I quoted this Box and won it!

The Description is a Akashi Seisakusho Ships Chrono! ANYBODY what is this thang?

David,

nice and interesting clock, congrats, posted on the Japanese Military Watch Forum, hopefully someone has infos...
rgds

http://germanwatch.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=disc...=display&thread=2145

It arrived! It is a interesting master clock! Movement;

This is definetely not a chronometer, but a very nice clock movement. Notice the stop wind cam and also it appears to have a free sprung balance wheel with rate adustment to the helical spring! The switch actuates each second, and works!

So I gotta clean it, find a seconds hand, and see how long it runs on a single wind. Any guesses or ideas yet what this is? I already like it for uniqueness if nothing else!

It is DEFINETELY pre-1940's Japanese, and in near mint condition! (I think )

Dave

I have searched around the web a few times trying to see if I can find anything on that nice looking clock, about the only thing I could find was a that SEISAKUSHO means - works, factory or plant and there is also a city in Japan named Akashi. Now if that has any meaning to your clock I have no idea.

I also saw where someone said that the company TOPCON CORPORATION that makes surveying equipment was once called Akashi Seisakusho.

Probably not helpful info but at least I tried.

Tom

Thank you Tom. You have helped immensly. I "googled" TopCon and it seems they were founded in 1932 as the Surveying instrument division of what is now Seiko.

The name on this clock is very likely a predecessor to or old name of Seiko too.

Tomorrow night I will take this to our local watch and clock collector's club meeting where a Seiko Expert is sure to help more on this subject.

Thanks Again

Dave

I thought the same thing about it some how being related to Seiko. I look forward to hearing if you find anything.

Tom

Dave

Here is a web link to a page about some of Seiko's naval ships clocks, there are no photos but apparently it was orginally published in the NAWCC, I don't have their bulletins but maybe you do.

http://www.knirim.de/haruyama.htm

Thanks Tom, I think this would be more along the lines of that article's described pre-war 5 day deck clocks. I will see how long a full wind lasts. As for the Bulletin article, I will have a cc of that October 2000 issue tomorrow evening so we can see more about this if there is anything there.

It is a very interesting looking master clock but I am not seeing any navy markings on it. I can not read Japanese kanji, but if you could post a clear closeup of the data plate on the outside of the box perhaps someone here who does read them can give you a translation. Are there any markings anywhere elese on the clock that would suggest it is a Japanese naval timepiece?

I am not leaning towards the company being related to Seiko, but again I am not an expert. The old name of Seiko is Seikosha. The name of this maker is Akashi. As you mentioned the word seisakusho means something more like 'factory' or 'machine company' and it is not an actual name like Seiko or Seikosha. I did a quick search on the web and found some links to Akashi Seisakusho Company in Tokyo. I do not know if it is the same company, but the current company with this name manufactures scientific instruments including measurement instruments so it sounds like it may be either the same or a related company.

Thank you Jim, that makles sense too. I will try to contact them.

Interesting clock. A link to this post is already on the Japanese Military Timepiece forum.

The electrical contacts suggest any number of functions, such as sending radio signals or controle of slave clocks. But clocks of this nature were stationary in ships, schools and offices. But this clock was made to be portable.

As mentioned, good shots of the data plate are necessary. Also, look around for other markings. Sometimes the Japanese used ink stamps to indicate inspection, though these are more often lost. Other markings of note are small die stamped kanji letters, stars, or anchors.

Best regards,
Greg

This is a better view of the data plate. I have turned this over to Vladimir, and I will have pictures of all the plates when it is disassembled for cleaning and restoration.

The link was updated

http://germanwatch.proboards43.com/index.cgi?action=dis...s&thread=2145&page=1

rgds