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A Watch Fit for a Samurai

At first glance, you might mistake the Kumakawa Worldtimer for its stablemate, the Phoenix Chronograph – but look closer. It’s not a chronograph. Christened in honor of Japan’s greatest ballet star, Tetsuya Kumakawa, this 1,000 piece limited edition features both a world time and “true” GMT function allowing for independent setting of the hour hand.

Seiko Credor Kumakawa Worldtimer (photo courtesy Quentin R. Bufogle)

Both world time and GMT complications are easily accessed via two pusher-like crowns. The top “pusher” allows for quick and easy setting of the independent hour hand to local time, while the 24-hour sub-dial at 9 o’clock enables you to track a second time zone.

Using a simple slide rule system, the bottom pusher engages an interior, rotating bezel providing access to local time in some 21 major cities around the world. Simply set the 24-hour bezel to a known time zone and you’re in business.

While a second sub-dial at 6 o’clock provides the date, the retro day indicator is a wonderful, meter-style display giving the dial balance as well as a uniquely beautiful aesthetic.

Seiko Credor Kumakawa Worldtimer (photo courtesy https://kibblewatches.co.uk/)

“Do nothing which is of no use,” so intoned Japan’s greatest swordsman turned philosopher, Miyamoto Musashi. Credor’s watchmakers have evidently taken the 16^th-century Samurai’s words to heart – eschewing all that is superfluous in favor of simplicity.

Nothing remains that doesn’t serve basic function or overall aesthetic.

Calibre 4S77A

Powering the Kumakawa Worldtimer is the Credor-exclusive six-hand, 28 jewel in-house 4S77A – one of Seiko’s finest (and most complicated) automatic movements.

Back of the Seiko Credor Kumakawa Worldtimer (photo courtesy https://kibblewatches.co.uk/)

A descendant of the high-end 5200 series of movements produced by Daini Seikosha during Sieko’s Golden Age, it features the expected 28,800 VPH, hacking and quickset date, and also boasts a smooth, seconds hand sweep that eclipses both my Rolex and 36,000 VPH Zenith El Primero.

After three weeks on the wrist, the watch hasn’t required an adjustment and is still dead-on accurate. Truly remarkable for a timepiece approaching the quarter-century mark.

But the Calibre 4S77A isn’t just mechanically proficient, it’s a joy to behold through the rear sapphire display. Gold-plated with a satin-like finish, the play of reflected light on its golden, solarized rotor is damn near hypnotic.

Fit and Finish

Where to begin. The Kumakawa’s dial is a flawlessly executed disk of limpid, glistening black lacquer – the finest such example I’ve ever encountered.

Even the generously lumed applique markers with their polished frames have a peculiar luster – as does everything on the dial (even the printed matter).

The sub-dials also boast polished frames and a slightly cambered inner ring on which days and hours are tracked, providing clarity and depth and evoking – as one reviewer has noted – the bezel of the Blancpain 50 Fathoms.

The hands are spear-like, partially skeletonized and also generously lumed. If you believe Grand Seiko and Rolex represent the industry standard in dial construction, you’re in for a pleasant – or perhaps, unpleasant – surprise.

Moving on to the case: it’s elegant, yet sporty. The crown guard and pusher arrangement give the watch unique character without adding any awkward or unnecessary bulkiness.

The fixed, conical bezel sits slightly inboard of the rest of the construction creating a stepped appearance.

The case flanks also have a slight downward step at the lug juncture creating a wonderfully nuanced facet to the assembly.

Everything about the piece seems thoughtful; methodical.

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