Taking One Collection to Switzerland
— Where my love for watches began, and how I stepped onto the world stage —
All I had in my hands was a single prototype watch.
No connections.
No track record.
No experience exhibiting anywhere.
And yet, I picked up the phone
and called the organizers of BASELWORLD in Switzerland.
Hello.
My name is Masayasu Hiraoka, founder of Fukushima Watch Company.
In the previous story, I shared the town of Odaka
and the importance of “stories” to our work.
This time, I would like to shift the focus
and talk about a more personal experience—
one that happened before Fukushima Watch Company was born.
This is the story of how a boy from Saitama
fell in love with watches,
and took his first step into the world
with a single collection.
Captivated by the Sound of a Mainspring
My life with watches began in high school.
The place was a flea market in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo.
There, by chance, I encountered an antique watch
that changed everything.
It had none of the glossy perfection
of the digital watches popular at the time.
Instead, it carried a quiet presence.
And inside, a complex mechanism ticked away—
tick… tick… tick…
“Its a machine,
but it feels almost alive.”
Photo: At flea markets back then, watches from the 1960s and 70s lined the tables,
quietly delighting anyone who stopped to look.
From that moment on, I was completely hooked.
The passion never faded.
I entered the watch industry,
worked for a Japanese manufacturer,
then became a buyer for a trading company handling Swiss watches.
I was surrounded by remarkable timepieces from around the world.
At thirty, I went independent.
Running a company dealing in watches,
I spent my days moving forward with little time to look back.
Taking One Collection to the World
A few years after becoming independent,
a feeling I couldn’t ignore began to grow.
“There must be a more interesting watch
that can come from Japan.”
That thought led me to launch my own brand:
mirco.
Photo: mirco TYPE-02 MM
The debut model of mirco, powered by a Japanese-made automatic chronograph movement.
When the very first prototype was completed,
I looked at it and felt something immediately.
“I should take this to Switzerland.”
My destination was BASELWORLD,
the world’s largest watch fair
with over a century of history.
Photo: The halls of BASELWORLD, where the world’s leading watch brands gather.
Of course, I had no connections.
No achievements.
Searching online for “How to exhibit at BASELWORLD” led nowhere.
So I decided to call the organizers directly.
“How many years of experience do you have?”
“None.”
“What’s your market share?”
“We haven’t even started selling yet.”
“What products do you have?”
“I have one sample watch.”
I expected them to hang up.
Instead, I heard something unexpected.
“You’re interesting.”
And just like that,
I found myself standing on the world’s biggest stage—
with a watch that had only just been born.
Even with Zero Track Record, the World Responded
Photo: Conversations across countries and languages, connected by watches.
The world felt far more open and flat than I had imagined.
What could have been dismissed as reckless
turned into something solid.
Surrounded by the world’s most renowned brands,
my Made in Japan watch
received strong reactions from international enthusiasts and journalists.
Photo: The delicate sensibility and use of color found in Japanese craftsmanship—
I realized it resonated far beyond Japan.
The experience was later amplified
when the American watch media HODINKEE featured the watch.
Photo: HODINKEE article:
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/mirco-type-02
A watch-loving boy
had forced open a door to the world.
That moment became a foundation
for everything we create today at Fukushima Watch Company.
Beyond the Glamour of Switzerland
Photo:
A dream that began with a love for watches.
Exhibiting at BASELWORLD may have felt like an arrival point.
Yet, while holding meetings
in the glamorous halls of Switzerland,
a different place kept crossing my mind.
Since the disaster in 2011,
I had been traveling to Tohoku regularly as a volunteer.
Standing in Switzerland,
having confirmed the global potential of Made in Japan,
a new question emerged.
“Can this passion help the recovery of Tohoku,
alongside the growth of Japan’s watch industry?”
At the time, it was just a small idea—
something lingering in the back of my mind.
But in 2020,
a chance encounter would connect that idea
to a very real place.
In the next story,
I will share how fireworks led me to a town called Odaka,
and how I discovered a new mission there.
Watch the movement of Fukushima.
A place evolving while living alongside nature.