The Watch That Survived the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb

On the morning of August 6, 1945, at exactly 8:15 AM, the atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima, changing the world forever. Among the victims was Kengo Nikawa, a 59-year-old man who was just 1,600 feet from ground zero. He survived the initial blast but succumbed later to radiation exposure. Found among his belongings was a Seikosha pocket watch, its face charred, its hands forever frozen at 8:15 AM, the precise moment the bomb exploded. Seikosha, the forerunner to the modern Seiko brand, had been producing timepieces in Japan since the late 1800s. That particular watch, though irreparably damaged, became something more than a timekeeper. It became a symbol of the fragility of life and the exact instant the world was thrust into the nuclear age. Today, the watch is on display at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, silently marking a moment that history will never forget.