Matsuda fit guide: Japanese metalwork, titanium and acetate, and how the sizes run

Matsuda makes eyewear by hand in Japan, and the brand's own site is specific about where: "Each of our designs is crafted by hand in the renowned eyewear workshops of Sabae, Japan." Against a single frame it sets three figures — "250 Steps, 71 hours, and 13 Craftsmen" — and describes a design as "requiring up to two years and as many as 250 steps to bring to life." It speaks of "unrivaled artistry, innovative design, and a drive for creative exploration for over five decades."

The materials are named on the same pages. "Using the finest metals in the world — titanium, stainless steel, sterling silver, and 18k solid gold," it says. The acetate gets its own account: "Our Japanese acetate forms are sculpted exclusively from an organic plastic derived from cotton and cured for over three months prior to construction." Whatever the frame is made of, it finishes the same way — "hand-finished by master polishers who have apprenticed for 10 years to perfect their technique."

That is the brand talking. Here is what it comes to on our shelves. We hold seven Matsuda frames. Four are eyeglasses, sold with demo lenses in them, and three are made up as sunglasses. Prices run from $625 to $1,195. All seven are listed new and sealed, and all seven are tagged Made in Japan.

What you notice first is the finish. Matsuda puts its signature M+N engraving on the 10103H-I and on the M1027, and an engraved bridge on the M5001, and that detail is the part a photograph never quite carries. On a screen it reads as a pattern. Under a lamp it reads as tool marks, which is a different thing, and it is a fair part of why these frames cost what they cost. The second thing you notice is how little of the face they take up. Nothing in our Matsuda stock is a big frame.

Two kinds of model number sit on our Matsuda shelf, and they do not mean the same thing.

The first kind is a five-figure number with an H on the end. We hold two: the 10103H-I, a round frame in antique silver and navy, and the 10604H, an oval sunglass in dark tortoise. On the brand's own site, numbers of that form appear in its Heritage collection, and each of those product pages lists an original release year — the 10605H page, a model we do not hold, gives 1995. The brand's own page for the 10103H-I gives an original release of 1992, and its page for the 10604H gives 1995. The -I on the 10103H-I is part of the model, not the colour.

The second kind is an M number: M1027, M2066, M3138, M5001. Five of our seven carry one, because the M1027 comes in two colours. Neither kind of number tells you anything about size on its own, which is why the table below sorts by eye size rather than by name.

After the model comes the colour code, and that is the part to quote at us if you ring. Antique Silver / Navy is AS-NVY. Dark Tortoise is DTO. Brushed Gold is BG, on both the M3138 and the M5001. Caramel / Brushed Gold is CML-BG. Bottle Green is BGN, and Black / Gold is BLK-G.

Those last two matter, because they are the same model. The M1027 comes to us in both colours, and to a shop they are two different frames with one model number on the box. Each frame also carries our own six-figure stock number, which is what we search on and what we will read back to you. If you are comparing against a listing elsewhere, the model number alone will not settle it. The colour code will.

Seven frames is a small sample, and this one runs narrow.

Across the eye, our Matsuda stock goes from 43mm to 50mm. Across the front — that is eye size twice plus the bridge, and it is approximate — the range is about 114mm to about 122mm. Eight millimetres separates the narrowest front from the widest, which is less spread than most brands give you.

Sorted by eye size, with the front measurement and the lens height:

• 43–28–145, about 114mm across the front, 42mm lens height. The 10103H-I, round, in antique silver and navy.
• 46–22–145, about 114mm across, 42mm lens. The M5001, a rimless sunglass in brushed gold.
• 47–21–145, about 115mm across, 36mm lens. The M2066, faceted, in caramel and brushed gold.
• 49–21–145, about 119mm across, 32mm lens. The M3138, a geometric sunglass in brushed gold.
• 49–23–145, about 121mm across, 34mm lens. The 10604H, an oval sunglass in dark tortoise.
• 50–22–143, about 122mm across, 39mm lens. The M1027 in bottle green.
• 50–22–146, about 122mm across, 39mm lens. The M1027 in black and gold.

The 10103H-I and the M5001 arrive at almost the same front width from opposite directions: a 43mm eye with a wide bridge, and a 46mm eye with a narrow one. They will not sit the same way on a face, and that is the whole argument for reading the bridge as well as the eye size. Those two are also the only frames here we have tagged narrow.

Lens height is where the spread is real: 32mm on the M3138 at the shallow end, 42mm on the 10103H-I and the M5001 at the deep end. Ten millimetres changes the look of a frame far more than a millimetre or two of width ever will.

Three of our seven are acetate, two are metal, and two are both.

The metal ones are titanium. The M5001 is a softly squared rimless sunglass in brushed gold titanium with blue grey lenses. The M3138 is a faceted, geometric one in the same brushed gold titanium, with café blue lenses. Metal is what lets the M3138's rim stay that fine and still hold a lens square, and it is why the frame takes up less of the face than its 49mm eye suggests.

The acetate ones are the 10604H in dark tortoise, with sage green lenses, and the two M1027s, in bottle green and in black and gold. Matsuda's own site says its acetate forms are "sculpted exclusively from an organic plastic derived from cotton and cured for over three months prior to construction". What that buys you is colour that goes all the way through the material rather than sitting on top of it. Our listing for the 10604H makes the same point in shop terms: acetate is cut from a solid plate, so the colour is in the material and not painted onto it.

Then the two that are both. The 10103H-I is acetate and titanium together, and our listing says the join between the two materials is the detail worth looking at. The M2066 is acetate as well, faceted, on flexible beta titanium temples, which is why we list it as a combination frame. That is the slow way to build a frame, and the result is visible at the join.

