Highlights from Watch Shopping in Tokyo

I was lucky enough to be in Tokyo for work last week. Even though I had meetings every day I was there (even Saturday and Sunday!), and even though I had to visit all 3 Pokemon stores in Tokyo to appease the littles (they weren’t happy that I went to Tokyo without them), I made time to do some watch shopping over a couple hours on two different days.

Just about every major brand you could imagine either has a boutique in Ginza or Harajuku (or several!), or is represented in those areas at an independent AD, from Tissot and Hamilton, to Patek Philippe and Franck Muller. I couldn’t hit them all, of course - you’d need a couple full days solid to do that - but I got plenty in.

Even though I came home empty handed (empty wristed?), it was a lot of fun! Some highlights:

• There are 3 Grand Seiko boutiques (that I’m could find) in Ginza alone! The Grand Seiko floor in the Wako Flagship was really nice. I ran out of time to see the museum, though. At their newest boutique in Ginza, I tried on the SBGE283 / Evolution 9 Snowflake GMT (sorry, forgot to take a photo; here’s one from Heller Jewelers in the Bay Area). I wanted to see it again because it ticks a lot of boxes for me ‘on paper’: great size, distinctive yet subtle, innovative, and super light. However, even in its natural environment, I just don’t like it. I think it’s because it’s very squat and squared off looking; like it’s trying to be a cushion case but didn’t quite make it. It’s the same reason I don’t care for the Rolex Maxi case watches.

• The ground floor of the Wako building also has watches from other brands, like IWC and Panerai. I tried on this IWC Pilot Chrono 43 AMG, which is so much cooler in person. The dial text looks like it’s floating above the carbon fiber dialed rather than printed on. And it’s quite comfortable, due to the titanium case. Very cool. Didn’t love it enough to buy, but I liked it an awful lot. 

• Speaking of IWC, they had the Pilot Chrono 41 Petronas edition at their boutique. I love this watch. Something about the dull grey titanium case, black dial, and teal dial text is very appealing. On the green strap, it has wrist presence for days. But I was disappointed that the titanium watch wasn’t much lighter than the regular steel version. I didn’t have them side-by-side, but it didn’t feel any lighter than the AMG watch above, which was weird. What’s the point of an alternative and costly metal if you can't show off why it’s great? As much as I liked if, I didn’t love it enough to pull the trigger. 

• Moving on to Tag Heuer, the Tag boutique felt a lot more modern and less stuffy than the other boutiques. They had this amazing mother of pearl dial Tag Heuer Carrera, a Japan exclusive edition of just 300. It is gorgeous. The dial is properly mesmerizing. Being based on the prior Carrera design and with a highly polished case, it has a ton of wrist presence. I love it … but it’s just unfortunately not my style. I just couldn’t picture myself wearing it much. I was very tempted though!

• I also finally got to see the Carrera Glassbox Skipper. I like this a lot! It’s fun, but I’d like it better with just seafood sundials, rather than the trig-segment minute totalizer. Ultimately, I like the regular version better, and that watch is still on my shortlist.

• No photos, but the Rolex boutiques I came across (5 between stand-alone and department store sections) all had lines out the entrance. No other brand had lines. The two I bothered to check in on barely had any inventory or anything to see in them. 

• Finally, a Franck Muller product I can actually afford! 😂 Yes, this is a real store - IP infringement is not looked upon kindly in Japan - and is next door to the Franck Muller boutique in the Ginza 6 mall

• The Tudor Black Bay Bay Ceramic is so cool. Despite the black out, the dial is quite readable. The bezel, on the other hand, is not very. It feels really nice on the wrist, and is really versatile. It’s not really as ‘stealth’ as one might imagine, though: a black case stands out more than a standard steel/silver looking case since it’s unusual. I’m hoping the METAS certification makes its way to the rest of the line; having a level of robustness certified is really cool. Similar to my complaint about the IWC Pilot Chrono 41 Petronas, I was disappointed that a didn’t weigh much less than a steel one. You’d think the ceramic case would be much lighter. Ultimately, I like the BB 58 925 better (photo below from the Tourneau in SF) - it’s more subtle, yet on second glance has a unique depth of shine that only silver can deliver. Plus, grey dial watches aren’t that common. If I’m getting a Tudor, I think it’s between the BB 58 925 and the Black Bay Pro (pictured from the Tudor boutique in Century City); both are on my short list.

• Speaking of Tudors that aren’t for me - the Black Bay 58 Bronze Boutique Exclusive is awesome. I saw it at the Harajuku Tudor boutique. I neglected to take a photo, but take my word for it: it’s gorgeous, and the dial treatment, with the 3-6-9 indices, is so perfect, I don’t get why all Black Bay’s don’t have that as well. However, with the bronze case and brown dial, it basically disappears on my wrist. Alas.

I wanted to shout out to all of the workers in the boutiques I visited. They were, to a person, gracious and accommodating. They seemed to appreciated my attempts at using the handful of Japanese words and phrases, and for the ones that didn’t speak English, they had little pocket translator devices. I used the built in translator app in iOS, which worked well enough to communicate. But try to learn a handful of words - it goes a long way.

Lastly, you get to see a lot of watches in Tokyo, if you’re so inclined. The density of people and great public transit puts you in close proximity to a lot of watch wearers. I saw a big guy (6’+ and about half as wide) wearing a vintage-looking 34 mm watch. I saw a fit 5 foot-nothing woman buying a Deep Sea. Both watches looked good on them. Same with just about everyone else in between those poles. It really laid bare that this whole ‘too big/too small’ debate is just. so. tired. Whenever I hear someone whine that a particular watch is too big or too small, I’m going to mentally append ‘for me’ to their complaint. Because no: it’s just not for you.

All in all, if you’re a watch enthusiast and have an opportunity to go to Tokyo, make sure to block out a few hours and go watch shopping. You’ll be able to see just about anything you could imagine, and have a good time doing so.