Watchlords

The history of Japanese watches produced domestically for military issue largely ceases in 1945, for the simple reason that Japan was deprived of the right to maintain military forces by the instrument of surrender signed in that year. Though the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) has since become a sophisticated, powerful military and steadily increased its mission beyond domestic peacekeeping, this expansion of power began in the late 20th and early 21st centuries — largely after the heyday of the issued military watch.

19th Century

Western-style clocks made using verge escapements were originally introduced to Japan by Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century or Dutch missionaries in the 17th century. At the time, Japan utilized a lunar, temporal timekeeping system that divided the day into six daytime units and six nighttime units that varied in length according to the length of the seasons. This system, when combined with the isolationist foreign policy that had been in place since 1641, would prevent the adaptation of western timekeeping and technologies for some two centuries. It wasn’t until 1872, several years after the Meiji Restoration, that Japan adopted the western solar calendar, leading to the establishment of a modern clock industry.

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