Short history of Seiko K. Hattori
As with most present-day watch producers, watch manufacturer Seiko, did not see a decline after the end of WWII and wartime equipment supply manufacture. An overly narrow focus on Seiko’s aviator watch’s image was eventually to damage their reputation.
1881: Kintaro Hattori opens a clock shop in Tokyo’s fabled Ginza district. This store is the direct ancestor of today’s Seiko Corporation, Tokyo. Established under the name of K. Hattori & Co Ltd., the history of Seiko begins.
1982: With ten workers in his employment, Kintaro Hattori establishes a clock factory at Ishawara-cho, Tokyo.
The first dozen clocks are produced two months later.
1913: After two decades of mastering clock technology, the company begins production on the first wristwatch made in Japan (“Laurel”), By the end of 1913, the company even opes its first overseas export office in Shanghai, China.
1924: The Seiko brand is born, Forty-three years after the company was founded, the first wristwatch under the name Seiko is made.
1937: A new watch factory is established. A year later in 1938, it produces 1,179,639 watches.
1955: Seiko, already known for its accuracy and craftsmanship, produces the first self-winding wristwatch made in Japan.
1964: The official timer of the 18th Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo, Seiko provides a total of 1,278 stopwatches as well as the world’s first quartz chronometers-an important forerunner of the coming of age of quartz soon to be inaugurated by Seiko.
