Very Rare WW2 Seikosha (Seiko) Kamikaze Pilot Watch
𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
Year: circa 1940s
Diameter: 48.5mm
Movement: (manual wind) hand wound 19 Ligne movement with 15 jewels
Case: nickel coated and has a fluted bezel.
condition: fair condition.
Lug width: 25mm
- The Arabic numbers and hands on the dial were coated with radium for luminescence.
- over sized crown designed to be worn over flight equipment
- The rotating bezel was used for marking of elapsed time during missions
- the Tensoku watch was also used as a compass by the navy pilots where twelve o’clock marker is facing left and hour hand pointed in the direction of the sun — true south should be located approximately between the hour hand and the twelve o’clock marker.

Interesting Fact about this particular watch; There are 2 character manually carved into the dial above the 6 position : 川口 These 2 characters mean “Kawaguchi” and is written in Japanese using the kanji characters 川 (kawa, meaning “river”) and 口 (kuchi, meaning “mouth” or “entrance/outlet”).

However, it is most likely a surname:”Kawaguchi” which is also a common Japanese surname.

So I am near certain that this watch belonged to a pilot by the name of Kawaguchi.

Upon further research, I discovered that there was indeed a Japanese naval officer named Susumu Kawaguchi who served as an aircraft pilot and specialist in aircraft gunnery during World War II. He was the Air Officer on the aircraft carrier Hiryu during the Battle of Midway.

𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀
manufactured by Seikosha (later known as Seiko), and while the official name of the watch was Tensoku, it has been nicknamed as “Kamikaze”.

As part of the Axis forces, the Japanese played an important role in the resistance during WWII. Prior to the Japanese surrender in 1945, the Japanese Navy was famously known for using suicidal pilots, known as Kamikazes, who crashed directly into U.S. battleships as a last-ditch effort to slow down the powerful U.S. Navy advance.

During WWII, Seikosha manufactured and supplied Tensoku pilot watch to the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1941 to 1945. While this watch was issued to navy pilots, it became associated with being worn on missions from Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Okinawa. Towards the end of WWII, Tokubetsu Kōgekitai, Special Attack Unit, used a desperate strategy to destroy as many Allied naval ships by crashing their plane filled with bombs and committing suicide. 3,862 Kamikaze pilots died as part of this operation.

Sadly, since most of the pilots who wore this watch never returned, most of these watches reside at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and only very few of them have survived. Hence, finding one in decent condition is rare. Not many of them were made, and watches that were salvaged from wreckages can fetch upwards of $40k at an auction.

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#02-22
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