Seiko
The History of Seiko Watches
In the world of horology, Seiko Watches holds the distinction of being both innovators and pioneers of time. Seiko holds a rich heritage of Japanese watchmaking dating back to the late 1880s, when its founder Kintaro Hattori, opened a clock and watch repair shop in Central Tokyo. In 1913, Hattori introduced the Laurel watch, the very first timepiece created in Japan.
A decade later, the Seiko brand was established in Japan. The Japanese National Railway system in 1929 appointed Seiko as its official supplier of watches to be used by train engineers on their daily routes.
In 1960 Seiko came into global prominence with the introduction of the Grand Seiko wristwatch, a self-winding automatic timepiece which offered both precision craftsmanship and affordability.
Horological history was made by Seiko in 1969 with introduction of the Astron watch, the first quartz-made timepiece in the world. Seiko followed a few years later with the world’s first quartz powered chronograph.
In the 1970’s Seiko was instrumental in two digital watch introductions with the debut of the world’s first six digit LCD quartz watch, along with the introduction of the world’s first digital watch featuring chronograph functions.
Seiko’s greatest achievement in time-keeping took place in 1989 with the introduction of the AGS watch. The watch later named the Kinetic is the first quartz timepiece with a hand-winding generation. It relies on the motion and movement of the wrist to keep running. The hybrid quartz movement inside is not only revolutionary and economical, it is also green since the batteries inside will not have to be replaced or discarded into the environment after use.
New updated models of Sieko Kinetic timepieces are featured in the brand’s Coutura and Sportua collections. The new updated Astron timepiece features built-in GPS technology that immediately synchronizes the exact local time and date on your watch with nearby GPS satellites.