King Seiko 56KS 5625-7000 · Presentation watch
Issued in silence
From the front, this is a familiar 56KS: the broad polished bezel, black-accented markers and date window of the 5625-7000. The warm colour of the case carries through the hands and dial furniture. The less familiar part is on the back.
I described it in my original post as an “unmarked 5625-7000”. The usual factory reference and serial number are absent from the caseback, leaving this example undated. Here, “unmarked” refers to those missing identifiers: there is still quite a lot to read.
A name instead of a number
Around the KS medallion, the engraving reads 東京電力株式会社: Tokyo Electric Power Company. The separate character 贈 means “gift” or “presented”. It places the watch in a corporate presentation context without naming a recipient or recording an occasion.
The watch
| Identification | 5625-7000 · unmarked presentation example |
|---|---|
| Family | King Seiko · 56KS |
| Movement | 5625 · automatic, date |
| Case appearance | Gold-tone |
| Caseback | KS medallion; Tokyo Electric Power Company and gift inscriptions |
| Factory identifiers | No reference or serial number on the caseback |
| Production date | Not established |
Made for presentation
My understanding is that these watches were commissioned for presentation rather than offered for public sale. That makes this an unusually elusive branch of the 56KS family, and a different collecting proposition from a conventional catalogue variant.
The engraving is the concrete clue on this example. The circumstances of the commission remain less clear, so I leave its production year and presentation occasion open. Its place here is alongside the regular steel 5625-7000, with that difference in purpose given room of its own.