KEYFORD | Japanese Watches and Table Clocks

A brass GRAB table clock in the evening light

KEYFORD
TOKYO

The KEYFORD tradition

KEYFORD began at the Muramatsu Watch Works in Japan. At a time when imported watches were prized, Muramatsu was among the early Japanese makers building watches of their own, alongside Seikosha, Shokosha and Toyo Tokei.

In 1893, Keiichi Muramatsu opened his own watch shop. Period advertisements called his wristwatches “Kihōdo,” and some were exported overseas. The production run was short, and few records survive from a maker who spent much of his career behind the scenes. Today, collectors speak of the elusive KEYFORD in the same breath as the rare Citizen 15-jewel watch.

Period advertisement for the Japanese-made KEYFORD watch — A period Muramatsu advertisement for the Japanese-made KEYFORD wristwatch.

A newspaper of the day called Keiichi Muramatsu “a planet in the watchmaking world.” Later generations carried on his craft, making watches behind the scenes for fashion houses and jewellers.

More than a century later, we make watches under the KEYFORD name again. We think of Europe’s watchmaking tradition as a great river. A ford is a place to cross it, one step at a time. The key is our ambition to help shape Japanese watchmaking through the materials we choose and the watches we make.

We begin with a classic form and give it one unexpected detail. You can feel it in the weight of a brass table clock and see it in a wristwatch whose hand takes the shape of a unicorn’s horn.

Our History | Muramatsu Watch Works

From a Meiji-era watch shop to Ginza

Keiichi Muramatsu founded Muramatsu Shoten in 1893. By 1906, the Muramatsu Watch Works was part of the pioneering generation of Japanese watchmakers that included Seikosha, Shokosha and Toyo Tokei.

Emperor Meiji and Keiichi Muramatsu — Emperor Meiji (left) and founder Keiichi Muramatsu (right).

Keiichi repaired Emperor Meiji’s personal watch and clocks from the Imperial Palace that other workshops had found difficult to service. In 1913, as a watchmaker to the Imperial Household, he established a shop in Takekawacho, now Ginza 7-chome. The firm later moved its headquarters beside Matsuzakaya on Ginza’s Namiki Street.

Historic view of Ginza — Ginza in an earlier era. The Muramatsu Watch Works moved its headquarters to Namiki Street, beside Matsuzakaya.

GRAB TABLE WATCH

Lift it from the desk and you feel the weight of solid brass in the palm of your hand. We chose the name GRAB for that simple gesture: a way to hold on to the time you have lived and the time still ahead.

GRAB TABLE WATCH GOLD

Blue hands stand out against a cream dial. The warm brass finish sits naturally beside the grain of a wooden desk.

GRAB TABLE WATCH SILVER

A silver-tone case frames the black-and-white dial. The softly rounded square draws the eye to the outline of the hands.

Μονόκερως | Monokeros

Monokeros means “unicorn” in Greek. One watch lets you read a day off at a glance with a single hand. The other gives each working minute its own mark. Both take their cue from the same unicorn’s horn.

An automatic wristwatch that tells the time with one main hand. The shortest marks span five minutes, inviting you to follow its unhurried journey from one numeral to the next.