Long Time Citizen
The history of Citizen Watches began in March of 1918, when the Shokosha Watch Research Institute was founded in Japan. It changed to Citizen Watches in May of 1930, and Mr. Yosaburo Nakajima became the first president. The first factory in Tanashi was built in 1936. That same year, in July, Citizen watches began their export to the South Pacific and parts of Southeast Asia.
In October of 1945 Shinji Nakajima became president of Citizen Watches, but was replaced by Eiichi Yamada less than a year later. In June of 1949 part of the Citizens Watches firm branched off to become Citizen Trading Company and another firm, the formerly independent Rhythm Watch Company Ltd. Became a Citizen Watches affiliate in 1953.
Citizen watches were marketed to the People's Republic of China beginning in January of 1958, and in March of 1960 Citizen's machine tools division began exporting there also. That same year Citizen Watches signed an agreement for import and export with The United States-based Bulova Watch Company as well as an agreement with India for technical assistance in return for the export of the production plant for watches.
Citizen Watches dispatched a group of engineers on a mission to India in June of 1962, and one month later reached an agreement with Hong Kong's Gilman & Company to export to Southeast Asia. 1962 also heralded in a Citizen plant in India to produce watches throughout the country.
A technical laboratory was built by Citizen Watches in Tokorozawa Japan in 1964 and Japan CBM Corporation was acquired by Citizen Watches and became Citizen Business Machines.
In October of 1965 Citizen opened its first office in Germany and started exported watches to Europe on a major scale.
1969 saw the strengthening of the Rhythm Watch bind, with common watch brands premiering. In June of 1971 the firm created its division of Precision Machinery.
India became the home of the first automated Citizen's watch production plant in July of 1977. Less than a year later the Citizen Watches home office moved to a larger Tokyo office. In June of 1981 Rokuya Yamazaki became its president. In October of that same year the division for Systems and Peripherals was established.
The division for special sales, that introduced the Citizen Watch parts sales, was started in September of 1982. In June of 1987 Michi Nakajima became president of the firm.
In May of 1990 Citizen Watches introduced the innovative refresh vacation watch feature that allowed the watches to power down when not being worn.
In February of 1992 Citizen Watches bought Boley GMBH, a machine tool company in Germany. In April 1996 eco-driven Citizen Watches were born, powered by light and lauded as ecology friendly.