Seiko Group Corporation (セイコーグループ株式会社, Seikō Gurūpu kabushiki gaisha), commonly known as Seiko ( SAY-koh, Japanese: [seːkoː]), is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, and semiconductors. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced the world's first commercial quartz wristwatch in 1969. Seiko is widely known for its wristwatches. Seiko and Rolex are the only two watch companies considered to be vertically integrated. Seiko is able to design and develop all the components of a watch, as well as assemble, adjust, inspect and ship them in-house. Seiko's mechanical watches consist of approximately 200 parts, and the company has the technology and production facilities to design and manufacture all of these parts internally. The company was incorporated (K. Hattori & Co., Ltd.) in 1917 and renamed Hattori Seiko Co., Ltd. in 1983 and Seiko Corporation in 1997. After reconstructing and creating its operating subsidiaries (such as Seiko Watch Corporation and Seiko Clock Inc.), it became a holding company in 2001 and was renamed Seiko Holdings Corporation on July 1, 2007. Seiko Holdings Corporation was renamed Seiko Group Corporation as of October 1, 2022. Seiko watches were originally produced by two Hattori family companies (not subsidiaries of K. Hattori & Co); one was Daini Seikosha Co. (now known as Seiko Instruments Inc., a subsidiary of Seiko Holdings since 2009) and the other was Suwa Seikosha Co. (now known as Seiko Epson Corporation, an independent publicly traded company). Having two companies both producing the same brand of watch enabled Seiko to improve technology through competition and hedge risk. It also reduced risk of production problems, since one company can increase production in the case of decreased production in the other parties. Seiko remains as one of the world's most recognised watchmaking brands. In Ginza, where the company was founded, there are several Seiko-related facilities in addition to Seiko House Ginza, including the Seiko Museum and Seiko Dream Square. Several Seiko boutiques and department stores in the area frequently offer Ginza-exclusive models.
History
1881 founding to 1929
In 1881, Seiko founder Kintarō Hattori opened a watch and jewelry shop called "K. Hattori" (服部時計店) in Tokyo. Kintarō Hattori had been working as clockmaker apprentice since the age of 13, with multiple stints in different watch shops, such as “Kobayashi Clock Shop”, run by an expert technician named Seijiro Sakurai; “Kameda Clock Shop” in Nihonbashi; and “Sakata Clock Shop” in Ueno, where he learned how to both sell and repair timepieces. Around the time of Seiko's founding, watchmakers in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya were studying and producing pocket watches based on Western products. Japanese wholesalers needed to purchase all the imported timepieces from foreign trading companies established in Yokohama, Kobe, and other open port areas. In 1885, Hattori began dealing directly with these foreign trading firms in the Yokohama settlement focused on the wholesaling and retailing of western (imported) timepieces and machinery. Over the years, Hattori developed a close partnership with multiple foreign trading firms, including C&J Favre-Brandt, F. Perregaux & Co., Zanuti & Cie. and Siber & Brennwald, allowing him to obtain exclusive imported timepieces and machinery, which was not available elsewhere at that time. Hattori's shop became increasingly popular due to the rarity of the imported watches the shop was selling, which were not found anywhere else in Japan. The growing success allowed him to relocate the company to the main street of Ginza (Tokyo), still the epicenter of commerce in Japan to this day. In 1891, 10 years after the establishment of K. Hattori & Co., the 31-year-old Kintaro was appointed director of the Tokyo Clockmaker and Watchmaker Association and member of Tokyo Chamber of Commerce. In 1892, Hattori began to produce clocks under the name Seikosha (精工舎, Seikōsha), meaning, roughly, "House of Exquisite Workmanship." According to Seiko's official company history, titled A Journey In Time: The Remarkable Story of Seiko (2003), Seiko is a Japanese word meaning "exquisite" (精巧, Seikō); it is homophonous with the word for "success" (成功, Seikō). In 1895, the watch dealer purchased the corner of Ginza 4-chome (the present-day location of WAKO), and constructed a building with a clock tower (16 meters from top to bottom), setting up shop at the new address. Seiko launched its first in-house pocket watch, the Timekeeper, in 1895; the first Japanese-made wristwatch, the Laurel, in 1913; and the first Seiko-branded wristwatch in 1924. Wristwatches and pocket watches completed in 1923 were provisionally given the name "Glory." However, since its pronunciation was similar to "gorori" (ゴロリ), a Japanese onomatopoeia for tumbling, which was considered unlucky, it was decided that the brand name for watches to be mass-produced from 1924 would be "Seiko." In 1929, the Seiko pocket watch was adopted as the official watch for the drivers of Japanese Government Railways.
1930 to 1990 Military watches, notably the "Seikosha Type 93 Tensoku-Dokei" produced for Japanese troops during World War II were manufactured by Seiko, which by 1938, produced 1.2 million timepieces a year. The scarcity of raw materials during the war diverted much of Seiko's production to on-board instruments for military aircraft and ships. In contrast to Japan, Germany utilized both domestically produced and Swiss-produced watches. Japan's isolation in the Pacific meant the country could not rely on importing foreign timepieces.
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