Seiko

Seiko, founded in Tokyo in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori, makes watches, clocks, electronic devices, semiconductors and other products. Its history began in the Ginza district of Tokyo in 1881, when Kintarō Hattori, then 22, opened a shop selling and repairing watches, alarm clocks and jewellery. In 1892, Hattori began to make clocks adopting the name “Seikosha” which means “House of fine Workmanship.” In fact, Seiko, in Japanese, has three meanings: as well as being a woman’s name, it also signifies “exquisite” and “success.”

Seiko launched its first in-house pocket watch in 1895, the first Japanese-made wristwatch in 1913, and the first Seiko-branded wristwatch in 1924. By 1938, Seiko were making 1.2 million timepieces per year, and they went on to make military watches for Japanese troops during WW2. In 1956, Seiko launched Japan’s first automatic wristwatch; in 1960, the company released the Grand Seiko, intended as being the most accurate wristwatch in the world.

At the 1964 Olympics, Seiko presented its quartz clocks, while its official Olympic watches were still mechanical. The Astron was the world’s first commercial quartz wristwatch, launched by Seiko in 1969 and still very expensive, costing about as much as an average car. The brand introduced the world’s first digital watch with LCD display, and in 1986, the world’s first diver’s watch with a ceramic case providing a water resistance of 1000 metres. Seiko went on to combine quartz timekeeping with the use of a miniature generator to create electricity powering the quartz movement, initially the “Auto Quartz” mechanism in 1988, the “Seiko Kinetic” system in 1991, and “Spring Drive” in 1999. Today, Seiko’s product families include Prospex, King Seiko, Astron, Presage and five sports watch collections.