A 30+ year veteran and young talent compete for individuality
Masa's Pastime, which has a shop and workshop in Kichijoji, Tokyo, and sells, repairs, and restores antique watches, is well known among watch enthusiasts.
The shop is by appointment only. Once the door is unlocked and we enter, we are greeted by a facility equipped to rival the prototype production workshops of Swiss watch brands. In addition to machine tools such as general-purpose lathes, milling machines, and small CNC machining centers, there is also a dedicated guilloche lathe and straight-line engraving machine that were in use until the early 20th century. This is probably the only shop in Japan that has these two guilloche machines.
"We've been selling and restoring antique watches since 1990. We started buying the tools and machines necessary for restoration, and before we knew it, we were in this situation," recalls CEO Masaharu Nakajima. There are eight people working in the workshop, including Nakajima.
Each company specializes in parts manufacturing, finishing, assembly, and engraving. Nakajima came to the conclusion that "with this much equipment and human resources, we can create original watches," and began development in 2013. However, due to various circumstances, the project progressed very slowly. It then got fully underway with the COVID-19 pandemic. With sales and repair and restoration requests coming to a halt, they had time to develop the watch.
Two original watches created by the team
At the same time, a student from Hiko Mizuno College of Jewelry visited Masa's Pastime while looking for a job. This person was Nayuta Shinohara, who had gained experience in watchmaking in the laboratory taught by Masahiro Kikuno.
Furthermore, in 2020, he was a talented craftsman who won the top prize in a contest sponsored by A. Lange & Söhne. The reason he came to Masa's Pastime was because, "I've always wanted to make my own watches, and I thought that repairing them would be a good learning experience."
Thus, 21 years later, Shinohara became a member of Masa's Pastime. Nakajima accepted Shinohara's desire to "make watches" and allowed him to develop watches separately from the original watch project that was underway.
"Shinohara was already making clocks at school, and we thought that mixing it with our project would prevent him from expressing his individuality, so we gave him full authority." Nakajima also had Shinohara work on restoration for six months before starting development, and even after development began, he did not have him work on the clock full-time, but rather continued the restoration work in parallel.
"As you gain more restoration experience, you naturally begin to understand what designs and structures are more likely to break, and conversely, what are less likely to break, based on the wear and tear on parts."
The two projects were carried out by two teams, each with different personnel in charge of parts manufacturing, finishing, etc. Kei Tsujimoto, the workshop's only engraver, was involved in both projects.
In 2011, the later "Nayuta" model was completed first. This is because it was based on a historic, general-purpose hand-wound movement that was acclaimed as a masterpiece. However, all parts were refinished by hand and even resized, so it can be said to be a completely different watch. Furthermore, the balance wheel of the higher-end model "A" was the first in the industry to use Alboron, a composite material of aluminum and ceramic.
"We used lightweight arboron to reduce the weight of the balance wheel itself, and installed masslots (eccentric weights) made of platinum, which has a high specific gravity, on the outer periphery to increase the moment of inertia, thereby achieving high precision."
Six months later, Nakajima led the creation of an original watch. All components of the caliber MP1 used are manufactured in-house, except for the jewels and springs. Following the example of high-end pocket watches, the gears are made of 14k gold. The dials, including the "Nayuta model," are engraved and guilloched, achieving a level of artistic beauty.
From left to right: "Aokuro" from 12,650,000 yen, "Shikage" from 9,350,000 yen, "Nayuta Model A" from 7,150,000 yen, "Nayuta Model B2" from 4,070,000 yen. All prices are suggested retail prices at the time of sale. 
A look at the movement of the B2. It seems to pay homage to A. Lange & Söhne while incorporating Glashütte style elements such as the three-quarter plate. It is exquisitely finished down to the smallest detail.
These original watches, with their extremely high-quality finishes and decorations, were discovered by eagle-eyed watch enthusiasts as soon as Nakajima posted them on Instagram, and they spread all over the world. Orders then poured in one after another. In 2012, seven "Nayuta models" and 11 Caliber MP1 models were delivered. The majority of these were orders placed online from overseas.
"In 2026, we plan to hold an order event where people can experience the actual watch." Development of a new in-house movement equipped with a tourbillon is also underway. Masa's Pastime's original watches, born from what they have learned from restoration, aim to reach even greater heights.
