The Seiko Corporation began as K. Hattori & Co., Ltd in 1881; it later became Seikosha clock supply factory and finally Seiko Corporation in 1895. The line of work was always about timepieces, initially with wall clocks, and then pocket watches. Pocket watches which were also known as fob watches, due to the short leather strap which allowed them to be secured to the belt of a waistcoat. In 1923, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake centered under Oshima Island destroyed most of Tokyo, and the ensuing fires took away the Seiko factory and headquarters before Seiko ladies watches had even begun.

When Japan seated a new emperor in 1912, Mr. Hattori considered this a good sign, and began to manufacture a new watch, the first ever with a Seiko brand. All Hattori wristwatches manufactured since then has carried the Seiko brand name, while wall clocks continued under the Seikosha name. At this time, the manufactured wristwatches were small by current standards, measuring only slightly more than an inch in diameter.

The terminology we use in describing watches can be confusing to most people. The term movement, for instance, refers to the moving parts of the watch, with exception of the hands. The most common types of movements are mechanical, quartz, and electronic. Except for the mechanical watches, very few moving parts exist within the movement.

Digital watches were first introduced to the marketplace by two separate American companies. The resulting excitement within the world of watch-making is a revealing lesson for all businesses. While these first Seiko women’s watches were more accurate, they had problems with high price and short lifespans. Their introduction, however, sent a spark through the Swiss watch making industry as they took another look at the quartz movement.

In the late 1960’s, the first quartz wristwatch was manufactured by the Swiss and displayed at a watch show. The Swiss, however, greatly underestimated their own invention. The Swiss watch making industry had been the dominate force in high quality timepieces for a very long time. They reasoned with traditional opinions that this new watch, with its lack of a mainspring and gears, could not possibly be the future of wristwatches or timepieces. They were so convinced that they displayed the watch at a show and never bothered to patent it. The race was on.

The world was ready for a new, less expensive accurate wristwatch, and the quartz movement allowed for a much greater variety of watches. Miniaturization allowed for the size of watches to be pretty much whatever the mind could imagine. Watches for Women in particular began to become more and more a piece of jewelry as well as a functional timepiece. Designs even allowed for a single timepiece and a series of casings of different colors and types to make color and style coordination even simpler.

The complexity of the timepiece would continue in pace with the increase in other technology. The days of the comic strip two-way radio watches are approaching. It is no longer uncommon for a watch to include special features. Some come with built in calculators, and others with primitive scheduling programming. Aviator watches not only tell time where you start your day, but keep time for all the time zones on earth, changing with the push of a button.

Seiko automatic have grown and developed like the rest, and now introduce watches designed using electronic ink technology, sure to keep the mens wristwatches relevant for another generation.