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All watches with the Takano brand name under here. Also, "Mercury" branded watches.

Some historical background:

Takano was in existence as a watch company (or brand, really) only 4 years and 11 months. It's root, according to the Hokkaido Watch Museum was a "High field metallic goods factory" ["high field" seems to be alternatively translated as "industrial"] established to manufacture metallic clocks such as alarm clocks in a "High field (or "Industrial") clock factory" established for the "multiplication clock manufacturing" [mass production of clocks?] in 1899 (and 1913, but no explanation is given of the 2nd year). They amalgamated in 1921 becoming a "High field (Industrial) clock metallic goods factory". Then, the metal goods section was split off April 23, 1938. The Ricoh Fact Book 2006 says "Apr. 1938 - Founded Takano Seimitsu Kogyo Co.,Ltd."

It must be noted that the word "clock" seems to be used often as the translation for "watch", so it's possible that they are really talking about watches, or possibly BOTH clocks and watches, here.

Takano was also involved in the production of weaponry from 1938 through and after the end of the Korean War (until 1956).

Movements for men's and women's watches are purchased from the "[rako-]" {also written there as "RAKO"} (almost certainly they mean Laco) Co. in West Germany, to make the best use of equipment for producing munitions (after Korean War ends), and production [though maybe they mean, "development" and/or "pre-production"?] of wristwatches begins in February, 1957.

In July, 1957, a technical tie-up was accomplished with Hamilton Clock of the United States .

"The wristwatch No.1" of Takano Co., Ltd. (so-called [rako-] type) and "2000 series" are put on the market on September 10, 1957.

In October, 1959 & afterwards, a thin hand wind watch, thinnest in the world (this is implied in the Hokkaido text), "Chateau", is put on sale. The technology was shown around the world. However, Takano suffered damage of 110 million yen & a one month shutdown of the factory from the Ise bay typhoon in September, 1959. In addition, the achievement [Chateau] suffers due to the immaturity of the sales force. The Chateau used an increased diameter [I interpret the text to mean an increase from 10.5 to 11.5 (lignes) in the Chateau], but thinner, movement from the older models. In a discussion with the Technical Director of Ricoh Watch [see below under Ricoh history section], it is said that the intent of that decision was to improve the "maintenance accuracy" of the movement. Observation of examples of these posted on the net show the dial to be simply labeled as "Chateau" without the "Takano" name (but with an applied logo), but the caseback is labeled as "Takano Precision" which is used as the brand on the dials of other models. Note that the movement inside of the Chateau has a different architecture than the Precision. See links provided below for examples on the net at the time of writing of this article.

Takano faces the threat of bankruptcy around the summer of 1961.

On May 8, 1962, Kiyoshi Ichimura assumes the position of the president of "Reason laboratory optical industry (present Ricoh)", and the president of Takano Co., Ltd. Or, as another translation says, "May 1962, appointed President and CEO of Precision Industrial Co., Takano." He changes the name of the company to "Ricoh Watch Ltd." on July 26 of the same year [or from the Ricoh Fact Book, "Ricoh Tokei Co., Ltd." in August '62]. The brand "Takano" is scheduled to disappear after 11 months & four years. Based on the Sept. 1957 date given as start of public sale of Takanos, this brings us to August of 1962. "Presently" [at least up to the date of posting in the Hokkaido Watch Museum site & the 2006 Ricoh Fact Book], the company is known as Ricoh Elemex Corporation - that name change made in April, 1986.

Some general Takano examples:
1. a "six pack" of NOS Takano


2. Original Takano box:


3. Accessories from a Precision Senior model 14033

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MERCURY:

Some association is inferred (in some Japanese based websites) between Takano and a brand of watches known as Mercury. While more research is needed, it appears that the Mercury watches are based on, or indeed fully, Takano models - but reference to the Takano company is eliminated on these examples:

All fully mechanical Ricoh products under here... Thus, this does NOT include the electric/mechanical products of the Hamilton Ricoh Watch Company.

