A couple of months ago I was in Japan again and made a trip to the Epson Museum in Suwa, Japan. I have been to the museum a number of times previously dating back almost a decade. On my early visits there was just the Monozukuri Museum that I visited in 2016 – Seiko Epson Monozukuri Museum and again in 2018 – Monozukuri Museum Suwa. In 2022 the Museum was expanded with a new section in the Memorial Hall focusing on the foundation of the company and their early achievements. I visited this new section at the end of 2022 – Seiko Epson Museum Suwa Visit. Check out these articles for a comprehensive overview of the museum and the displays that have previously been exhibited as I will only briefly cover the museum in this article.
This year I returned to the museum to donate a watch and help improve their display of a significant model in the company’s history. To get to the museum I took a Shinkansen from Shinjuku in Tokyo to Kami-Suwa in the Nagano region. The train ride takes a little over two hours and travels up through the mountains to the Epson Headquarters located alongside Lake Suwa. My visit to the museum was in the morning so I travelled to Suwa the afternoon before and stayed in a local hotel near the Epson headquarters. My visit was in mid-February and it was surprising to see so little snow on the surrounding mountains and no ice at all on the lake.
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Nagano Region Mountains View fullsize 
Lake Suwa View fullsize 
Kami-Suwa Hotel
When I visited the museum at the end of 2022 I noted that the 6139 chronograph they had on display was in relatively poor condition with moisture damaged lume, tarnished hands, faded bezel insert, a heavily polished case, and an incorrect bracelet.
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Museum 6139 Example View fullsize 
Museum 6139 Example
I kept an eye out for a reasonable condition 6139-6000 after my visit and picked up a blue dialled version with the original JDM bracelet. While not perfect it was a significant improvement over the example displayed. Adrian at Vintage Time Australia (VTA) generously offered to service the watch free of charge and I received the watch back just before my trip to Japan.
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Donation 6139 View fullsize 
Donation 6139 View fullsize 
Donation 6139 Bracelet
I headed to the Museum and met up with the staff members there. I took a quick walk through the museum Memorial Hall and checked out the exhibits. The initial parts produced by the factory were a swing wheel that consists of an escapement and a controller to use in watchman’s clocks and weather clocks. These are displayed beside the original founding documents for the company. The display focused on the magic lever shows a Gyro Marvel, patent documents, movement and the components separated out.
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Patrol Clock & Founding Documents View fullsize 
Magic Lever & Gyro Marvel View fullsize 
Company Established View fullsize 
Grand Seiko & Marvel Exhibits
There is a nice display detailing the company’s participation in the Swiss Observatory competitions and the staff behind this. There is also an exhibit focusing on the early Grand Seiko models.
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Swiss Observatory Competitions View fullsize 
Key Staff Members View fullsize 
Kiyoko Nakayama’s Watch View fullsize 
Grand Seiko Watches View fullsize 
Grand Seiko Models
We then moved to the displays focusing on the move to automated production. In this area the 6139 model was displayed in the center of the exhibit. I presented the watch I had brought with me to the staff and they were highly appreciative. They immediately removed the existing model from the case and replaced it with the new example. The watch stand did not fit the new watch, but the staff sent me a photo of the watch in place on a new stand the following day.
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Watch Exhibit View fullsize 
6139 Automatic Chronograph View fullsize 
6139 Case & Bracelet View fullsize 
Donation 6139 View fullsize 
Donation 6139 in Case View fullsize 
Donation 6139 on Stand
The next area in the museum is focused on the development of quartz timing, the launch of quartz watches, and the rapid development of the technology. As part of these displays the world’s first quartz day / date watch, the 38SQW, is displayed with the original bracelet that I donated during my previous visit in 2023.
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Exhibits View fullsize 
Quartz Clocks View fullsize 
Quartz Shinkansen Clocks View fullsize 
38SQW Watch View fullsize 
03QC Ladies Quartz
After finishing in the Memorial Hall we moved across to the Monozukuri museum as the exhibits there had been updated there since my last visit. Just outside the exhibit floor is a diorama of the early factory that shows the buildings that were previously located at this site. The first exhibit was the EX-1 accounting computer that was the first product with an Epson logo. There are then a selection of printers from the company from early impact printers, dot matrix and inkjet models.
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Factory Diorama View fullsize 
EX-1 Accounting Computer View fullsize 
MP80 Printer View fullsize 
Impact Printing View fullsize 
Inkjet Printers
The next part of the display focuses on watches with numerous models displayed including another example of the 38SQW VFA, various quartz models, a TV watch, high end quartz including Grand Quartz, Superior, and Dolce models, Grand Seiko watches, Spring Drive and Kinetic models, GPS syncing models and a display focused on the nearby Shinshu Watch Studio.
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38SQW Quartz View fullsize 
38SQW VFA View fullsize 
Quartz Watches View fullsize 
Quartz Chronographs View fullsize 
Landmaster Models View fullsize 
Thin Quartz View fullsize 
Small Quartz View fullsize 
Quartz Variations View fullsize 
Alba Models View fullsize 
Pager and Programable Watches View fullsize 
Chrono-Bit Watch View fullsize 
Special Purpose Quartz View fullsize 
TV Watch View fullsize 
Quartz Grand Seiko View fullsize 
High End Quartz View fullsize 
4J & 9F Quartz View fullsize 
Early Spring Drive Models View fullsize 
Spring Drive Prospex View fullsize 
Spring Drive Models View fullsize 
Kinetic Models View fullsize 
GPS & Radio Sync Models View fullsize 
Shinshu Watch Studio
After the watch exhibits there are a number of other displays showcasing some of the technologies that have been the results of innovations originally created for the watch business. These include quartz oscillator manufacturing, IC production, stepper motors, LCD displays, metal injection moulding, computing products, display products, and robotics products that were initially developed for use in their own factories.
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Quartz Crystals View fullsize 
Quartz Factory View fullsize 
IC Wafers View fullsize 
MIM – Metal Injection Molding View fullsize 
Stepping & Vibration Motors View fullsize 
LCD DIsplays View fullsize 
Pen Watch View fullsize 
Computer Products View fullsize 
Computer Products View fullsize 
Industrial Robots View fullsize 
Assembly Robots View fullsize 
Production Line Robot View fullsize 
Production Line Robots View fullsize 
Stereoscopic Vision View fullsize 
World’s Lightest Flying Microbot
Finally there is a small display focusing on Orient Watch that is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Epson. There are a small number of early Orient models and a display explaining the manufacture of the silicon escape wheel used in the 46 series F8 movement that was launched in 2021.
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Orient Watch Timeline View fullsize 
Orient Star View fullsize 
Silicon Escape Wheel View fullsize 
Orient F8 Model View fullsize 
Escape Wheel Wafer
As always I enjoyed my time at the museum and speaking with the staff there. It was great to see the new watch on display and I am sure visitors to the museum will appreciate this improved example of the 6139 chronograph. If you wish to visit the museum a reservation must be made in advance via the website.
Epson Museum Suwa
Location: 3 Chome-3-5 Owa, Suwa, Nagano 392-0001, Japan
日本、〒392-0001 長野県諏訪市大和３丁目３−５
Website: Epson Museum Suwa
Hours: Monday – Friday 10:00-12:00/13:00-15:00 (excluding public and company holidays)
