Masunaga One Hundred Color 25 Unboxing

In 1897, the only industry in Shounu (modern-day Fukui City) was agriculture. The long winters prevented the locals from securing an income, resulting in poverty. Gozaemon Masunaga (1871-1938) wanted to find a way to better the lives of the people. With the spread of printed literature, he realized that the need for eyeglasses was growing.

Gozaemon Masunaga founded Masunaga Optical in 1905 with his brother Kohachi, taking high school-age children and putting them on teams of 5, led by 1 Master Craftsman, which they recruited from Tokyo and Osaka.  They would apprentice at Masunaga during the day, and then Gozaemon would teach them reading, writing and arithmetic at night (as he was formerly a school teacher). After decades working this way, they would then become certified Master Craftsmen, and would open their own shops in Fukui.  In this way, Sabae, Fukui became the eyewear capital of the world, known for making the best hand-made eyewear in the world with extraordinary precision and care, driven by the Japanese principle of Monozukuri" (ものづくり), or the pursuit of perfection in Master Craftsmanship.  Today, 97% of all eyewear manufactured in Japan is made in Fukui.

Masunaga is family owned and operated, led today my CEO Satoru Masunaga since 1989 (the founder’s great grandson). They make the best eyewear in the world, for which they have won numerous over the years. In 1933, Masunaga was selected to make eye wear exclusively for the Japanese Emperor. Their master craftsmen make all of their eyewear by hand employing a proprietary 200-step process which they have been using for more than a century. They do not rush the process, nor do they take any shortcuts. To polish the frames, they roll around in a tumbler with bamboo chips and pumice for up to 20 hours, before getting washed and hand-polished. Then they go through a series of other polish steps using finer and finer chips in different tumblers, in a process that can take several weeks. Following this, the frames are polished by hand using a series of spinning wheels, which is the most time-consuming part of the whole 200-step process. The polishing process also hardens the frames and makes them more scratch-resistant. It takes almost 9 months to produce a pair of handmade eyewear. The polishing process alone takes over 4 months, but it is well worth the wait, as Masunaga frames are known for looking as good as the day they were first made, even decades later, maintaining their brilliant shine and finish.

Their acetate frames feature Japanese Beta Titanium core wires in the temples, which often include intricate hand-carved detailed coining work. The titanium core wire used in this frame is stronger and lighter, which makes the frames lighter compared to other manufacturers.

The Masunaga 000 is a thick bold acetate frame which served as the inspiration for the 100 was first produced in 1970, inspired by the Custom 72 frame. It quickly became one of the single most popular frame in the world. It was placed in a time capsule at the world’s fair in Osaka, Japan in 1970. The name, triple zero, represents “the beginning”, reflecting its foundational role in the Masunaga collection. The Masunaga frames often feature a parallelogram on the sides of the frames, because Masunaga represents “quiet luxury.”

The 100 was released in 2023 as a tribute to the 000. They are a good extension of the 000. They feature a slightly wider bridge, giving it a wider appearance (although the frame width is actually the same). They fit a bit lower on the bridge than the 000. The 7-barrel double-riveted hinges are made of titanium plated in Sterling Silver. The words along the temples are also engraved in gold. With a 52 eye size, 21 nose bridge, and 150 temple arms, and a lens height of 40.6, they are far and away the most comfortable acetate frames you will ever put on, and they fit like a pair of comfy slippers. Both are solid as a tank. The front width is 138mm, and the inner temple to temple measurement at the ear point is 149mm, according to Masunaga.

These frames are called Blue/Demi Amber Tortoise (color 25). The temple arms are also in Demi Amber, and what I love about these is that you can see the underlying core wire. To the Progressive Trivex lenses, I added an Italee brand double gradient tint starting in a 40% Bali Sunset tint at the top of the lens, and blending into a 25% watermelon tint at the bottom of the lens. There apparently is some science behind the good feeling you get when looking at the world through “rose-colored glasses” that triggers a dopamine release in the brain. This tint really makes the navy in the top of the frame front pop. I also added an XTRActive Brown Transition, which nicely compliments the tortoise in the frames, and adds a lot of contrast as compared to a grey transition. Combining the Transition with the tint makes it darker, and adds a reddish hue to the brown lenses.