Many things happened in 1969 – man landed on the Moon, the Woodstock spectators were also high, but not up in space, Rupert Murdoch tapped into the UK market by acquiring News of the World, Nixon was elected president, and Golda Meir became Israel’s first female prime minister. Alongside these political, cultural, economic, and space events of the year, there was another launch, which proved important in countless ways: Seiko came up with the first wristwatch with a quartz movement.
Quartz proved to be both a blessing and a curse to Seiko. The Japanese launched the quartz revolution and quartz became so popular that it was predicted every watch would be battery-operated and it would lead to the demise of the Swiss watchmaking industry. The Seiko brand became known worldwide, and its sales rose exponentially. On the other hand, the phenomenal success of the quartz technology overshadowed the other achievements of the Japanese brand. Today, for many people (especially in the western world), the name Seiko is synonymous with battery-operated watches, cheap and rather modest.
This is not at all true, as I was able to fully grasp when I travelled to Japan and visited two of the three Seiko manufactures – which can compete on an equal footing with Swiss ones, in terms of equipment, techniques and procedures used, and, most importantly, in terms of the quality of watches. The Japanese public, and the Asian one in general already know that Seiko produces high-quality mechanical movement watches, thanks to the Grand Seiko and Credor series, which are however not available in the west. However, the Japanese have set their minds to conquer the western market, by launching the Ananta range in March in Basel, one of the most successful watchmaking debuts of last year. Of course this is not the right time to try to impose new names on the haute horlogerie market, and the price segment that Ananta has chosen (up to around 5,000 euros) appears to be the one most affected by the crisis. The Japanese need to overcome one additional hurdle: at a time when Swiss watchmaking brands are pulling all the stops to secure the best exposure possible for their products and the best possible sales (à la guerre comme à la guerre, as the French say), Seiko also has to battle the impression (some would call it the very deeply-rooted preconceived notion) of the western market that Japanese watches are quartz and nothing more.
Few people know that Seiko’s history started a very long time ago, in 1881, when Kintaro Hattori opened a watches and jewellery store called “K Hattori” in Tokyo’s Ginza district. 11 years later, in 1892, he started to manufacture clocks in his own plant, called “SEIKOSHA”. In 1895 it manufactured the first pocket watch, and in 1913 Laurel was launched, the first wristwatch made in Japan. 1924 saw the launch of “SEIKO”, the first watch whose dial had the name “SEIKO” engrained on it. Later all pieces were named Seiko. The “Daini-Seikosha Co, Ltd.” was established in 1937, which preceded the current Seiko Instruments Inc. 1942 saw the opening of the “Daini-Seikosha Suwa” plant, currently Seiko Epson Corp. The Super model was launched in 1950, the first with a central seconds hand, and 1953 saw the launch of Super Auto Dator, a watch whose dial included a disk displaying the date. The first automatic watch made in Japan also comes from Seiko – it is called Seiko Automatic and was launched in 1955. Marvel appeared in 1956, the first watch with a modern-style movement, with 17 rubies and 18,000 vibrations per hour, and the Diashock shock absorbing system. The Cronos model, very popular in Japan thanks to its performance, was launched in 1958. In 1959, Seiko launches Gyro Marvel, a new type of automatic movement equipped with Magic Lever technology, which allows for more effective winding, irrespective of the rotation direction of the oscillating weight. 1960 is the year when Seiko launched what would turn into one of the most popular and best received ranges of the brand – Grand Seiko, with a movement famous for its precision, with 25 rubies. Sportsmatic 5 was launched in 1963, the first model that has “5” engraved on its case, indicating the number of features: automatic movement with Magic Lever technology, a waterproof case (because the watch was aimed at reaching a young and active audience), a unique window for day and date, a crown hidden at 4 o’clock (another innovation to the taste of young people) and a wide variety of models with metal bracelets (also for young people) with dials of various colours. 1964 sees the appearance of the first chronograph, Crown Chronograph, with a 5719 Calibre and in 1965 Seiko was behind another Japanese first – the first diver’s watch ever produced in Japan, Diver’s 150m with a 6217 Calibre. In 1967, the brand launched movements with 36,000 vibrations per hour, both men’s and women’s watches, which offered improved accuracy.
By that time, Seiko had managed to win everything there was to win in local competitions organised by the Japanese government. So, in 1964 the company took part for the first time in Chronometer Concours, organised by l’Observatoire de Neuchâtel and ranked…144th. None of the Japanese watches qualified for certification. In 1965, in the same competition, Seiko made it to the 114th position, and Daini-Seikosha ranked 6th in the manufactures’ hierarchy.
In 1966, 32 watches of the Japanese brand won prizes, with the best performance being the no. 9 position, and Seiko making it to no. 4 in 1967. In 1968, when hopes were high, the mechanical chronometers category was dropped. Short on options, Seiko joined the competition organised by l’Observatoire de Genève, where its movements won all prizes, from 4th to 10th place.
In 1969, Seiko launched 5 Sports Speed Timer, Calibre 6139, the first automatic chronograph with a vertical clutch and column wheel. 1970 saw the appearance of calibre 7017, a flyback chronograph, and next year came Calibre 7018: flyback and 30-minute counter at 6 o’clock. In 1999, the automatic chronograph (the Credor range) had a 6S77 Calibre (50-hour power reserve), with Seiko launching various calibres for its automatic chronographs (Seiko Brightz for instance in 2004, Calibre 6S28, with a 28.4-mm diameter, 28,800 vph and 34 rubies).
All these mechanical achievements of the Japanese brand became secondary in 1969, when Seiko launched Seiko Quartz-Astron, the world’s first wristwatch with a quartz movement. And nothing has ever been the same… In the ‘70s, when the Swiss watchmaking industry was seriously considering throwing in the towel, Seiko also saw the development of movements significantly slowed down due to the quartz craze – demand for battery-operated watches was so huge that the company focused its resources mainly in this area. In 1979, the number of quartz watches manufactured by Seiko exceeded that of mechanical watches. However the company continued to develop mechanical calibres: series 68 in 1973 (ultrathin), series 63 in 1976 (men’s automatic) and series 42 in 1981 (women’s automatic).
