The Seiko Railway Watch
Japan's railway train conductors use railway watches, even today.
The train conductors are responsible for always keeping a watchful eye on the front of the train. That is why they use Seiko's railway watch, which is bigger than a wristwatch, has easy to see numerals, and can always be set into the same spot.
The time on this railway watch is correctly adjusted by the crew in front of a supervisor.
The watch often falls and gets hit since the driver's seat sways a lot. That is why it is made of hard-to-break acrylic. It would easily crack and shatter if it used glass.
The driver's seat is subjected to a lot of magnetism, so they can't use a radio watch. If a radio watch were to be affected by the magnetism during reception, then it would not be able to receive signals correctly.
Even quartz is weak against strong magnetism, so it is made with stronger anti-magnetic
MAGNETIC RESISTANT
Regular Antimagnetic Watch
MAGNETIC RESISTANT 4800A/m = 60 Gauss
Seiko Railway Watch
MAGNETIC RESISTANT 16000A/m = 200 Gauss
Grand Seiko Quartz
SBGX091 SBGX093 40,000 A/m= 500Gauss
Grand Seiko Automatic
SBGR077 SBGR079 80,000 A/m= 1000Gauss
Rolex Milgauss
80,000 A/m. = 1000Gauss (This is in a league all of its own, which is pretty impressive.)
| Type | Magnetism resistance (in case of direct current magnetic field) |
Explanation |
| Common timepiece |
Up to 1,600 A/m (approx. 20 gauss) |
The minimum magnetism resistance requirement for a watch. (For reference) |
|
Type 1 antimagnetic watch (magnetic resistant watch) |
Up to 4,800 A/m (approx. 60 gauss) |
A magnetic resistant watch almost always maintains its performance when placed at 5 cm from magnetic field generating devices of everyday life. |
|
Type 2 antimagnetic watch (super magnetic resistant watch) |
Up to 16,000 A/m (approx. 200 gauss) |
A super magnetic resistant watch almost always maintains its performance when placed at 1 cm from magnetic field generating devices of everyday life. |
SEIKO RAIL ROAD POCKET WATCH QUARTZ SVBR003
Information source
Interview
East Japan Railway Company
Reference URL
Japan Clock & Watch association
http://www.jcwa.or.jp/time/qa/qa-r06.html
http://www.jcwa.or.jp/en/time/qa/qa10.html