I. Hand-wind

Until recently, I had believed that Ricoh labeled [as opposed to the earlier Takano branded] mechanical watches had only been made in auto-wind models. However, I recently came across examples of hand-wind Ricoh labeled watches that appear to be late '60s or '70s styled models with:

1. 17j day/date shock-protected movements:



Based on a badly translated Japanese text, it appears the above movement did have Date quick-set, but not Day quick-set. Apparently, the Date quick-set is activated by pulling the crown out 2 stops, then pushing it back in 1 stop (repeating the process as needed to get to the correct date).

2. 17j date-only shock-protected movements:


3. 27j non-calendar, shock-protected movements:



from a Dynamic Escort.

4. 23j calendar, shock-protected movements:

This one is in another model of Dynamic Escort, the "Day n Date".

NOTE: Much more research is needed on these hand-wind movement types. A quick comparison of the above movement shots shows significant architectural differences as well as a great apparent difference in the level of finishing of the plates. When more is known specifically about these calibres & models/families, they can be moved to individual model/calibre database entries. Update: Dynamic Escort now has a separate entry in the database with additional pictures of models using the above listed movements.

II. Automatic Wind

A typical Ricoh Automatic movement [21j day/date]:


A typical model using this movement (above):
Labeled "Crystal":


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Ricoh had a variety of types including Diver styles, "mod" [like Seiko AdVan] designs, and World Time styles. A quick pictoral overview follows:



Ricoh employed some styles that were alleged to be copies of other brands. Note the great similarity between the following Ricoh A0615A "TV screen" watch (export model, as designated by the flower logo on the dial & case-back) and the equivalent Seiko 5:


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Historical information:

1. Development of Automatic models

Much of the following is taken from alternate translations of pages from the "Hokkaido Watch Museum" @:

http://homepage3.nifty.com/dr-usapyon/museum

Quoting an interview with "Sue Kazumi", who became the Technical Director of Ricoh Watch, they go on to say:

they started designing a watch equipped an automatic winding mechanism and a calendar which was named, "Dynamic Auto", and put on the market from the Ricoh brand as 33-Koku[33 jewel] luxury model in October, 1962. The president, Kiyoshi Ichimura of Ricoh Watch seems to have hastened the introduction of this model saying, "Can the clock [watch] be designed early thus?" because Takano became Ricoh in August of that same year and Dynamic went on sale very soon after, though it took about two years to develop. Further, Hokkaido Museum says: 'It can be said that "Dynamic [o-tojasuto]" [or in a different translation, "Just auto-dynamic" possibly referring to AutoJust model instead of Dynamic Auto] including the day [deitojasuto] mechanism into which the date and a day of the week momentarily change in 24 o'clock when Rolex is just like is vivid externals to which the watchmaker is exactly done in Rolex at end.' I interpret that to mean that the Dynamic [o-tojasuto] or "Just auto-dynamic" feature refers to instantanous day/date rollover, in some way equates to a similar feature of the Rolex DateJust model.

Now, the above paragraph, excerpted from the Hokkaido Museum seems to leave something out in it's explanation. I have pictures of a 33 jewel Day & Date model called/labeled "AutoJust" (see it in the database under this group entry). Further, I have pictures of a 30 jewel model labeled as "Dynamic Auto" which DOES have both Day & Date - a crown at 3 o'clock AND a pusher @ 2 o'clock, making it look a bit like a Seiko 7619 or a Seiko Bellmatic 4006 [though there are also 33j and 45j Date-only variants here in the database]. Recently added is a 30j Ribaron with a similar set-up. I also have pictures of a model with a "mod" holographic dial with the same crown & pusher set-up [shown in section above], though I cannot see enough dial text to say if it's labelled "Dynamic" or what the jewel count is [though it is likely similar to the 21j day/date automatic w/ pushbutton @ 2 as shown above in this entry]. So... there is indeed be a little bit more to the history of Ricoh automatic watch development than Hokkaido is letting on!

However, following paragraphs @ Hokkaido discuss trouble with the original Dynamic Auto (or maybe it's really the AutoJust since one translation calls the model in question the "Just auto-dynamic") day/date setting or advancement mechanism, saying "it became the mountain of returned goods soon." A new design was put on the market as "Dynamic Wide" on February 14, 1966, and as they note: "This move[ment] became a long seller, and seems to have been installed in the automatic [wind watch] until at least the 1990's for [export]." Words in square brackets are mine, replacing the original translation, & intended to clean up the English for better readability.

