Masahiro Kikuno, Japanese Independent Watchmaker (2017)

For anyone interested in purchasing a mechanical watch, there are plenty of brands making affordable mechanical timepieces today. Hamilton, Seiko, Tissot, Swatch, Orient, and Timex are a few that come to mind for the sub-$1000 category. It&#x27;s a fun hobby with a nice community of enthusiasts.<p>Some advice:<p>* If possible, wear the watch before buying it. Seeing a watch on your wrist is different from seeing photos of it.<p>* Avoid the &quot;grey market&quot; and buy from an Authorized Dealer. Grey market watches won&#x27;t have the manufacturer warranty.<p>* Avoid replicas and fakes (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=WHgKMA6Bh6U" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=WHgKMA6Bh6U</a>)<p>Some links:<p>* The Urban Gentry (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;user&#x2F;theurbangentry" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;user&#x2F;theurbangentry</a>) is a YouTube channel run by a horology enthusiast with a positive attitude who does lots of watch reviews.<p>* The r&#x2F;Watches subreddit (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;watches&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;watches&#x2F;</a>) has lots of photos of watches contributed by the community.<p>* A video on how mechanical watches work: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=G1XBb7kJJWg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=G1XBb7kJJWg</a><p>* S-Town podcast (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;stownpodcast.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;stownpodcast.org&#x2F;</a>) is an intriguing story about a man who repaired antique clocks.<p>* Affordable Wrist Time (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.instagram.com&#x2F;affordablewristtime&#x2F;?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.instagram.com&#x2F;affordablewristtime&#x2F;?hl=en</a>) the tagline is &quot;Promoting watches under $1000.&quot;<p>Some terminology:<p>* A quartz watch is usually powered by a battery. They tend to be cheaper and more accurate than mechanical watches.<p>* A mechanical watch is powered by a mainspring.<p>* An automatic watch has a semicircular rotor inside which automatically spins when the watch moves, winding the mainspring.<p>* Hacking is a feature that stops the second hand from moving when the crown is pulled out.

In traditional Japan the custom was each day had 12 hours of daylight and 12 of night time so to accommodate this the length of hours shifted day by day ... Masahiro was inspired by an ancient clock which implemented this idea such that he decided to craft by hand a watch to perform this as well ... incredible master and some impressive video documentary taboot

This guy is obviously an adherent of George Daniels. His story is fascinating. He produced likely one of the only significant inventions in mechanical watches in the last century, the coaxial escapement. The book shown in the OP is wonderful and here&#x27;s a documentary:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=_Nsh8llV5dE" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=_Nsh8llV5dE</a><p>Daniels&#x27; apprentice and now watchmaker Roger W. Smith has carried on making watches with his escapement and like Kikuno-San makes all of the components by hand and in-house.

I found a documentary[1] on Masahiro a while back and it was mesmerizing to watch him work.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=ZTiPNqeMS8E" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=ZTiPNqeMS8E</a>

Previously ( June 2017, 106 comments )<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=14610110" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=14610110</a>

The &quot;old school milling machine&quot; they mention is actually a pantograph milling machine.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Pantograph#Milling_machines" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Pantograph#Milling_machines</a>

I can’t help but admire people who create incredible intricate pieces of mechanical art hy hand. Not ever in my life could I hope to replicate even a crude, barely functional version of such a device. While I’m not a watch geek, the process and methodology behind creating these time-pieces is endlessly fascinating to me. I’d totally love to watch a documentary of someone doing similar work!

Wow... some bad ass watches he had made.

Let me voice my negative opinion: To me it looks worthy of a hobby, but to praise this as something exceptional it&#x27;s kind of overstretch.<p>The time required is very long to make the pieces by hand, but I feel any sharp person could do it. Nothing groundbreaking.<p>So I don&#x27;t understand people that find this fascinating, inspirational. Just buy a usual watch, and it will have the same pieces.<p>It&#x27;s cool that he makes new designs, however make a good market out of that and the chinese will do it too, at better prices.

I love this art of Patience of the Japanese. They love to spend a life time i to making a tiny wood doll or some little flower arrange...<p>I wonder its because is an Island and one gets inside himself or one just gets bored...<p>I am a fan of making bamboo and paper little planes , just to thorw them and destroy on the beach...<p>I found that using Smoking Paper is a good material haha<p>What I like is the making the fine bamboos longarinas and skeleton of the models. I like boats of bamboo too.