Shellman & Co Worldtime Minute Repeater

The beginning

Shellman Co., Ltd, was established in 1971 in Tokyo, Japan. Alongside their leading dealer position for vintage watches such as Patek Philippe, they also are authorized dealer for Philippe Dufour, Svend Andersen, Beat Haldimann, Jean Daniel Nicolas, Habring, Kudoke.

Shellman & Co. launched in 1996 their own brand of watches with quartz movement to give an opportunity to enjoy complicated functions as minute repeater, perpetual calendar, world time, split second chronograph at an affordable price.

The Shellman Worldtime Minute Repeater

In 2002, they decided to launch a very special watch gathering multiples features including :

• a world time complication
• a minute repeater
• a real cloisonné enamel dial.

To be affordable, they made in a collaboration with Citizen a unique quartz movement enable to support all of these features. Being quartz, the minute repeater sound is not mechanical but electronic, which is very fun and pleasant to use.

Camille Fournet, one of the best strap maker in the world established in Japan as a joint venture with Shellman in 1992 and was of course chosen to be the strap supplier.

Even the buckle is made by Boucledor, the best supplier of buckles for the most prestigious brands.

The quality of the case, dial, hands, strap and buckle is exceptional considering the price range of around CHF 3’000 when it was launched.

The series

The blue version is part of the first series released in 2002 in a limited edition of 999 pieces. This variant is on permanent exhibition at the Musée International de l'Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.

This was followed by a version for Basel launched the following year in 2003, in bright colors and limited to 100 pieces.

A third discreet series of just 50 pieces with a grey dial was introduced in 2004 for their "Barneys New York" boutique in Ginza.

The "Nostalgic Dial" with its brown/yellow dial was released in 2008 in a limited edition of 200 pieces and is the latest model in the collection.

Wearing it

With a 37mm stainless steel case, this model is very easy to wear. Proportions are perfect, colors of the enamel dial are amazing and the brushed and polished hands make it comfortable to read time.

Using it

The bezel is freely rotating, and the lever of the left side is for the minute and the lever of the left side is for the minute repeater.

But if you want to adjust the time when you travel, then you pull the crown out one click, and slide the lever once briefly to jump forward an hour.

Then the inner 24-hour bezel with automatically move to be synchronized. If you want to adjust minutes or adjust time for more than couple hours, a corrector is discreetly located between the lugs at 1 o’clock.

The set

Each watch is delivered with a box, outer-box, cleaning cloth, stylus, warranty booklet and manual.

The first generation with blue dial features a green box and outer-box with brown lining whereas, same as colorful second generation "Basel Edition" made in 2003. The last generation with brown dial features a brown box and outer-box with grey lining.

A little-known model at first glance, I was immediately astonished to see such a well-made watch with a genuine cloisonné enamel dial at an affordable price. The worldtime and minute repeater functions work perfectly together to create a watch that is at once playful, intriguing and elegant.

It's a watch that appeals to the eyes and questions of enthusiasts who immediately imagine that it's equipped with a mechanical movement, but the price would be far from the same!

Although this article has been carefully written, please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any comments or require further information.