighting is harsh for watches): Private Eyes' owner, Endo-san then showed me his newest inventory. Although I took many pictures, I am not at liberty to share them here as they haven't been posted on their site. Do watch out for them here - http://watchnet.co.jp/ Endo, Taku, Noki (one of Endo's staff) then took me to a night of dinner and drinks. We ate and drank at two different places. I asked Endo what time the last train was and he said 12:30. Then he kidded - "but don't worry, the next train will start at 5 am". At dinner, I was able to check Endo's: ...and Noki's beautiful, tropical / brown anonymous Val. 22: It was great hanging out with those guys, dining and drinking like locals, talking about their watch collecting philosophies and other interesting stuff. A couple of days later, I checked out One Minute Gallery over at Shibuya where I saw this: Then, I checked out this watch show in Matsuya Department Store over at Ginza where there were about 12 dealers. A lot of the watches were polished / franken though (surprisingly even the Seikos). There was this Polerouter Sub: And this Speedy (I'm not knowledgeable enough to critique it though): Today (Sunday), I went to another "watch show", which was held in a small meeting room in Sunshine CIty Ikebukuro. The show is called FMWV (Free Market of Watch Vintage - schedule found here) held at Sunshine City in Ikebukuro and it features around 6-8 dealers with little to no online presence: Not all of the dealers allowed me to take pics. Unfortunate as one of them had some of the best watches there. At least, he's the only one with an online presence - https://www.instagram.com/fujitasann/ Anyway, here are some of the ones I got to take pics of: The light pink patina on this one was beautiful: I ended up getting a couple of watches from the show. First, is this UG for the wife. I sent her a picture of it, saying it's for her. She loves it but also pointed out that it looked good on me. Exactly! I also got this nice, quirky 1950s Citizen Calendar: So, that's been the trip so far. Let's see what the next two weeks will bring!
What a great, richly illustrated account! How did you find out about the small dealers’ show? Did you buy anything?
I've known about FMWV since the last trip (linked above). @jordn and @Dre were able to go that time, but I wasn't. Yup, I bought the UG and Citizen from the said show.
Great report and beautiful pictures of some uncommon watches! Do you know who the maker of the leather straps is in the first group of pictures (at private eyes)?
Most of those straps are from Accurate Form, which you can buy from here in Tokyo from places like Private Eyes, http://curious-curio.jp/ and http://item.ocnk.net/
There's a grail watch of mine in those pictures Although I'll likely never own one, it is oddly gratifying to see a photograph of it and know it exists.
30mm without crown and 35mm lug to lug "Dear Mr. Xxxxx, It seems to be a #10 line, manufactured from 1931 to 1945. There are just a few materials we have, we couldn’t find any more. Thank you for your inquiry. SEIKO MUSEUM"
