The original Seiko company start in 1881 by Kintaro Hattori who opened a jewellery shop named K. Hattori in Tokyo, Japan.
After eleven years in 1892 he started making and selling clocks under the name of Seikosha roughly translated it means “House of Exquisite Workmanship”. According to the book The Remarkable story of Seiko released in 2003, the word Seiko means “exquisite” or “Success”.
The first Seiko watches appeared in 1924 under the Seiko watches brand name. Seiko produced the Astron the worlds’ very first production quartz watch. This watch was so ahead of its time, so much so that when it was released it cost the same a medium family car. Seiko then carried on to release the first quartz chronograph.
Seiko watches spent time reconstructing the shape of the company and adding different division like The Seiko Watch Corporation and Seiko Clock Inc.
Probably out of all the Seiko groups the best know is Seiko wristwatches, all of which at one time where all designed and produced in house at the Seiko Company. This includes not only major items such as microgears, motors, hands, crystal oscillators, batteries, sensors, LCDs but also minor items such as the oils.
The fully integrated production at Seiko Watches is still ongoing and practised for the production of Luxury watches in Japan.
