A while ago I bought two vintage Seiko railway pocket watches, one for myself and one for my brother. Out of curiosity I decided to find out a little more about these movements.
Seiko Type 19 (19型セイコー) is often referred as “19 Seiko” (19セイコー) in Japan. The designation indicates it’s 19 ligne (19‴). Designed as the standard 16 size railway watch, it got accepted by the Japanese Ministry of Railways (predecessor of post-war Japanese National Railways (JNR)) in 1929 to replace the imported foreign models from Waltham, Elgin, Omega and Zenith, etc.
Some People Call Me Moeris
One thing intrigued me the most about Type 19s is that the first two movements are most likely based on early Moeris calibers, same as the “Seiko“ wristwatches in the same period.
Information about Moeris movements are scarce. Apparently, Fritz Moeri introduced cheaper, mass-produced and parts-interchangeable movements (inspired by the Americans?) into the Swiss watchmaking industry. He had a large factory in Saint-Imier, and won first prize in the 1906 Milan Expo. He filed a movement patent in 1893, which had became the caliber 19A/B movement, and a “Non-magnetic” caliber 19 was designed in 1904, which is said to be the basis of many subsequent Moeris movements.
Despite Seiko never mention or admit anything in their official sources, the first two Type 19 movements, among others, are indeed very similar to the Moeris 19E/H/J calibers.
Interestingly, in the record of Feuille Officielle Suisse du Commerce (FOSC, Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce), there was a registration under June 2nd, 1926:
Saint-Imier — Fabrique d’horlogerie Fritz Mœri — Dépôt de marques Morris, Seiko, Seikosha
(Translation: Saint-Imier — Watchmaker Fritz Moeri — trademark registration: Morris, Seiko, Seikosha)
FOSC 1926/1149
Many sources believe that Moeris is often (mis)spelled as “Morris” (モリス) on Japan webpages. Perhaps it was the actual trademark name for the Japan market, since Fritz Moeri did register many of them for his watches. And indeed, the 1920s Type 8, 9 and 10 (8, 9 and 10 ligne) watches are often labeled “Morris type” in Japan.
Also, according to a 2011 paper:
“Operating as an agent for Longines for the Japanese market from 1911 onwards, Hattori imported thousands of its movements in the 1920s and 1930s. What is more, according to a report by the Swiss Federal Department of the Public Economy dating back to 1934, the firm Seikosha had “certain arrangements with the factory Moeris for marketing and producing their calibre in Japan. Finally, Hattori ordered movements from Ernest Gorgerat & Fils in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1929. By assembling these Swiss watches, Hattori not only received the financial benefit from marketing them but also built an essential base for the firm’s technological development…
…In the early 1920, Hattori hired Fuse Yoshihisa, also a graduate of Tokyo Industrial School. He was put in charge of the technical drawing division and drafted blueprints for parts by taking apart Swiss watch movements…”
In some Japanese sources, Fuse Yoshihisa (布施義尚) was explicitly credited for the Type 9/Type 10 wristwatches and Type 17 pocket watch (one version is said to be using a Ulysses Nardin caliber), so he was likely the designer of the Type 19s.
(This paper also mentioned that Seiko copied foreign watch parts-making machine tools, especially the mass-production tech from the U.S., and make their own version as well, especially when these were not able to be bought or imported.)
As it is known that Seiko made most of the Japanese military watches during and before WW2, with known examples of Ulysse Nardin and Moeris copies (and some are possibly directly imported from Swiss), one can assume that the decision to import and copy Moeris movements was probably due to the necessity to recover quickly from the 1923 earthquake, and to cover the need of the rapidly expanding Imperial Japanese military around the 1930s.
The Early Versions — — Japan-Born Swisses
The first Type 19 (1923–1963) has both 7-jewel and 15-jewel versions before and after WW2. This movement with no known designation runs at 18,000 beats per hour.
As for the power reserve, my copy lasts about 39 hours after fully-winded. The stud carrier is fixed and only the regulator pin can be moved. It seemed to be already regulated by the seller — my copy runs with daily error of like -2 or -3 seconds per day.
The derived models include larger 24 size versions as telephone/telegraph switching clocks and Navy deck watches, as well as the 17 size Type 93 (small second hand) and Type 100 (centered second hand) pilot watches.
Post-war Type 19s were branded as Seiko instead of Seikosha on the dial after 1959 — even though the movements were still marked as Seikosha — and may be equipped with second hand setting (after 1955) and/or Diaflex unbreakable mainspring (after 1957).
It is said that the early 15-jewel version has blue steel hands and Geneva stripes finishing (Côtes de Genève). A version with porcelain enamel dial was also produced, only in the year of 1952.
The second Type 19 movement is the 91RW (1963–1971) with 15 jewels which looks almost identical as the first one.