The brand's range is wider than our shelf. Its own site lists "titanium, stainless steel, sterling silver, and 18k solid gold" among the metals it works in, and says every hinge, temple and component is designed for the collection it belongs to. What we hold is titanium and acetate, in the three combinations above.

Four shapes across seven frames: round, square, oval and geometric.

Round is the 10103H-I, and it is the only one. At 43mm across the eye with a 42mm lens height it is very nearly as deep as it is wide, which is what makes a round frame read as round rather than as a small oval. Our listing calls it small across the front without being small in effect, and that is fair. A deep lens on a narrow front is a frame people notice. It suits someone who wants the glasses to be the thing you see first.

Square, or softly square, covers three. The two M1027s at 50–22 are the widest fronts we hold, with a 39mm lens — enough depth to balance the width, not so much that they overwhelm it. Our listing for the M1027 in black and gold describes a standard front, one that fits without being thought about, which is often the most useful thing that can be said about a frame. The M5001 is the third: squared, but rimless, so the shape is carried by the edge of the lens rather than by a rim. It reads much lighter than its 46mm eye.

Oval is the 10604H. At 49mm wide with a 34mm lens it is long and low, and low is the point. A shallow lens on a wide front reads horizontal, and horizontal sits quietly on most faces.

Geometric is the M2066 and the M3138, both faceted — straight runs and corners where most frames put a curve. The M2066 does it in caramel acetate and brushed gold at 47–21, with a 36mm lens. The M3138 does it in brushed gold titanium at 49–21, with a 32mm lens, the shallowest here. If you have tried round frames and found them too soft, the faceted line is the difference you were looking for.

Three measurements decide whether a frame sits, and only one of them is the one people quote.

The bridge first. Ours run from 21mm to 28mm, and the 10103H-I has the widest bridge we hold by some way, on the narrowest front we hold. A wide bridge on a small eye sets the lenses further apart and further off the nose. If a frame has ever sat too close to your face, that is usually the number that was wrong, not the eye size.

The temples next. Five of the seven are 145mm. Both M1027s are 143mm in the temple, which is what the brand publishes for every colourway of that model. Three millimetres is not usually noticed. But if temple length matters to you — if you wear your glasses well back, or you have had arms run short behind the ear — tell us before you order and we will measure the pair in the box.

Lens height last, and it is the one to look at hardest. Ours run from 32mm to 42mm. The 42mm lenses, on the 10103H-I and the M5001, are deep, and a deep lens sits closer to the cheek on a shorter face. The 32mm on the M3138 and the 34mm on the 10604H are shallow, and a shallow lens leaves more space above a high cheekbone and below a heavy brow. Neither is a fault. It is a thing to look at in a mirror rather than on a screen.

If you cannot come in, send us the numbers from a frame you already wear — they are usually printed inside the left temple — and we will tell you how each of these seven compares. It takes us five minutes and it saves a return.

Four of our seven Matsudas are listed as eyeglasses and come with demo lenses fitted: the 10103H-I, the M2066 and both M1027s. Demo lenses are shaped blanks. They hold the frame's shape and let an optician trace the eye, and they come out when your lenses go in.

The other three — the M5001, the 10604H and the M3138 — are made up as sunglasses, with blue grey, sage green and café blue lenses respectively. Whether a sunglass frame will take your prescription is a question for the optician who would glaze it, not one a listing can answer.

Three things are worth raising with that optician before you buy. First, lens height. A 32mm lens, as on the M3138, is shallow, and if you wear a progressive it is worth asking whether the design you wear fits in it; the 39mm and 42mm frames give far more room. Second, rimless. The M5001 is rimless, so the lens is carried on fixings rather than in a rim, which narrows the lens materials that can be used. Third, a narrow front. The 10103H-I is 43mm across the eye on a 28mm bridge, and on a narrow front the distance between your pupils wants to land well inside the lenses rather than at their edges.

We ship frames only. We do not sell prescription lenses online, and we are not going to pretend a website can measure a face. Lens fitting happens in our Arlington shop, in Dumfries, or at your own optician, who is welcome to ring us about any frame on this page.

If you are not sure which of the seven your prescription will suit, tell us what the prescription is and we will tell you which ones we would put it in, and which we would not.

Seven frames, and these are the prices: $625 for the 10103H-I, $675 for the M3138, $680 for the M5001, $740 for each of the two M1027s, $790 for the M2066, and $1,195 for the 10604H. All seven are listed new and sealed, with the demo lenses still in the four optical frames.

What you are paying for is time. The brand's own account of the making — "250 Steps, 71 hours, and 13 Craftsmen", acetate cured for over three months before anyone cuts it, polishers who have apprenticed for ten years — is most of the price. A frame built that way in Sabae was never going to be cheap.

These are single frames rather than deep bins of stock. When one sells it is gone, which is true of everything in the shop and is worth saying plainly rather than dressing up.

If you already know what you want, the model number with the colour code will find it: 10103H-I AS-NVY, M1027 BGN, M1027 BLK-G, M2066 CML-BG, M3138 BG, M5001 BG, 10604H DTO. If you do not, start from the table on this page and read the front measurement before anything else. About 114mm and about 122mm are the two ends of what we hold, and the difference between them is visible at arm's length.

Better still, come and put them on. A frame is a physical thing and a screen flattens it. We are in Arlington and in Dumfries; ring ahead with the model you want to see and we will have it out of the drawer and on the counter for you.