It was back 100 years ago in 1918 that a Tokyo jeweler, Kamekichi Yamazaki, founded the Shokosha Watch Research Institute in Tokyo, with the aim of creating Japanese watches. He began commercial production of a pocket watch made entirely in Japan and called Citizen.
The goal was to offer pocket watches at an affordable price compared to the high-priced Swiss watches. Therefore, the name Citizen (the name had been registered in 1918) was selected to, hopefully, appeal to all citizens.
The company’s first break came with World War I, when the demand for watches grew. Within a few years, Citizen took over the Shokosha Watch Research Institute and gave it the formal name of Citizen Watch Co. Ltd.
A year later, the company began serial production of wristwatches with manual-wind movements. Still, growth was slow. It was not until the 1950’s that the brand began expanding, later emerging as a leader.
Indeed, one of most iconic invention ever for the Japanese watch making history was the first water resistance watch, Parawater during 1959.
Now, Citizen revives the Spirit of the Iconic Parawater with the new Kuroshio ’64 as part of the Citizen Asia Limited Series. The Kuroshio ’64 comprise of 5 new automatic watches inspired by the Parawater.
The Citizen Kuroshio ’64 (黒潮, Kuro meaning black, and shio meaning current) is a vintage inspired watch, targeted at a modest price, and pays tribute the a milestone in Japanese watchmaking history. Launched in five different models with distinctive dial colours, on bracelet and leather straps.
What you say by owning a historical value Japanese watch in your watch collection journey wihtout burning your pocket?