Brand museum

Seiko Museum Ginza

Tokyo, Japan

Japanese wadokei for unequal hours, incense clocks, and the history of Seiko including the Quartz Astron.

Opened in 1981 to mark Seiko's centenary and moved to Ginza in 2020, near the site of Kintarō Hattori's first shop.

Type: Brand museum
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Founded: 1981 (Sumida); 2020 (Ginza)
Specialities: Japanese clocks (wadokei) · Quartz history
Official website: museum.seiko.co.jp/en/ (opens another website in a new tab)
Map: OpenStreetMap (opens another website in a new tab)

Opening hours, admission and accessibility change; please check the official website before visiting.

Why it matters for horology

The Seiko Museum Ginza tells two stories: Japanese timekeeping before Western hours, and the rise of Seiko from Kintaro Hattori's shop of 1881 to the first quartz wristwatch. Japan used temporal hours that changed with the seasons until 1872, and the museum's wadokei — clocks with adjustable hour markers or foliots — show how clockmakers adapted European mechanisms to that system. The museum was founded in 1981 for Seiko's centenary as the Seiko Institute of Horology, renovated in 2012 and moved in 2020 to Ginza, where the company began.

Specialities

Japanese clocks (wadokei)
Quartz history

What to look for

Wadokei and incense clocks: Japanese clocks for unequal hours, pillar clocks and timekeepers that measured time by burning incense; see the Atlas feature on wadokei.
Seiko's firsts: The Laurel of 1913, Japan's first wristwatch; the Grand Seiko of 1960; the first Japanese diver's watch (1965); and the Quartz Astron of 1969, the first quartz wristwatch on sale.
Sports timing: Instruments developed for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, for which Seiko was official timer; see the Atlas feature on Seiko and Grand Seiko.