ABSTRACT
In 1877, several Japanese clock and watch traders – including Kaneda, Kojima, Mizunoi, and Ono – took part in the fi rst industrial exhibition organized by the Japanese authorities at Tokyo with the objective of promoting national production of manufactured goods, which were largely imported at that time. 1 The displayed goods were mostly copied from foreign goods, but they reveal how fast the transfer of knowledge and technology in horology was. However, despite this episode the emergence of a really competitive clock and watch industry in Meiji Japan was a slow and gradual process, characterized by the progressive acquisition of new know-how and by many diffi culties regarding the management of enterprises. Three issues can be distinguished during these formative years: the role of the wakodei -makers, the manufacture of clocks, and the manufacture of watches.
