====== Seiko Group ======

{{wst>author|[[Foskett, Stephen|Stephen Foskett]] ([[https://grail-watch.com/|Grail Watch]])}}

**Seiko Group** is the [[group|corporate parent]] of various entities that design, manufacture, and market [[Seiko]] brand watches, along with many other products.

The company began in [[1881]] when Kintarō Hattori opened the "K Hattori" watch and jewelry shop in the Ginza area of Tokyo Japan. The next year, he founded a clock manufacturing operation called Seikosha. K. Hattori & Co, Ltd. is founded in [[1917]] as a parent company for Seikosha. In [[1937]], the watch production operations of Hattori/Seikosha is split off to a new company, Daini Seikosha, Ltd. ("the second Seikosha").

===== Daini Seikosha and Suwa Seikosha =====
  *See also {{tagpage>Suwa_Seikosha_calibres|Suwa Seikosha calibres}} and {{tagpage>Daini_Seikosha_calibres|Daini Seikosha calibres}}

Beginning in [[1959]], Seiko maintained two competitive operations to design and manufacture watches, **Daini Seikosha** and **Suwa Seikosha**. This system led to the creation of the [[Grand Seiko|Grand Seiko and King Seiko]] lines, making Seiko a competitor in the high-end watch industry in the 1960's and beyond.

The split originated outside the Hattori operation. In [[1942]], Hisao Yamazaki founded Daiwa Kogyo in Suwa, Nagano, and Seiko established a joint-venture plant there the following year. In [[1959]], the Seikosha and Daiwa operations in Suwa merged to form **Suwa Seikosha**, a center of high-end watchmaking for Seiko focused on men's watches. This would be the originator of the [[Grand Seiko]] line, with [[Grand Seiko (1960)|the first model]] produced in [[1960]].

Meanwhile, **Daini Seikosha** continued as a center of watch manufacturing for Hattori. They funneled their ambitions into an alternate high-end line, introducing [[King Seiko 44KS|the first]] [[King Seiko]] in [[1961]]. In [[1967]], Daini's [[Grand Seiko 44GS|44GS]] entered the Grand Seiko lineup, setting the "Grand Seiko Style" for the company's future.

Suwa continued to innovate, introducing an [[Grand Seiko 62GS|automatic Grand Seiko]] in [[1966]] and a [[Grand Seiko 61GS|"Hi-Beat" automatic]] in [[1968]]. The two operations competed into the 1970's, with [[King Seiko 56KS|Suwa producing a King Seiko]] in [[1969]] and Daini contributing [[King Seiko 52KS|one of the finest watches]] of the time in [[1970]].

But the industry had changed, with quartz watches rapidly becoming Seiko's core asset and an expanding electronics business, Epson Corporation, on the rise. In [[1983]] and [[1985]], Daini Seikosha became **Seiko Instruments & Electronics (SII)** and Suwa Seikosha and Epson merged to become **Seiko Epson Corporation**. A separate watch movement company, Time Module (TMI) was formed by all Seiko businesses in [[1987]].

===== Seiko Holdings =====
Hattori became simply Seiko Corporation in [[1990]] and was renamed Seiko Holdings in [[2007]]. In [[2009]], Seiko Instruments became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seiko Holdings, bringing most of the company's mechanical watch-related activities under one roof. Daini Seikosha's high-end watch manufacturing continues at [[Shizukuishi Watch Studio]], producers of [[Grand Seiko]], [[Credor]], and other high-end timepieces for the [[Seiko]] brand.

Seiko Epson continues as an independent company, operating the [[Orient]] watch company and producing many of the mass-market quartz watches for Seiko. Although there are common shareholders, Seiko Epson is fully independent of Seiko Holdings.

===== External Links =====
  * [[http://watchtime.at/archive/wt_2010_01/WT_2010_01_044.pdf|Deconstructing Seiko]]


{{tag>Seiko Watch_trusts}}