Watch Journalist Yasuhito Shibuya's Useful Watch Industry Chat
The "Time Memorial Day 100th Anniversary Special Exhibition 'Time' Exhibition 2020" is currently being held at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno, Tokyo. It runs until Sunday, July 12th, and there are only a few days left. Although it was postponed once due to the spread of COVID-19, it was successfully held from Friday, June 5th. It is a fascinating exhibition that offers a bird's-eye view of 100 years of the watch industry, watch culture, and changes in the concept of time, making it a must-see for watch lovers. If you're a time lover who hasn't seen it yet, hurry to the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno!
A "miracle" event that overcame the self-restraint period
As July arrives in 2020, watch boutiques and department stores are back to business as usual. Patek Philippe, which had postponed its new product launches for this year indefinitely, has finally announced its 2020 collection online. Other watch brands are also announcing their new products online, and some are even holding previews of their new products.
Art galleries and museums that had been closed have finally reopened. However, unfortunately, many exhibitions that had been scheduled to be held have had to be postponed or canceled during the self-restraint period caused by the spread of COVID-19. Among these were special exhibitions related to watches.
One such exhibition is the "Time 2020 Exhibition," a special exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of Time Memorial Day, which was scheduled to open on April 21 at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno, Tokyo. Cancellation was considered, but miraculously it was held on June 5, about a month and a half late, and with online reservations required to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The exhibition will run until Friday, July 12th, so there are only a few days left, but it is definitely something that anyone involved in the watch industry should visit, so I would like to introduce some of the interesting content of the exhibition, which I was able to preview in advance.
The "Time Exhibition" that took place 100 years ago
This exhibition commemorates "Time Memorial Day," which was established 100 years ago on June 10th. To be honest, I was surprised to learn that this anniversary was established 100 years ago, and I had no idea that the impetus for its establishment was the hugely successful "Time" exhibition held 100 years ago by the Tokyo Education Museum, the predecessor of this museum, which was themed around "time" and held from May 16th to July 4th.
This exhibition is held in two venues, and on the second floor of the Global Gallery of the National Museum of Nature and Science, you can also see exhibits from the "Time" exhibition from 100 years ago. This is quite interesting, and for those interested in the cultural aspects of clocks, this is the highlight.
100 years ago, when watches were rare
This exhibition, held 100 years ago by the government with the aim of "encouraging ordinary people, who didn't pay much attention to time, to be punctual," was a huge success and toured the country. It was the era of pocket watches, and very few people owned watches. Looking back, not paying much attention to time seems quite enviable, but Japan at the time was in the midst of industrialization. As seen in the well-known "Taylor Method," time management was essential to industrialization. Exhibits such as an illustration summarizing "The Good and Bad Use of Time at Home" (exhibited by Tokyo Municipal First Practical Girls' High School) suggest that policies were being implemented to instill time management in the public.
There's also an interesting exhibit about Bando Hikosaburo (VI), a kabuki actor who was a watch enthusiast during this period. He was also a watch collector, and I'm curious to learn more about the kinds of watches he owned. Also, right next to this special exhibition, on this floor's permanent exhibit, the masterpiece "Mannen Jikyokane" perpetual clock by Tanaka Hisashige, founder of Shibaura Engineering Works (later the heavy electrical equipment division of Toshiba), and other industrial heritage that supported Japan's development are exhibits that you won't want to miss.
A condensed version of 100 years of progress in the watch industry
The other venue, the multipurpose room on the first basement floor of the Japan Pavilion, provides a compact introduction and explanation of the evolution of Japan's watch industry through displays of actual products representing each era. This is an interesting exhibit for those who want to see the real epoch-making products of the past.
The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), known for operating and managing standard radio waves, also has exhibits on the system that creates the world's standard time, cutting edge research into more accurate timekeeping, and next-generation atomic clocks.
The exhibition will run until Sunday, July 12th. You can view it for just the admission fee to the permanent exhibition (630 yen for adults and university students, free for high school students and younger and those 65 and older), so if you haven't seen it yet, why not make a reservation in advance and go and see it?
●National Science Museum
https://www.kahaku.go.jp/
*To enter the museum, you must make a reservation in advance via the National Museum of Nature and Science website listed above.
Shibuya Yasuhito/Shibuya Yasuhito
As an editor of a product information magazine, he began covering Geneva and Basel in 1995. As an editor and writer, he has been there 25 times since then. He is currently planning, covering, editing, and writing about not only smartwatches but also all kinds of things and events other than watches.
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