In this video from my Instagram page you can see the movement in action.

Most of the examples appear to have 7 jewels, while others have 10, and it seems that there is also a version with 11 jewels. It operates at 18,000 bph and has a diameter of 26.2 mm (12 lignes). Schild 55, but it appears that its components were produced, wholly or in large part, by Seiko in Japan. It is said that the Laurel movement was probably based on the Swiss A. In those years, wristwatches were rare also in Europe, but they were used by soldiers during the First World War (1914-1918), and subsequently steadily growth in popularity. It is said that, at least at the beginning, they were only able to produce a few dozen Laurels per day.

The production of the Laurel was a major challenge for Seiko, which allowed the Japanese company to develop new techniques and sophisticated machinery. With the tools of the time, manufacturing and assembling components much smaller than usual was not easy. At a time when pocket watches dominated the scene, Kintaro Hattori, the founder of Seiko, realized that the wind was changing and decided to start the production of wristwatches.Īccording to Seiko, the Laurel was introduced in 1913 and is considered the first Japanese wristwatch, although its movement was originally designed for small pocket watches.

Sks serial numbers history