Railways have hundreds of employees so any watch that is to be issued to staff must be cost effective in addition to robust for continual daily use. Prices for the production of quartz models were significantly dropping and this was important for a railway watch. Midori-kai is a joint venture company that was formed in 1971 as part of the Sanwa Group keiretsu to provide a common HR, insurance and business support platform to the group.Īt this time, in the early 1970’s, there was rapid development in quartz watch technology with Seiko leading the way. This example is engraved and was presented in June 1973 to commemorate an anniversary of Midori-kai. In addition to railroad employees these watches were also available for the general public to purchase. This model was produced until late 1978 and has a standard hacking function with the central seconds hand stopping immediately when the crown is pulled. This was a 21 jewel movement based on the 61 series calibre. In late 1971 the 61RW production began and the model was released in early 1972. This hacking functionality was first introduced in 1955 and makes it easy to railway workers to easily sync the watch to clocks including those just displaying hours and minutes. When the crown is pulled the second hand on the sub-dial will continue around and then stop at the 60 second mark. The second part “Second Setting” is an unusual hacking function present on some Type 19 models. First an unbreakable material used in the mainspring is referred to as “Diaflex” this was used in many Seiko models over the years. On the dial you will notice the marking Second Setting Diaflex, this refers to a couple of features. The year can be confirmed as it has a six digit serial number on the inside of the case back, the six digit serials were introduced by Seiko in the late 1960’s replacing the previously used seven digit versions. I have the following example a 9119-0020 from towards the end of the production run in March 1971. In 1945 continuous production of the Type 19 resumed with the introduction of the 91RW and this continued until November 1971. In models produced a few years after the war this returned and eventually was positioned below the Seiko logo above the forth wheel jewel. Later, around the war period, the jewel number engraving was removed completely. Normally the number of jewels are marked on the outer edge of the bridge. It is proposed that the reduction in finishing was due to the shortage of skilled technical workers during that period as well as time and material constraints. The jewels initially had a golden surround, but in around 1945 changed to silver and then the surrounds completely disappeared in much later models.įor examples made throughout and just after the war, the movements were more simply produced with just a basic level of finishing, for example the edges of the plates were not beveled. This was changed again to a traditional jewelled design just before the war. ![]() From 1929 to 1931 these reservoirs were simple concave designs but these were changed to a more complex design. ![]() The oil reservoirs and jewel design give some indication of the age for various examples. During it’s production period the movement was upgraded with shock protection and the jewel count increased with a 15 jewel version. It was produced with only minor changes from 1929 all the way through to November 1971. The Type 19 movement proved very successful and was adopted not only by Japan railroads but also extensively by telephone operators and also the military.
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