Seiko

Seiko is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks and electronics, founded in 1881 when Kintarō Hattori opened a watch and jewelry shop in Tokyo's Ginza district. The parent company is now Seiko Group Corporation. Seiko introduced the Astron, the first commercially sold quartz wristwatch, in 1969, and it can design and manufacture all the parts of its mechanical watches in-house.

Seiko's range is unusually wide. It makes quartz, Kinetic, solar, mechanical and Spring Drive watches, with prices running from around ¥4,000 (about US$45) to ¥50,000,000. Its global lines include Seiko 5 Sports (the entry-level mechanical line, dating to the 1963 Sportsmatic 5), Presage (an all-mechanical step up), Prospex (sports and dive watches), Astron and King Seiko. Grand Seiko, once a Seiko line, has been sold as a separate brand since 2017.