Seiko Watches
- A Brief History
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Although the
Seiko name was adopted in 1924 with the introduction of its first wrist watch,
the company was actually founded 43 years earlier by a clockmaker in Tokyo's
Ginza District. Applauded for its accuracy and craftsmanship, the Seiko watch
became a resounding success and by 1938, demand for the timepieces pushed yearly
production to well over one million watches.
Dedicated to technology advancement and precise manufacture, the Seiko
Company has repeatedly staked its reputation on performance, acting as the
Official Timer of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Sapporo, Barcelona, Lillihammer
and Nagano.
Seiko's many design innovations include the world's first quartz watch, the
world's first LCD quartz watch with six digit display, and the world's first
intelligent analog quartz watch with alarm and timer function.
In 1992, with the introduction of the Kinetic design, once again Seiko
rewrote the state of the art. The Seiko Kinetic collection is a line of quartz
watches that are electrically charged by movement. The Kinetic Auto Relay goes
into suspended animation when unworn for three days, thus conserving energy.
With a few shakes of the wearer's wrist, it wakes up and resets itself to the
exact time.
Other trend-setting, multi-functional watches by Seiko include the Perpetual
Calendar series which automatically reset their date settings for the next 100
years; the Chronograph collection with dual stopwatch features; the Le Grande
Sport series, a classic combination of contemporary European design and
functionality; and the Ladies Jewelry collection, an elegant marriage of
versatility and style.
Seiko
Chronological Timeline:
1881
Establishment
by Kintaro Hattori of K. Hattori & Co., Ltd.,
predecessor of todays's
SEIKO CORPORATION.
1892
Foundation
of Seikosha clock supply factory. Production of
wall clocks begins.
1895
Production
of fob watches begins. Seiko brand watch (1924)
1899
Production
of alarm clocks begins.
1902
Production
of table clocks and musical clocks begins.
1913
Production
of the first wrist watch made in Japan begins.
1917
K.
Hattori & Co., Ltd. becomes a public company.
1924
SEIKO
brand first used on watches.
1937
Watch
production split off as Daini Seikosha Co., Ltd.,
independent predecessor of today's Seiko Instruments
Inc.
1942
Establishment
of watch producer, Daiwa Kogyo Ltd., predecessor
of today's Seiko Epson Corporation.
1955
Production of the first self-winding wrist
watch made in Japan begins. Replica exhibited in
the Smithsonian Museum from 1999.
1958
Introduction of quartz clocks for broadcasting
use.
1959
Introduction
of transistorised table clocks.
1963
Development
of portable quartz chronometer.
1964
SEIKO
serves as Official Timer of Tokyo Olympic Games
in Japan.
1968
Establishment
of subsidiary in Hong Kong.
1969
Introduction
of Seiko Astron, world's first quartz watch (35SQ).
1970
Establishment
of Seiko Time Corporation in USA.
1971
Establishment
of Seiko Time (U.K.) Ltd. Seiko Time Corporation
in the USA opens its first office in Canada.
1972
Establishment
of Seiko Time GmbH in the former Federal Republic
of Germany.
SEIKO serves as Official Timer of
Sapporo Winter Olympic Games in Japan.
1973
Introduction
of world's first LCD quartz watch with six-digit
digital display (06LC).
1974
Establishment
of Seiko Time Ltd. in Brazil.
1975
Introduction
of world's first multi-function digital watch.
1976
Introduction
of world's first quartz alarm clock.
1977
Establishment
of subsidiary in Australia. Establishment of subsidiary
in Panama.
1978
Establishment
of subsidiary in Switzerland. SEIKO serves as Official
Timer of World Cup Football Championships in
Argentina.
Introduction of world's first very-fine
adjusted ultra-accurate Twin Quartz watch, with
less than five seconds deviation per year.
1979
Establishment
of subsidiary in Sweden.
Introduction of Pulsar
brand.
Introduction of Alba brand.
1980
Establishment
of subsidiary in the Netherlands.
1981
Establishment
of representative office in Dubai.
Introduction
of Lassale brand.
1982
SEIKO serves as Official Timer of World
Cup Football Championships in Spain.
Introduction
of world's first TV watch.
Introduction of Lorus
brand.
1983
K.
Hattori & Co., Ltd. renamed as Hattori Seiko
Co., Ltd.
Introduction of world's first watch
with sound-recording functions.
1984
Introduction
of world's first "talking" clock, the
Seiko Pyramid Talk.
1986
SEIKO
serves as Official Timer of World Cup Football Championships
in Mexico.
1987
SEIKO
serves as Official Timer of 2nd IAAF World Championships
in Athletics in Italy.
1988
Introduction
of quartz watch with sweep second hand. Introduction
of quartz watch powered by the wearer's movement,
requiring no batteries.
Introduction of world's
first intelligent analogue quartz watch with alarm,
chronograph and timer functions controlled by an
IC "computer on a chip
1989
Establishment
of subsidiary in Thailand.
1990
Major
associated companies overseas begin to use the SEIKO
name.
Hattori Seiko Co., Ltd. renamed as SEIKO
CORPORATION.
SEIKO serves as Official Timer of
World Cup Football Championships in Italy.
Introduction
of the Seiko "The Age of Discovery" collection.
Introduction
of the Seiko Scubamaster, world's first computerised
diver's watch to incorporate a dive table.
Introduction
of the Seiko Receptor MessageWatch incorporating
a miniaturised FM subcarrier.
1991
Establishment
of subsidiary in Finland.
Establishment of subsidiary
in Taiwan.
SEIKO serves as Official Timer of
3rd IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo,
Japan.
Introduction of the Seiko Perpetual Calendar
with the world's first "millennium-plus calendar".
1992
SEIKO
serves as Official Timer of Barcelona Olympic Games
in Spain.
1993
Introduction of
the Golf-Club (S-YARD).
1994
Establishment
of a representative office in Beijing.
SEIKO
serves as Official Timer of Lillehammer Winter Olympic
Games in Norway.
Introduction of Seiko KINETIC
series.
1995
Introduction
of Alba "Spoon" series.
1996
Establishment
of SEIKO Optical Products, Inc. Establishment of
SEIKO Clock Inc.
Establishment of SEIKO Precision
Inc.
1997
Establishment
of SEIKO Jewelry Co., Ltd.
Establishment of SEIKO
Watch Sales Inc., merger of watch operations and
marketing functions.
Change Japanese company
name to SEIKO Kabushiki Kaisha.
Introduction
of SEIKO KINETIC ARCTURA.
1998
SEIKO
serves as Official Timer of Nagano Winter Olympic
Games in Japan.
Introduction of Perpetual Calendar
watch driven by world's first ultrasonic micromotor.
Introduction
of the SEIKO THERMIC, the world's first watch driven
by body heat.
1999
Introduction
of the SEIKO KINETIC AUTO RELAY watch, which automatically
resumes correct indication of current time.
Introduction
of hand wound spring-drive watch with quartz accuracy.
2000
Establishment
of SEIKO S-YARD Co., Ltd.
Please
remember that this is an unofficial account of the
history of this company,
Should you happen to
find any mistakes with our information then please
contact
the webmaster. [American
Waltham
| Audemars
Piguet
| Blancpain
| Breitling
| Bulova
| Cartier
| Corum
| Ellesse
|Fortis]
[Girard Perregaux
| Gucci | IWC
| Jaeger le Coultre | Longines]
[Movado
| Oris | Omega
| Patek
Phillipe
| Rolex |
Seiko | Tag
Heuer]
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