Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Wears A Minase Divido
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from Japan loves watches, including the relatively unknown Minase Divido watch from his home country.
He has been spotted before with nice watches. A vintage Omega Constellation C-model, a Speedmaster Reduced, a Seiko Astron and a Grand Seiko. Today, we’ve received a few ‘watch spottings’ of him wearing a Minase Divido. That might not directly ring a bell with you, but we covered Minase in this article. We’ve visited Minase during Baselworld this year, where they had a little spot in the Hyperion Hotel. We were all pretty impressed by their Divido watches. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was recently wearing one of the Minase Divido models during the G20 meeting in Osaka.
Image via Handelsblatt (AP)
We think it is pretty cool that a Prime Minister is a watch guy, and especially that he (also) picks watches from smaller independent brands like Minase. In the picture above, he is donning the Minase Divido on the image above, the VM04-R01SD to be precise.
One of the main attractions of this watch is the typical Japanese polishing work on the case, which is being done on (Swiss made) Sallaz polishing machines, referred to others as zaratsu or mirror-blade polishing. It results in a beautiful combination of polished and brushed surfaces, including on the bracelet (if applicable).
The other uniqueness about the Divido is the way the dial is constructed, as a case-in-case. This way, the light is reflected from the sides as well as from the front, giving the watch a unique appearance. Inside the Minase Divido you will find a slightly modified ETA 2824 movement, also visible from the sapphire crystal case back.
Although Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from Japan is wearing the version on a rubber strap, we’d prefer the version on the stainless steel bracelet, also being polished the ‘Sallaz’ way.
More information on Minase can be found here.
