The Seiko Corporation began in 1895. The first time pieces manufactured by Seiko were wall clocks. These were followed by five watches, also known as pocket watches. But in 1923, the only Seiko factory and the corporate headquarters were destroyed in the fires initiated by the Kanto earthquake, which devastated Tokyo. The company had yet to begin manufacturing Seiko watch.
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.
Much like many modern devices, people can use watches very well without knowing how it works internally. Nevertheless, we commonly use the word movement in reference to watches, even if we do not know exactly what it means. Simply put, the movement refers to all the parts of the watch that move, except for the hands, with which we tell time. Although digital and quartz movements have far less motion than the original watches with years in a mainspring, we still use the term.
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 men’s watch 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 what is now a classic example of how business can blind itself to the future by relying on past success, it was the Swiss that first introduced a quartz movement watch at the International Chronometric Competition in 1967. They had become convinced their mechanical watches, the most accurate in the world, would remain the staple for timepieces for the future. In 1967, they showed their first watch with a quartz movement, which they did not patent since it was considered only a passing fad. But the world was watching, and learned fast.
With great strides in miniaturization and continued increases in accuracy, wristwatches were incredibly popular and were manufactured in a dizzying array of shapes and sizes. As time went on, extremely accurate watches were no longer the sole domain of the high end expensive watches, but rather accuracy was affordable. With the increased flexibility, the decrease in size constraints yielded, and women could color and style coordinate their watches with their clothing, and accessorizing became the norm.
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.
Throughout the last one hundred years, watches have made surprising changes and adaptations to stay an integral piece of technology for the individual. Changing sizes, increased accuracy, and affordability have kept them a staple product for the masses. By constantly updating the technology and paying attention to the demands for convenience, style, and functionality, wristwatches have prevented their replacement by other technological wonders. One can get the time from a laptop or cellular phone, but almost everyone still wears a watch. With Seiko watches introducing new technology in the form of electronic ink watches, they will not be going away anytime soon.
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