cazalea
[Seiko Moderator]
17027
VISIT TO SEIKO PART 1: The Overview
SEIKO - What is it?
Seiko is not a person's name; it is the current name of a company created by clock and watchmaker Mr. K.Hattori in 1881. I will not go into the history in this article. But on a rainy day, you may enjoy looking it up for yourself.
Seiko means precision, accurate, exquisite.
Now as far as watch companies go, SEIKO HOLDINGS is a large, global, public company, with 2103 sales of 3 billion US dollars. Seiko's overall goal as a corporation is stated as:
Offering products and services that exceed customers' expectations
through "emotional technology" that moves people's hearts.
After 100 years, Seiko Holdings remains focused on watches as their core business, while also maximizing profitability in various business segments and remaining trusted by society and by people around the world.
Here are some of the corporate divisions of SEIKO HOLDINGS CORPORATION:
SEIKO WATCH - planning and brand management and sales for the watch business
SEIKO INSTRUMENTS - development and production of watches, machine tools, printers, components and other tools
SEIKO CLOCK - manufacturing and sales of desk, wall and alarm clocks
SEIKO TIME SYSTEMS - master clocks, displays, sports timing equipment, etc.
SEIKO PRECISION - manufacturing and sales of precision components, camera shutters, production equipment
SEIKO NPC - integrated circuit chips
SEIKO SOLUTIONS - manufacturing, sales, service and consulting for information and network systems
SEIKO OPTICAL - eyeglasses and other optical products
WAKO - retail sales of watches, jewelry, art, etc through Tokyo Wako store
Not included in SEIKO HOLDING's structure is another public company known as SEIKO EPSON . It also has many divisions and generated over $1 billion in sales in 2013.
Epson produces printers, optical imaging products (such as my home cinema projector), semi-conductors, quartz crystals, printheads, plating, powdered metals, industrial robots, and of course, manufactures watches, including Grand Seiko 9F quartz, Spring Drive, Actron GPS Solar, and other movements.
EPSON's core goals are to advance constantly in three areas: COMPACT, ENERGY-SAVINGS and HIGH PRECISION.
As an example, Seiko's Astron watch relies on the resources of EPSON chip makers, antenna designers, industrial robots, etc. This year the company was able to shrink the watch by 30% and increase its efficiency. Notice new version of antenna and circuit and battery on the left, versus previous on the right. Thus COMPACT, ENERGY-SAVINGS and HIGH PRECISION were achieved.
So we have SEIKO WATCH controlling and promoting the brands known as SEIKO, GRAND SEIKO, CREDOR, etc while various companies under corporate ownership or control are manufacturing the products and while taking advantage of the resources of their related subsidiaries.
THE BACKGROUND
Because I have collected Seiko products (without understanding this structure, by the way), I was interested in visiting Seiko. So when the chance came to take a vacation to Japan with a group of clock and music box collectors, last April we began to plan on visiting the company.
Despite having to evade 2 world-class typhoons, we were able to see many other sites that helped us understand Japanese culture and its timekeeping heritage. And everywhere we went in Japan, we saw SEIKO. Airport, bus station, train station, emperor's villa - you name it, we saw Seiko on walls, desks, wrists.
Moderator KIH and others in the PuristSPro organization made introductions, and lobbied on behalf of PuristS everywhere, so Mrs C and I were able to visit two of the watch factories that produce Seiko watches.
As I begin I would like to thank the folks who went out of their way to share with us:
Seiko brand PR managers Noboru Miyadera and Keiko Naruse who between them have 50 years with Seiko. Before our visit they calmed my increasingly-frantic mood as the typhoon blew our cruise ship into the China Sea. Once we returned to dry land, they guided us through subway stations, across the country in trains, and hosted some memorable meals in lovely restaurants.
Seiko museum manager Hiroaki Kobari took the time to give us close attention during a visit to the Seiko Museum.
Ryoji Takahashi shepherded us through the Seiko Instruments' Morioka Shizukuishi Watch Studio, which produces Grand Seiko mechanical watches.
Hirokazu Imai led us through the maze of Seiko Epson's Shiojiri plant which contains the Shinshu Watch Studio and produces Grand Seiko Quartz and Spring Drive watches, Credor Masterpieces, jewelry watches and the Astron GPS.
And special thanks to all the other managers and craftsmen and women who shared their talents with us so that we can help get their story to the world. We trust that no Seiko watches were harmed while we poked, prodded and inspected the work they do!
Nice nails, eh? What would you expect from someone who assembles fine watch movements?
And we appreciate all the folks behind the scenes who sent us home with plenty of information to digest.
PuristS, stand by for Part 2
This message has been edited by cazalea on 2014-10-19 20:22:05 This message has been edited by cazalea on 2014-10-21 09:05:34
More posts:
VISIT TO SEIKO PART 1: The Overview
SEIKO - What is it? The word SEIKO is well known to watch collectors as a brand. It's not so well known as a huge industrial corporation. Please take a moment to look at the overall picture, for it will help us to understand the watches. Seiko is not a pe...
Standing on the edge..
not only for part 2 and part 3 and 4 and.. as well as which of Spring drive definitions was considered best Yours D
Fantastic!
Great Part 1, what an awesome trip, look forward to the next part. Big Thank You for Posting this. S
Very good beginning of your report.... :-)
... You have summarized very well the overall picture of "SEIKO" and "JAPAN". I am glad you enjoyed it. Seeing is believing, huh? Great writing! Ken
I'm enjoying your Seiko visit
Great series of posts cazalea. I'm enjoying your pics on your visit to Seiko, it looks like a wonderful tour and some fascinating things to see. Regards, ED-209
Great report cazalea!
I have always respected Seiko as a full fledged manufacture and your report makes me want to visit them one day too! I know little about the brand but I always hear others around me compliment Seiko as great value and very reliable watches. Many of my unc...
Counting the train rides?
Hi Ron, We left our hotel around 8:30, rode the train and arrived in time for lunch. Tours from say 1:30-5:30 or about 4 hours. Train home 5:30-8:30 or 9:00. That's about 5 hours on the train plus 4 hours at the factory. Plus visits to Wako twice and 2 ho...
Very cool! I did not realize Seiko's other holdings
Epson, for example; I have a wonderful Epson machine a few feet from me right now. I am happy you have obtained this insider's view and I look forward to reading the other parts!
I'm not quite sure which you're more effective at, Mike . . .
. . . being PuristSPro's ambassador to Seiko, or Seiko's ambassador to the international community of wristwatch devotees. :-)
Me neither
I guess both is what we aim for, right? Tell the world about brands or individual watches we love AND draw a crowd who wants to see what's up - to the benefit of both. Mike PS - but just so you don't think I'm too locked into one brand, here's today's wat...