2. Transitional models? Takano => Ricoh

As you may have read throughout this database section, Ricoh bought the Takano company. Sweephand recently found a hand-wind model labeled "Chateau Calendar" & "4000" with date display. It makes no reference to the Takano name [as far as we can tell, since the case-back picture shows no detail] & the movement [though looking much like those used in the earlier Takano models when the company was independent. However, it is a shock-protected movement looking much like the Takano cal. 531!] is labeled Ricoh!

See  http://seikoholics.yuku.com/sreply/2464 [under the new  Ricoh - Mechanical Hand-wind group entry] for pictures.

More research is needed on these...

To start off this topic, here is a set of early Japanese market print ads for "RIQUARTZ".

Note:
1. the price ranges of the products in question!
2. The quoted clock rate of the movement - 32,768Hz
3. A good photo of the movement
4. The "RIQUARTZ" logo



This final ad appears to feature a different kind of quartz movement than the ones above as the watch appears to have no seconds hand:

All original Chateau models here.

The Ricoh "re-edition" (anniversary model) Chateau [with a Swiss ETA automatic movement] can also go in this section ] for now, at least].

Vintage Chateau movement examples follow:
21j:

23j: TBD

Note that the above example is labeled as a [calibre# I assume] 531. Other sources show Chateau movements labeled as 534.

Chateau, various vintage models:






Note that Chateau & Precision may have been highly related models [in the sense of a marketing concept, not the movement used] as the case-back shot above shows "Precision" on the back, while the dial clearly states "Chateau".

In addition, there was a Chateau Nouvel model (also called "Precision" on the case-back!) with the Cal. 531:

and:


This same movement is used in a waterproof [PERFECT WATER PROOF] design also labeled as the "6000":

Unfortunately, at this time I have no details on how this fits into the Ricoh product family. It could be a member of the Dynamic Auto or later  Dynamic Wide family or a derivative of either. Note however, that unlike the Day/Date Dynamic Auto pictured in the  Ricoh - Dynamic Auto [1962 introduction] entry, this does NOT have the pusher button @ 2 o'clock.

It is possibly implicated in a movement design problem related to the day/date instantaneous rollover mechanism - see the "group entry" Ricoh - Mechanical Watches: Auto & Hand-wind @

http://seikoholics.yuku.c...ches-Auto-Hand-wind.html

for some more details of this issue. Research TBD.

The following example is NOS(?) with original literature, tags, & pricing stickers:

"Ribaron" is a rather unusual name, that doesn't (on the surface) appear to conjure any particular image (in Marketing terms). Why that name? My theory: The English language "l" and "r" are often confused by the Japanese. Is it possible that this watch was intended to be named something like "LeBaron"?? This would make some sense given that Seiko had used "royalty" names in it's product line like "King", "Queen", and "Lord" ... so why not "Baron" from the competition??!! At this point it's only a theory, but I've heard no other explanation for the rather odd sounding (and apparantly meaningless) "Ribaron"...

Two examples of different variants of this line:

1. A 28j day&date (with "S" marked dial) example identified as model 66411



2. A 30j day&date example identified as model 3045. Dial appears to be marked "SW"

Note that it's configuration [separate day & date windows, plus the corrector button @ 2] make this appear to be related to the Dynamic Wide [possibly similar movement architecture]. At present, no historical information is available to me on automatic Ricoh movements other than those called "Dynamic Auto" and "Dynamic Wide"

TBD

Group Entries for Ricoh hand-wind mechanical watches go under here, with individual model entries under the Group Entries.

For now, see the  entry for overview information on the hand-wind varieties produced by Ricoh, including "transitional models" [from Takano to Ricoh branding & design].

Seen in a variety of calendar options, case styles and jewel counts:

1. Date-only, tank style case, with 27j, model# 63101:



2. Dynamic Escort, "Day n Date", model# 66101 or maybe 65101:




1. A NOS example from a Japanese auction (model # not known):