Modern era · Founded 1881
Seiko History
Seiko grew from a watch and jewelry shop opened in Tokyo in 1881 by Kintaro Hattori. On December 25, 1969, it launched the Astron, the world's first quartz wristwatch, which changed watchmaking forever.
Key facts
| Founded | 1881, Tokyo |
|---|---|
| Founder | Kintaro Hattori |
| Factory | Seikosha, 1892 |
| First Japanese wristwatch | Laurel, 1913 |
| World first | Astron quartz wristwatch, Dec 25, 1969 |
Seiko means "precision"
Kintaro Hattori opened his shop at 21, repairing and selling watches. In 1892 he started a factory called Seikosha, from a Japanese word meaning precision, and began making wall clocks, then pocket watches. In 1913 it produced the Laurel, Japan's first wristwatch. The Great Kanto earthquake of 1923 destroyed the factory, and Hattori rebuilt it from scratch.
The quartz revolution
A quartz crystal vibrates at an exact frequency when electricity passes through it, far steadier than any balance wheel. Seiko spent ten years shrinking quartz technology from the size of a cabinet to the size of a watch. The Astron, released on Christmas Day 1969, was accurate to about 5 seconds a month. It cost as much as a small car at first, but within a decade quartz watches were cheap and everywhere. The flood of quartz watches, known as the "quartz crisis", cut Swiss watch employment by around two-thirds before Swatch helped the Swiss recover.
Read more: Who invented the watch? 50 inventions · the full story of the watchmakers
Questions people ask
What was the first quartz watch?
The Seiko Astron, released December 25, 1969.
What does Seiko mean?
It comes from a Japanese word meaning 'precision', from the name of its first factory, Seikosha.
Sources
Last updated October 18, 2026. Found an error? Tell us.