Seiko watches

Seiko traces its origins to 1881, when Kintarō Hattori, then 21, opened a shop selling and repairing watches and clocks in the Ginza district of Tokyo. In 1892 he set up a factory, Seikosha, to make wall clocks, and in 1913 the company produced the Laurel, Japan's first wristwatch.

On 25 December 1969 Seiko released the Quartz Astron, the first commercially available quartz wristwatch. The Kinetic of 1988 used an oscillating weight to generate electricity, and the Spring Drive of 1999 combined a mainspring with electronic regulation. The Seiko 5 line began in 1963, and the Prospex line covers professional sports watches, including divers. Grand Seiko, first released in 1960, became an independent brand in 2017. The watch business has been run by Seiko Watch Corporation since 2001.