Craftsmanship. When I think of craftsmanship in watches, my mind goes to the Japanese. Naturally, Seiko is the biggest player when it comes to incorporating traditional Japanese crafts across their range. Seiko’s top tier brands, like Grand Seiko and Credor, feature hand painted dials and hand finished cases. But what if there was another option? Minase is a brand that has started to gain traction in the United States over the last few years. I consider the Minase Divido to easily be the highlight of my collection, a watch that I am proud to own. Born in a small factory in Japan’s Akita Prefecture, Minase only produces around 700 watches per year. Today, I would like to provide a write up on my experience owning this phenomenal watch for nearly three years.
The first time I saw the Divido, it was as if a bolt of lightning hit me. I felt like an AI, constantly poring over images of repetitive looking watches until I was fed something new. The exact details have frayed a bit over the years, but I know it was on the wrist of the former Prime Minister of Japan, Abe Shinzo. In the picture he was gesturing to President Trump and President Macron, pointing to something out of frame. On his wrist, a deep purple dialed watch with an integrated rubber strap. I had to find out what this watch was. Thanks to the internet, I learned that the watch was from the brand Minase. I instantly fell in love with their design language and what the watch represented. Before I go into my experience with the watch, it is worth it to get to know the brand a bit better.
The Minase brand was created by Kyowa Co., Ltd in 2005. Kyowa Co. is best known for the manufacture and research of high precision cutting tools, so far as to have their stepped drill adorn the dials of Minase watches. Their pride in metal working definitely shows in the fit and finish of their watches. From my understanding, at first, Minase operated almost completely in Japan. It was in 2015 when they began their partnership with Sven Henriksen of H-Development and began to market Minase internationally. They began to attend tradeshows around the world, and people started to take note.
In Fall of 2022, I decided I had done enough research. It was time to make my first big watch purchase, the most money I had ever spent on a watch. If I remember correctly, the lockdowns due to COVID had just started to lift and people were starting to gather and reconnect again. Windup Watch Fair, a local watch tradeshow, was starting to meet once more. I noticed Minase was on the list of attendees, and I started planning. I reached out to the brand on Instagram and let them know of my interest. Minase graciously offered to bring a watch just for me to see in the metal. How could I refuse? Just as I began to mentally prepare to drop the cash on the day of the fair, my plans were derailed. A couple of weeks out, I caught COVID and could not in good conscience attend the fair. I held out though, making my final decision on the final day of the fair. I reached out to Minase once more and expressed my gratitude and apologized for being unable to visit their booth. I also let them know I decided to order the watch online, sight unseen. To my surprise, they responded almost immediately on what must have been a busy day for them. They offered to deliver the watch directly to my home, on a Sunday no less! I hesitated at first, but then figured that if I am spending this much on a purchase, I might as well.
As I waited patiently, dusk soon fell and I received the message that it was time to meet. To my surprise, Mr. Henriksen himself hand delivered the watch to me. To him, it must have been a small gesture, but I was very appreciative of this. After a quick greeting, Mr. Henriksen explained the watch and some of the technical aspects of sizing the bracelet. I scoffed a bit at first; I had resized tons of bracelets before, how complicated could it be? As I would soon learn, the bracelet on the Minase Divido is quite a bit different from any other watch. After I awkwardly thanked him, we parted ways and I hurriedly went inside to admire the watch at my own pace. Inside the branded Minase bag, the watch box came wrapped in a Furoshiki. I slowly unwrapped this cloth from the fine wooden box and unveiled the watch. As I laid eyes on the blue dial and all those angles, I knew that I had made the right choice. Are there watches that offer more perceived value for the money? Of course there are, if there’s such a thing as good value in watches. But at the end of the day, collecting watches is more of an emotional endeavor. We collect watches based on how they make us feel.
Apologies for the lengthy preamble, now let’s get into the watch. I’d say, across Minase’s range of watches, the Divido is probably the most like a conventional watch. In its most basic description, it is a stainless steel watch with a circular dial on a bracelet. However, the Minase Divido has a few things that set it apart from a normal watch and contribute to its uniqueness. Like many of its siblings, the Divido employs a case in case design. This means that the watch movement is “encased” by the dial and is suspended inside the watch case. This adds some depth to the design of the watch and allows even more light to hit more parts of the dial. Minase even manages to achieve this floating case in case design in a relatively universal 40mm case diameter, allowing a wider range of wrists sizes to enjoy the watch.
