The Timing Of Seiko Watches
Although the first of the renowned Seiko watches debuted as late as 1924, the Seiko company itself began a full 43 years before that. The early home of Seiko watches was the Ginza district of Tokyo. While they didn't carry the name Seiko as yet, a clockmaker named Kintaro Hittaro made a wonderful name for himself and his K. Hattori and Company Ltd. turning out accurate dependable watches and as early as 1938 his firm was making and marketing more than one million watches. His company began in 1881, and in 1892 Hattori built his company's first mass production factory. Three years later the first wall clock rolled off the lines.
From there the company evolved into production of table clocks, alarm clocks and clocks that played music. It wasn't until 1913 that the first wristwatch was introduced. In 1917 the company went public. The wristwatch part of the business was soon to split apart and then later become Seiko.
The official Seiko company was named timekeeper at several Olympic Games in Tokyo, Sapporo, Lillihammer, Nagano and Barcelona. In 1955, still in Japan, the first self-winding wristwatch was introduced by Seiko.
Seiko was responsible for a number of innovative watches. The company manufactured and sold the first quartz watch the world had ever seen, followed that with the premiere of a six digit LCD quartz watch, and then an analog quartz watch that was intelligent, with timer and alarm functions.
Seiko introduced its Kinetic watches in 1992, again at the forefront of the latest state of the art timepiece technology. These Seiko watches are quartz movement and electrically charged. Seiko's auto relay in these kinetic watches enters a suspended animation if they aren't worn for 72 hours. This conserves their energy. Then, all the wearer has to do is shake her or his wrist a little and the watch "rises and shines," resetting itself to the correct day and time.
Seiko has other innovative watches with multiple functions. Its Perpetual Calendar watch series, for example, features and automatic date set for 100 years. The Seiko Chronograph collection offers the features of a dual stopwatch. Its Le Grande Sport watches combine functionality and modern designs of Europe. Seiko is also proud of its Ladies Jewelry collection, watches that elegantly combine style and versatility.
Seiko and its Seiko watches are now marketed and sold all over the world, with offices and manufacturing locations in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Brazil, Australia, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Finland, Taiwan, Beijing and Dubai.