Crystal-clear lakes, snow-dusted mountaintops, a deep reverence for watchmaking and intricate craftsmanship… While your mind could easily have drifted in the direction of the Swiss Jura, there is another mountainous region where the art of horology is cradled, kindled and blossoming in the most beautiful of surroundings. Minase, a Japanese watch brand named for the picturesque Akita Prefecture town where its manufacture is located, is a purveyor of some of the most unique timepieces on the market today, as worn by the late Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, who sported a Divido model during the 2019 G20 summit in Osaka.
Case in point? Minase’s latest launches, the nature-inspired Yusai dials. Three handmade creations that capture the ever-changing colours of Minase’s picturesque seasons through light, depth and reflection, they’re crafted in collaboration with Japanese artist Towa Takaya and framed by Minase’s signature Sallaz-polished cases.
The Yusai dials take their name from ‘Yu’, symbolising the gentle flow of time, and ‘Sai’, evoking the shifting vitality of colour. Together they express surfaces that seem to breathe as their tones evolve with the environment. Using pigments that she creates from natural materials, Takaya brings nature itself into each dial, transforming them into living canvases inspired by Japanese craftsmanship and landscapes, and housed in Minase’s trio of classic models: Divido’s mother-of-pearl dial recalls nebulae and snow-lit serenity, Seven Windows evokes suspension and depth through layered blues, and Five Windows reflects the harmony of a Japanese garden.
United by Minase’s vision of honouring nature and traditional craft, the Yusai series stands as a poetic fusion of high watchmaking and contemporary Japanese artistry. But the brand’s roots are far more down-to-earth.
Its origins lie in drill manufacturer Kyowa, which in typically Japanese style pursued perfection in metal cutting and polishing to such a degree that the only frontier left to break was in applying those finely-honed skills to timepieces. After manufacturing cases and parts for various Japanese watchmakers, Minase, Kyowa’s very own horological division, was founded in 2005 and the journey truly began.
Long admired by watch insiders as a source of small-scale, high-end Japanese design and an alternative to larger manufacturers such as Grand Seiko and The Citizen, Minase blends in-house case mastery, mirror-perfect Sallaz polishing and innovative ‘case-in-case’ architecture with uncompromising attention to detail. Its boldly three-dimensional designs allow the dial to be viewed from multiple angles, and as a manufacturer rooted in traditional craftsmanship yet boldly contemporary in design, Minase represents a new pinnacle of Japanese mechanical watchmaking. It’s a name every serious watch enthusiast needs to know.
But that’s not to say that all this happens in isolation – despite the town of Minase’s remoteness, getting cut off from civilization during heavy snows much like Switzerland’s watchmaking villages. While the Maison pays close attention to the utmost quality in finishing, polishing and creativity, their movements largely come from Swiss manufactures such as Sellita or ETA, finishing and customising them in-house.
Minase makes a point of paying tribute to its watchmaking ‘terroir’ – much as in winemaking, it’s the unique geography and sense of place that really comes through in the ‘flavour’ of these watches. And, just as the Malbec grape originated in France yet found its highest expression in the foothills of Argentina’s mighty Andes mountains, could it be that Swiss movements are reaching a pinnacle in the distant peaks of Akita? With more and more Minase watches making their way to international wrists, it certainly seems that horological connoisseurs are willing to uncork something different.
