Kind of like a garage band, but in watchmaking terms. A short look at a peculiar watch made by an independent watchmaker based out of Tokyo, Shinichi Hidaka, and the meaning of independent watchmaking.
Independent watchmaking has always been closely associated with watchmaking of the highest pedigree. In a stereotypical sense, it conjures up an image of an old, bearded man somewhere in a tiny wooden hut in the Jura, patiently assembling away at the individual components that had been hand milled and created by him, preserving a centuries old art of traditional Swiss watchmaking. While not to such an extreme degree, this does hold somewhat true for many of independent watchmaking’s greats such as the emblematic Philippe Dufour or George Daniels. However, this image of the independent watchmaker has truly evolved with time and is a loosely used term these days. In a liberal sense of the term, if one were to be making a watch without any corporate affiliation or the control of major conglomerates such as the Swatch Group, one could most certainly be considered an independent watchmaker - this could potentially even include brands such as Baltic or Furlan Marri that have taken the industry by storm with their branding and approach to affordable watchmaking.
In that aforementioned liberal sense, Shinichi Hidaka is an “independent watchmaker”. Mind you, we do not mean any disrespect, but the man advertises and describes himself as, in his own words, a “comedian trying to make a watch” (we would venture a guess that he is in fact, a full-time comedian that is attempting to assemble watches for a hobby). He is a young “watchmaker” based in Arakawa-ku in Tokyo, Japan and has been very active primarily on Instagram as a medium to share his work. His watches primarily utilise Sellita movements such as the SW200, ETA6498 or the ETA7001, producing both automatic and manual wind watches.
Man. Comedian. Watchmaker. In no particular order.
Source: Instagram
He creates visually interesting watches that cater to the young, modern watch crowd. The design is distinctively vintage for many of his watches with his use of the sector dial and blued hands, and the case size of his watches are often quite conservative – ranging from 36mm to 39m – which caters to the sensibilities of the collectors who have grown tired of many big commercial brands releasing 45mm large giants that wear like a dinner plate on most wrists.
Recently, we have been somewhat fortunate enough to get our hands on one of his creations at a very friendly price from a fellow local collector who had purchased the watch directly from him. The watch in focus today is Shinichi Hidaka’s Arakawa, which is an automatic watch that runs on the very reliable SW200. The Arakawa, which is aptly named after Shinichi Hidaka’s place of abode, features a 39mm case that is 11.3mm thick with a lug width of 18mm. The watch comes encased in a stainless steel case with a sapphire caseback, where one can see the very bare and unfinished SW200 staring back at them. The watch has a decently punchy retail price tag of approximately S$1,200 that includes shipping and import taxes to Singapore. The watch looks perfectly fine at a quick glance, almost reminiscent of a budget Habring2, but taking a detailed look at the it unfortunately presents the buyer with a bagful of disappointment.
Shinichi Hidaka's Arakawa
Source: Generalist
The Dial and Hands
The dial is a classic matte grey sector dial with Arabic numerals. To be fair, this does complement the watch’s blued hands well. A classic pairing of grey and blue is one as old as eggs and toast and could arguably never go too wrong. The dial itself is not inherently offensive, but it does have one very strange detail that quickly began to bug us. When one closely scrutinizes the “12” marker, one can see that the “1” and the “2” numerals are in fact of a different font size. The “1” is markedly longer than the “2”, and while it is unclear whether this was a deliberate design decision or a simple printing error, it comes off as an extremely strange and peculiar choice.
Notice the slightly longer "1"
Source: Generalist
The Movement
Once again, there is absolutely nothing inherently wrong with using a run of the mill SW200 movement. In fact, we are one of the biggest proponents of movements such as an ETA2892 and SW200 for their reliability and ease of service, especially for watches that fall under the “daily wearer” or “affordable” segment. In fact, some of the most technically advanced watches ever made were based off of the humble old ETA ebauches and it would be plain wrong to dismiss their importance in watchmaking. Sometimes, movements can be needlessly complicated and while it may be fun at the start, the myriad of problems that follow it pose the owner with a massive headache.
The biggest gripe with this movement was that while the watch itself was not intended to have a date complication, this movement was meant for a watch with one. This is not a visible detail, but when the wearer adjusts the hands and complete two full rotations of the hour hands, one would hear a “click” indicating the jump of the date wheel. To some this may be a minor problem that does not pose any aesthetic issues, but at any price range, this would be considered peak watchmaking faux pax.
At this price point however, the lack of any visible finishing on the watch movement can be overlooked for its functionality, and one would not find too much to nitpick about that. However, it is still worthwhile to note that brands such as Furlan Marri have successfully managed to offer very well made Swiss mechanical watches with decently finished movements at a touch above Shinichi Hidaka's asking price, which brings into question the true value of the watch.
Seen through the sapphire caseback, the Sellita automatic movement
Source: Generalist
The Case
The case is probably one component where there are no complaints from a structural perspective. It is a very inoffensive stainless steel case that is of fair quality – full stop. Uninspiring? Yes, but it does the job. If there was one gripe, it would be that it was unnecessary to have a sapphire caseback if one were to just look at a bare, unfinished Sellita movement.
Unrelated to the construction of the case itself, the watchmaker had also made a blunder during the assembly process and left a scratch on the caseback, which is definitely not the most enjoyable experience for a buyer. It would not be a huge ask for consumers to request for a reasonable level of quality control, and this seems to have been missed with this watch.
Closing Thoughts
The watch was, very frankly, beyond underwhelming. It was ultimately hard to justify the retail price point and think of the value this new brand may bring to the table. Clearly, we have not had many nice things to say about the watch, but this watch has been a great case study to think and mull about what exactly constitutes independent watchmaking which would definitely be a long write-up for another day. Buying watches from a lesser-known independent watchmaker is not always risk-free – there is no guaranteed certainty on the product you are going to get due to the limited nature of it and at the end of the day, you are taking a punt on the watchmaker's potential (not a tried and tested product). Additionally, some might even face the risk of not ever receiving their watches (if you have been around for long enough to hear about a certain Volker Vyskocil…) which has direct financial repercussions. What is next for Shinichi Hidaka, we do not know. But despite the watch's many shortcomings, we do applaud the spirit and it would be interesting to see if he ever manages to push his watchmaking to the next level.
Collectors are increasingly more astute and discerning, and we are witnessing an influx of new brands and watchmakers entering the scene to scratch their itch. While collectors may enjoy seeing new incumbents do things differently from the status quo, a degree of skepticism and caution continues to be absolutely necessary.