In the arena of watch-making, there are companies that specialize in just a few areas, then there are companies that choose to be a veritable jack of all trades. Seiko watches fall into the former category with the intent to offer great products in every watch niche. Fortunately, they have the history, experience, and reputation to back up their share of the market and ensure their brand can survive through the years to come. Innovators in the industry as a whole, thousands look to this famous brand for the ideal timepiece.
History of Seiko
In 1881, Kintarō Hattori opened the doors to a watch and jewelry shop that would eventually become the headquarters of the Seiko brand. Eleven years after he opened, he began offering clocks with a new brand name – Seikosha. Initially located in Tokyo, the first actual watches weren’t produced until 1924, and by then, the brand had taken the familiar name. Translated, the term means exquisite, minute, and success. Over the next three decades, the company would expand throughout Japan on the heels of fantastic innovations and an overall approach to watch-making that allowed their products to be reliable under most conditions, even if not spectacular in any one field. In a country that has long rewarded reliability above most other things, it was not surprising that the first peak of this company’s progress was reached when the Japan National Railway took a Seiko watch and made that product the official railway pocket watch. This garnered international attention at the time and paved the way for an expansion of this brand into other markets.
The mens watches created by the company started selling like hotcakes after that event and allowed the brand to grow even more within the company, solidifying their hold on a number of different areas. In 1964, for example, they were made the official timer of the Olympics when they were held in Tokyo, and just four years later, they set a world record of their own by going into the Geneva competition for watch-making and scoring the highest overall score in that competition that the world had ever seen up to that particular point. One year later they set two new heights of watch-making in a single year, using the year 1969 to become the first company to create an automatic chronograph (a mens watch to be specific) as well as a quartz-based product.
The entire history of Seiko watches can be understood through the prism of the overall approach to innovation that has garnered them many different firsts. In addition to becoming one of the go-to companies for timing events like the Olympics and world championships, the company has continued to push the boundaries of innovation forward by pressing other companies to ramp up their own creative juices with multiple “world’s first” innovations. The most recent of these was in 2006 when they introduced a product that displayed the time through the use of electrophoresis, something that had never been done before.
What They Are Known For
One of the things that most companies will give the Seiko Watch Company credit for is being a company with a well-rounded philosophy that assists them in creating products that are good in an overall sense, even if the trade-off happens to be that they do not shine in any one particular area that these types of products are traditionally judged in. The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding in this case is the litany of awards this company has received in generic categories. Rather than getting awards for durability, accuracy or style, they tend to get overall product awards and that is a direct effect of their innovative philosophy.
Another thing they are known for is the international status that they enjoy as a brand name. Despite not having one particular aspect of their products to brag about, the men’s watches that the company puts out are helped by one of the best self-promotion machines to ever be created in any industry. This is why they have been able to go into other markets outside of Japan and dominate, and this is also why they continue to gain popularity through being the official timers for many different international events outside of the Olympics.
Another thing that Seiko watches are known for is their global reach. More specifically, the brand is present in at least 60 different countries worldwide. Not only is it present, but it is actually a serious brand name. This is something that is worth being known for, because global companies are more financially secure and therefore able to continue pushing for more innovation even when a part of the world is in economic recession. Considering its role as an overall advocate of watch-making innovation, Seiko benefits greatly from this particular setup.
