Mechanical watches made in Japan by Mirco

In May, Mirco launched its first product, TYPE-02, a mechanical wristwatch with a chronograph function inspired by the 1970s, priced at 250,000 yen, excluding consumption tax. About 100 units were produced and sold out immediately. The customer base was split 50/50 between Japan and overseas. President Hiraoka and Tatsuya Watanabe, director of the company, were close friends who worked hard together in their high school American football team. When they were students, they talked about the appeal of watches, and President Hiraoka went to work for Orient Watch (now Seiko Epson) and Director Watanabe went to work for a watch specialty store. Nowadays, the number of Japanese craftsmen who have the skills to manufacture mechanical watches is decreasing, pushed by quartz watches. Feeling a sense of crisis that Japanese technology was being lost, he accumulated funds and know-how to establish the company. Photo taken on February 18, 2019, location unknown, credit: Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun / Kyodo News Images