Musings: Six best Japanese watches to buy now

Its been a while since we did an article listing our top choices for Japanese watches. Today, we muse over this subject and recommend the six best Japanese watches to buy now.

Musings: Six best Japanese watches to buy now

We love Japanese watches. And most of them are like Japanese cars. Well engineered. Excellently made. Reliable. Precise. But sometimes lacking of character. But in cars, character is sometimes used to romanticise flaws. And we think, to a certain extent, also applicable to watches. So some may find the six watches we feature to be a boring. But we beg to differ. This list represents watches we will be happy to pick up anytime, budget allowing.

Citizen Series 8 / 890 Mechanical

We simply love what Citizen has done to their Series 8 collection. Here is a collection of solidly built, well thought out, immaculate watches which can rival any produced by the Swiss. Yet, retaining some character of the terroir, that essence of Japanese character. We have review the launch model 830 not long after the global release, and followed up with the 870. We have also covered the 870 Anniversary Model with the carbon dial as well as the 880 GMT released in 2023.

This latest to join the Series 8 /890 (retail USD 1,595) gets our nod for this list. Like the others in the collection, the watch is well conceived and superbly built. The attention to detail to the case, dial, bracelet is excellent. The watch wears very nicely, despite the 43mm case diameter, with the 12mm thickness coming in nicely to reduce bulk and improve wear comfort. We also liked the more expensive Caliber 0200 The Citizen Mechanical (SGD 9,500) as well as our perennial favourite the Citizen Chronomaster quartz (JPY 330,000 excl Japanese VAT).

Seiko Prospex 1965 Heritage Diver’s Special Edition SPB455

Next up, the ever popular Seiko Prospex Diver series. This year, in celebrating the 100 years of the Seiko brand name, the maison released novelties in all the Seiko brand families, viz King Seiko, Astron, Prospex and Presage. Our pick is the Special Edition SPB455, featuring a charcoal-grey-coloured dial with gold-coloured accents on the bezel, markers and hands.

This is a seriously handsome diving watch. The size of just 40mm makes it versatile to dress up or dress down, looking equally thrown on with t-shirt and jeans or with a suit. On second thoughts, perhaps not the formality of a suit and tie, but certainly a sports coat, or safari jacket or the like would be a good look with the Heritage Diver. The watch is comfortable to wear. The construction is sturdy and gives reassurances that it will withstand the use and abuse of daily wear. And also for more serious diving use. And at EUR 1,600 this watch is rather good value.

Casio G-SHOCK GM-B2100 Casioak in full metal

The G-SHOCK GM-B2100 series is a highly successful Casio collection. Nicknamed the CasiOak, for the eight sided bezel which is reminiscent of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, the collection has been available in the characteristic G-SHOCK resin case and bracelet incorporating the anti-shock system. Earlier this year, they added a solar version to the Casioak. and in 2022, the full metal version in stainless steel.

The winning case is retained with the signature octagonal bezel, but the construction of the case and bezel is now in stainless steel. The bracelet is also constructed in stainless steel. The three models are released in the base silver steel hue, in an ion plated black, and another ion plated bright rose gold. Our pick is the ion plated black steel model as it exudes a cool confidence. And priced at just SGD 799, is an affordable watch for the masses.

Grand Seiko Evolution 9 SLGW003

With this next watch, we step the game up to haute horlogerie levels. The Grand Seiko Evolution 9’s is the marque’s new hand wound high beat novelties introduced in WWG 24. Two versions were released, viz SLGW003 in a hard titanium case and the other SLGW002 in rose gold case. Our pick is for the monochromatic look of the hard titanium version. In rose gold, the watch does look more stately, but overall, we feel the titanium offers a better bang for the buck.

This a prime example of what Grand Seiko can achieve. This is a magnificent watch, with a rather reasonable price of EUR 10.7k. The case is beautiful, as is the birch bark inspired dial. Aesthetics are on point, with immaculate finishing. All hallmarks of Grand Seiko. The movement is equally beautiful, with a very aesthetically pleasing architecture. And being just 38.6mm in case diameter, it is comfortable and will fit most wrists well.

Hajime Asaoka Tourbillon Noir

After the haute horogerie pick of the Grand Seiko, we get to the sublime independent artisanal watch. We love the work of Hajime Asaoka. These masterworks are always impressive pieces. Each designed, hand made and finished in his atelier in Japan. We visited his atelier in 2018, then located in the quiet suburb of Shibuya in Tokyo. He has since moved, but we have not visited him since. The masterworks, being made by Hajime working on his own in the atelier, is of course hard to come by. We are not sure if he even produces any more than one watch a year. Maybe even less than 1 a year. Thus, he has been focusing on the  Kurono project, to democratise his designs to the masses. These watches are somewhat easier to obtain, at more accessible prices. But our focus and pick is in his masterwork. The 2023 Tourbillon Noir took our breath away when we first saw it in Geneva. This year, he featured a new tourbillon, but our imagination is absolutely captured by the Tourbillon Noir.

As we mentioned in the review, we were totally mesmerised. The watch is a gem of watchmaking. All the traditional values in watchmaking is respected and executed par excellence. The visuals, strongly of Art Deco, is aesthetically very pleasing. Impressive work!

As is usual with Asaoka watches, the prices are not set until a serious buyer enquires. We expect it to be circa CHF 120k, but this is pure speculation on our part. A ransom which is not small by any means, but eminently reasonable for a watch of this caliber. And one which reflects the work by the time, skill and innovation that goes into the piece, rather than the aspirational pricing methodology of what the market will bear.

Yosuke Sekiguchi Primevère

And the final pick is from the newish independent of Yosuke Sekiguchi. We mentioned him in our list of independents to look out for this year, and here is he again on one of our lists. Though the watch is strictly produced in Le Locle, hence is Swiss Made, and in accordance to the traditions dictated by the Valee de Joux school of watchmaking, the maker who does almost all the work himself by hand is Japanese. And here we see the characteristic of the obsessed Japanese craftsman, maniacally focussed on pursuit of his art. Like the sushi master who honed his craft with years of preparing omlette before even being allowed to take a knife to fish. So is Sekiguchi’s approach to watchmaking. During our discussions with him, we were impressed with his deep knowledge derived from passion with traditional watchmaking. Some may even say that he is more Swiss than Japanese, but perhaps that is taking it a bit too far. Though he does speak French as fluently as he does Japanese.

The watch which we examined in Mar 2023 was a prototype, but is a jewel in its own right. We understand he is currently just started to make commercial deliveries. The design is superbly classical. The finishing is exquisitely executed. The architecture and layout is magnificently beautiful, and the execution of the finishes applied is of the highest level. Priced at CHF 56k, the watch’s value outshines the conservative retail tag.

Parting thoughts

So here are our top six Japanese watches to buy now. Granted, the final two are not the easiest to procure, as both are tiny independents. But it will be worth your while should you have the inclination and the resources to patiently try and acquire one. What are your thoughts on Japanese watches? Worth your hard earned dollars? Or you prefer Swiss made timepieces.