It is said that the these later 15 jewel version has black steel hands and a different finishing style referred as “hairline” in a Japanese blog.
The 91RW has five known variations:
- 91–0010T (no second hand setting)
- 9119–0020T
- 9119–0030T (24 size, as deck watch)
- 9119–0040T (as replacement watch?)
- 91–0050T (speculated by one Japanese site that it was used exclusively for the Korean National Railroad (KNR))
All 91RW models are equipped with the Diaflex mainspring.
Later Versions — — Modern Japanese Hearts
Next mechanical movements are 61RW (1972–1978) and 63RW (1978) with centered second hands. The movements are smaller (12 ligne), since they are in fact came from Suwa Seikosha’s 61 and 63 family. These have 17 or 21 jewels, run at 21,600 bph and should have power reserve of 40+ hours.
The 61 calibers were used extensively in a wide range of renowned Seiko watches: the “Skyliner” dress watches, the new Seiko 5s, Grand Seiko 61GS, and the “Captain Willard” diver. Compared to these, the 61RW has only one variation: 6110A.
The 63RW has three variations:
- 6310–0010T (17 jewels)
- 6310–0020T (21 jewels)
- 6310–0030T (21 jewels, as replacement watch)
The last one, the SCVR001 in 2000, as one of the seven limited watches in the Seiko Historical Collection, which replicated the pre-war Type 19 style with a porcelain enamel dial in a sterling silver case.
In it is a high-end 8L34 movement (20 jewel, 28,800 vph, power reserve 50 hours), the only manual-winding version of the 8L family, which is in fact the unpolished 9S54 from the newly developed 9S series (1998-) for the revived Grand Seiko watches.
Additional Notes
(i) The WW2 Seiko-Moeris Chronograph
During the war, Seikosha also produced a copied, water-proofed Moeris artillery chronograph for Navy use (torpedo boats and submarines, etc.). This chronograph was also mounted on the Type 89 gun camera for the Imperial Navy Air Service. (The camera is a mocked machine gun on aircraft turrets, which take photos of the target and the chronograph when the trigger is pulled.)
Curiously, some German sources pointed out that Moeris had supplied movements to Seiko and Citizen in the 1950s. Not additional details can be found though.
(ii) The Second Setting Function
Some of the first two generations of Type 19 have the second hand setting or simply “second setting” (秒針規制装置), which is not exactly second hacking, but still an interesting feature nevertheless.
It is done by a small pin on the forth wheel. When the crown is pulled, a regulation lever hook on the clutch will drop and stop the forth wheel (and the rest of the gear train) when the second hand reaches the 60 second mark. The watch will keep operating before that — — you adjust the time only after it stops — — and it is thus recommended not to pull the crown after 50 second mark to avoid jamming the lever.
(iii) The 61/63 Caliber Families and The Similarities of Later Suwa and Dani Models
The 61RW and 63RW movements are very different from the earlier Moeris-type calibers, and there are indeed historical significance in these.
While most of Suwa Seikosha and Daini Seikosha’s movements throughout the 1950s and 1960s retained a clear resemblance of the ETA 1080 family (which was also copied by Citizen and Orient alike), the Suwa 66/61/63 series — — as well as Daini 76/70 series — — started to move away from the ETA design.
(iv) Type 19 quartz movements
The following are the list of Type 19 quartz models and their movements:
- 38RW (3870–0010T); 1976 (not adopted by JNR)
- 75RW (7550–0010T); 1978
- SVBA001 (7C11–0010T); 1985
- SVBA001 (7C11–0020T); 1990
- SVBA001 (7C11–001BT); 1997
- SVBR001 (7C21–0A22T); 1998
- SVBR005 (7C21–0AB0T); 2014 (85th Anniversary limited edition)
- SVBR003 (7C21–0A22T); 2015
- SVBR007 (7C21–0AC0T); 2019 (90th Anniversary limited edition)
For the very first quartz Type 19, the 38 family was the successor of the first experimental production quartz caliber 35A (which was used in the super-expensive Quartz Astron in 1969) and was the first volume-production quartz movement, targeting mid- to higher grade markets. All 38 series movements have 7 jewels.
Compared to this, the 75 family (the movements seems to have 5 jewels and were introduced alongside the mechanical 63RW) is for lower grade market, and actually slightly less accurate than the 38RW. Still, the 75RW got accepted to become the first JNR quartz railway watch.
The 38 series caliber use a SR44SW battery. The 75 series and 7C11s use a SR43SW.
Both 7C11s and 7C21s have 7 jewels. It appears that early 7C21s also use a SR43SW, then later models (for example, SVBR003) use a SB-T11 or CR2016 which grant them 10 years of battery life.
