Seiko Watches – The Heritage of the Seiko Watch Corporation

The Seiko watch company was formed in Japan in 1881 at that time under the name of K. Hattori. It began life as a clock repair company, after eleven years of trading it produced its first wall clock. A few years later the companies first pocket watch was produced. The Seiko pocket watch was appointed in 1929 as Japans National Railway official 'railway watch'. It was chosen because of its accuracy despite having to deal with the discomforts of train rides.

Seiko watches have gone from strength to strength as their focus is on high quality and affordable time pieces. Today the company is still owned by the same family who strive to attain the same high values placed on the corporation by K. Hattori. In 1953 Seiko were the first company to advertise on Japanese television. The advert was for Seiko alarm clocks, featuring a chicken winding up an alarm clock! They advertised their alarm clocks under their previous name of Seiko-sha meaning 'the house of precision'.
Seiko began by making all of their watches by hand. They utilised technology as it advanced towards mechanised manufacture of watches. Today Seiko use machines to manufacture many of their watches but they remain true to their roots and still have a high number of exceptionally skilled watchmakers that make some of the ranges by hand. In 1969 Seiko broke new ground in the watch industry, a move that is still setting the way for modern watch production. The Seiko Quartz Astron watch was the first quartz watch in the world. Quartz technology meant that watches could use a battery rather than being wound up and the time displayed was regulated by the electromagnetic properties of quartz. This revolutionary technology is the most common time keeping method in wrist watches today.
Seiko followed up the release of this technology by creating the worlds first six digit LCD quartz Seiko watch , and later by the introduction of the world's first multi-function digital watch. The list of Seiko world firsts is impressive. They have created a large number of epoch making watches that have completely revolutionized the watch industry. These developments include introducing the worlds first TV watch, a first kinetic watch, (powered by the motion of the wearer), a first computerized divers watch, the first watch powered by thermo-electric (powered by the heat of the wearer) and many many more.
Seikos impressive heritage has given their watches a global following and prominent place at the forefront of the watch industry. Seiko watches offer the best of precision technology at an affordable price. They are known for their strong commitment to furthering research and design and due to this they will remain a key brand in the watch world for the foreseeable future.