Seiko
Seiko is a Japanese watchmaker founded in Tokyo in 1881 by KintarĹŤ Hattori; its watch business is run by Seiko Watch Corporation, part of Seiko Group Corporation. It makes most of its watch components in-house. It is known for the Astron of 1969, the first quartz wristwatch, as well as Prospex dive watches and the Presage and Seiko 5 lines.
Where is Seiko from? Seiko is a Japanese brand: it was founded in Tokyo in 1881 and is still headquartered there.
History
KintarĹŤ Hattori opened a watch and jewellery shop, K. Hattori, in Tokyo in 1881. In 1892 he set up the Seikosha factory to make wall clocks; the name roughly means "house of exquisite workmanship". Seikosha made its first pocket watch, the Timekeeper, in 1895, Japan's first wristwatch, the Laurel, in 1913 and the first Seiko-branded wristwatch in 1924. After the war, Seiko watches were made by two Hattori family companies, Daini Seikosha and Suwa Seikosha, which competed with each other. The Grand Seiko line began in 1960. Seiko timed the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and in the same year launched Japan's first chronograph wristwatch; Japan's first diver's watch followed in 1965. On 25 December 1969 Seiko released the Astron, the first commercially available quartz wristwatch. Later firsts included a watch with a six-digit LCD display in 1973, the motion-charged Auto Quartz (later Kinetic) in 1988 and the Astron GPS Solar in 2012. The company was renamed Seiko Holdings in 2007 and Seiko Group Corporation in 2022.
Notable Models
Iconic and most popular watch models from this brand
Presage
Presage is Seiko's line of mechanical dress watches, which Seiko lists among its global brands alongside Prospex, Astron and Seiko 5 Sports. It is known for dials made with Japanese craft techniques such as enamel, urushi lacquer and porcelain, and for the Cocktail Time series, whose glossy dials are each named after a cocktail. Models range from three-hand automatics to watches with power-reserve indicators and chronographs.
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Diver
Seiko's first diver's watch, the 62MAS, rated to 150 m, appeared in 1965, and in 1967 it released Japan's first diver's watch rated to 300 m. Seiko has made automatic and quartz divers ever since, and today most are sold in the Prospex line. The SKX007 in the photo is a 200 m automatic diver with the calibre 7S26 movement and a unidirectional bezel; it was discontinued in the late 2010s.
Read the Diver story →Seiko Stories
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Seiko 6105 Captain Willard: The Apocalypse Now Watch
Why is the Seiko 6105-8110 called the "Captain Willard"? Apocalypse Now, Vietnam, the specs of the 150 m diver and modern versions like the SPB151 and SPB153.
Seiko Presage Cocktail Time: Specs and History
When did the Seiko Presage Cocktail Time come out, and which cocktails inspired its dials? The models from the 2010 SARB065 to today, the 4R35 and full specs.
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