Seiko and Citizen Watches Reflect Japanese Watch Making

With over two dozen factories around the world the Citizen Watch Company has been producing quality precision watches and timepieces since the company was founded in 1930. The years have seen the company grow and expand into other technology products and became a major force in the digital liquid crystal display, microelectronics and optical devices markets.

The expertise the company gained through the introduction of quartz timepieces was significant to the tremendous growth in the production of televisions and high resolution digital projectors.

Since the founding of the company, over two hundred million watches have been produced. Though competing companies such as Casio have gained ground in the growing market for practical and rugged watches, the Citizen Watch Company lays claim to introducing the first line of shockproof watches as well as waterproof watches designed for the rigors of diving. Seeing a market for affordable and reliable timepieces that Citizen had, as part of its mission, the idea of offering quality watches that would be within reach of people of modest means. This goal was made possible in part by designing watches that were durable enough for everyday wear and less likely to break under conditions of average use.

In the years after World War Two, Japanese manufacturers saw great opportunity in the development of highly precise machine tools supporting everything from automobile production to the manufacture of aircraft.  Many Japanese companies incorporated the engineering philosophy of design for manufacturability. The guiding principle behind this philosophy was to integrate the design and manufacturing functions which in turn led to increased production efficiencies and increased levels of quality. These lessons were not lost on the growing Citizen Company and the result was the production of very precise watch components, greater reliability and ease of repair.

Seiko Watch HistorySince the end of World War Two, Japanese manufacturers have brought innovation, style and reliability to a wide range of products from cars, computers, cameras and a host of other hi-tech consumer goods. Competing on the world stage, Japan has earned its reputation for giving consumers good value. A shortage of physical space and few natural resources has driven the Japanese to become extremely efficient and focused on detail.  All of these attributes can be found in companies like Seiko which has become the first name in Japanese timekeeping technology, with a reputation that predates the war by over four decades.

Founded in the late nineteenth century, Seiko was a major of clocks and watches, producing its first wrist watches beginning in nineteen thirteen, with the brand name of Seiko first appearing on timepieces in nineteen twenty four. The Seiko brand name gained worldwide notoriety as a result of the nineteen sixty four Olympic Games held in Tokyo. Seiko earned the honor as official timekeeper during the games which were the first Olympic competition to be widely broadcast on television and Seiko has continued its relationship with the Olympic Games as well as providing trusted timekeeping technologies to other major sporting events including the World Cup.

Seiko has developed a reputation for innovative designs and features not found on other brands of wrist watches. Taking full technological advantage of quartz and microelectronics, Seiko introduced the first digital watch that featured a multifunction design not found on other digital wrist watches. Seiko became known for its ultra-accurate self winding watches that incorporated integrated circuit technology. Further use of microelectronics can be seen in the worlds first television watch which was introduced by Seiko in nineteen eighty two. In nineteen eighty four Seiko produced a watch that featured with functions that mimicked those found in early personal computers. In addition to watches and other timepieces, Seiko has expanded its product offerings to include precision optics.