The other unique aspect of the watch is the construction of its case and bracelet. Minase builds its watches using many smaller individual parts that, when combined, produce a distinctive multi-faceted design. The best description of this process I have seen is the traditional Japanese wooden puzzle. Like these puzzles, the many parts of a Minase watch work in unison to construct a singular item with design aspects that would not be possible in a traditional watch. Most traditional watch cases consist of three separate pieces: the bezel, the mid case, and the caseback. The Divido’s case is constructed out of seven distinct parts: the upper, mid, and lower cases and two pairs of lugs. A great example of the unique construction techniques would be the lug/bezel/crystal assembly. On a traditional watch, the lugs are part of the case and a bezel is pressed onto the case over the crystal. On the Divido, the lugs are still part of the case, but the tops of the lugs are attached in a way that looks like the lugs are clamping down on the bezel and crystal. The lugs actually protrude a bit over the crystal.
Then there’s the bracelet, and what a bracelet it is. The bracelet is an astonishing collection of angles and facets. Traditional watch bracelets have links that are affixed together with pins or screws. The Divido, on the other hand, still features pins but they are encased inside each link and accessed by a screw. The end result is a bracelet that has links that are akin to being clamped together instead of pinned. The tolerances of the bracelet are so fine, I found the links to actually squeak slightly upon first wear. This has faded, but what hasn’t faded is the feeling of quality on the wrist.
So what’s the big deal? Why construct a watch out of so many separate pieces? The reason for this is two-fold. First, this allows Minase to apply a finish to every surface of the watch. Having smaller pieces means those pieces can be more easily manipulated and exposed to finishing techniques. Ever have a watch where the finishing between the lugs was a little bit lacking? Not so with the Minase, every surface is finished to par. Whether brushed or polished, the artisan’s full attention can be put into each piece of the watch. The other reason is for ease of repair. Say you’re walking around at the office and your watch meets the business end of a doorknob, severely scratching the lugs. With a regular watch, you would either send the watch in for refinishing, thereby losing a bit of material, or you learn to live with the scratches. Now, I fully understand patina, there is a certain charm behind a watch that grows as you do and accumulates scars along with the wearer. However, there is another way. With the Minase, when sent in for service, the manufacturer can simply replace the damaged part with a brand new version of the part. This brings the watch back to like-new condition… ready for you to put another scratch on it.
As complex as the case and bracelet are, the dial is nothing to sneeze at either. The Divido features a copper dial with a design that evokes the yukihira hammering pattern. This lets the dial play with light more than a traditional sunray dial would. The logo and hour markers are not applied individually as on a traditional watch; they are actually all part of a singular ring that frames the dial, another unique aspect of modular construction. Then there’s the date window. I would say, in all of watch making, there is nothing more controversial than a date window. If 50% of people dislike a date window and 50% of people like a date window on their watches, I’d say about 90% of everyone hate this style of date window. The kind that shows not only the current date, but also the next and previous dates in sequence. While in most cases I would agree that this is a bit superfluous, I think with Minase watches there is another meaning. In general, this style of date window is used so that the wearer can still see what date it is when the hands are obscuring the current date on the dial. On the Divido I see it as a call back to its parent brands manufacturing heritage. If you have ever seen a CNC machine in action, you know that it uses a drill bit to cut into and remove material with exacting precision. If you remember, Minase’s parent brand Kyowa Co. made its name in the machining industry. With this in mind, you can see how the date window isn’t just a simple punch out in the dial. It looks almost as though they used a drill bit and machined the date window out of a single block of metal.
For a watch that features so much intricacy on its exterior, the watch movement itself is a bit restrained in both good and bad ways. The Divido uses what they call the KT7001 movement, which is a rebranded Sellita SW200. On the positive side, for such an aesthetically driven product, you are getting a reliable known quantity in the movement. Service and repair on such a movement should be easily accomplished. On the negative side, however, many see the brand as overpriced due to its usage of “off-the-shelf” movements at this pricepoint. In its defense, the movement is very nicely decorated. My example features a skeletonized rotor and looks like the entire movement is plated in a black finish. I think the bottom line is if they decided to use a higher end or in-house movement, the cost would become prohibitive to many enthusiasts just looking to try out the brand.
Wearing the Divido the past few years has been a great experience. I take great pride in wearing something that skilled artisans have put so much effort into producing. I mostly wear the watch to special occasions, the odd birthday or anniversary celebration. For me, it strikes the balance between being flashy, yet completely under the radar. I have yet to meet anyone who recognizes the watch, but I will wholeheartedly spread the word wherever possible. Where Grand Seiko has become slightly more mainstream, to me Minase represents the perfect combination of Japanese craftsmanship and modern design in a markedly niche package. Ever on the hunt, I recently added a second Minase. This time, from the Five Windows collection. There is also a little backstory to this watch as well, but I will save that for another time.
| Reference | VM14-M01GBL-SSB |
| MSRP | $5900 |
| Case Size | 40.5mm |
| Lug-to-Lug | 48.5mm |
| Lug Width | 20mm |
| Materials | Stainless Steel, Sapphire |
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