Seiko School Time for Children

I received my first wristwatch when I was in second grade.

My father, for reasons unknown, suddenly decided to buy me a watch, and we purchased it at the watch counter of a local department store. It was the Seiko School Time, aimed at schoolchildren. I believe it cost around 2,500 yen.

However, the watch malfunctioned within a few days, and since the white-dial model I originally bought was out of stock, it was exchanged for a black-dial model.

Although I wasn't initially fond of the black dial, it gradually became my favorite treasure as I wore it.

For a child in the Tokyo suburbs who didn't commute by train or attend cram school, a wristwatch was entirely unnecessary for daily life. I remember proudly wearing it only when going out with my family.

This continued until I was in junior high school, and I cherished it, even changing the strap. Even so, 2,500 yen in those days (around the mid-1960s) was a considerable sum. After all, even adult wristwatches of the time, popular domestic models, cost only about 5,000 yen.

A Sad Farewell

Then, one day, my beloved School Time fell into disrepair. I immediately took it to a local watch shop, but they returned it to me saying, "We can't fix this." And they didn't even close the opened case back!

Seeing this, I declared, "If it's broken, throw it away!" and tossed the watch into the trash.

However, I couldn't bring myself to discard the case back, which was engraved with the rooster mark, the symbol of the School Time (pictured at the top), so I kept only that...

Therefore, the wristwatch I cherished from second grade through junior high is no longer in my possession. However, when I had just started this job, I discovered and acquired a new, unsold School Time at a local watch shop in the countryside.

This one came with a blue strap. According to Yoshio Nagao's book, "Domestic Wristwatches (7) Seiko Marvel" (published by Tonbo Publishing), this is a model called "School Time Week Data," released in 1964.

A deadstock "School Time" I found and acquired about 20 years ago during a regional reporting trip at a watch shop. Its clean design is quite excellent.

The Origin of My Watch Hobby

Come to think of it, my current preferences in watches are all encapsulated in the very first School Time I owned.
That is to say, I still love hand-wound watches with no date or day display and a black dial.

Indeed, the origin of wristwatches for me is the School Time from when I was in second grade.

Incidentally, "School Time" was quite a long-running series. In the early 1980s, a model called "School Time GT" was released, seemingly influenced by the highly popular Porsche Design watches of the time.

It was even featured in the magazine "Popeye" back then, and its stylish, well-made design at an affordable price was popular.

However, shortly before that, quartz watches had become dramatically cheaper, making it possible for everyone, from children to adults, to easily purchase a quartz watch with minimal time deviation. This made "children's wristwatches" unviable as a product category, and they disappeared.

Considering this, the "School Time," with its slightly smaller case designed for a child's wrist and its stylish, easy-to-read design, was a "masterpiece" filled with the sincerity of a watch company, despite its low price. I feel fortunate to have encountered such a watch.

So, this time, I've spoken about the origin of wristwatches for me. In this column, I plan to share my experiences and thoughts as a watch enthusiast from time to time, and I hope you will join me on this journey.