Seiko merupakan salah satu jenama jam yg sangat popular di kalangan masyarakat Malaysia sama ada bagi penggemar dan pengumpul jam mahupun pengguna jam biasa. Bagi aku, Seiko adalah jenama jam yang aku jadikan pilihan utama dalam koleksi simpanan aku. Bagi aku, Seiko adalah jenama yang sangat hebat.. sebenarnya ini mungkin disebabkan oleh bapa aku yang selalu sangat ceritakan tentang jam goncang (automatik) Seiko. Hehe.. tapi apa-apa pun, jam Seiko adalah favourite aku... Alhamdulilah, adala sedikit Seiko dalam koleksi yang tak seberapa ni..
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| Seiko Chronograph 6139 yang menjadi koleksi asas peminat Chrono Automatik Seiko |
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Sekarang, meh sini kita kongsi sikit tentang Seiko ni.. Sumber ni aku ambik daripada wikipedia
Seiko Holdings Corporation (セイコーホールディングス株式会社 Seikō Hōrudingusu Kabushiki-gaisha?) (
TYO:
8050), more commonly known simply as
Seiko (
/ˈseɪkoʊ/ SAY-koh), is a
Japanese watch company.
History and ongoing developments
The company was founded in 1881, when Kintarō Hattori opened a watch and
jewelry shop called "K. Hattori"
(服部時計店 Hattori Tokeiten?) in the
Ginza area of
Tokyo, Japan. Eleven years later, in 1892, he began to produce
clocks under the name
Seikosha (精工舎 Seikōsha?),
meaning roughly "House of Exquisite Workmanship". According to Seiko's
official company history, titled "A Journey In Time: The Remarkable
Story of Seiko" (2003), Seiko is a
Japanese
word meaning "exquisite," "minute," or "success". (The meaning
"exquisite" is usually written 精巧, while the meaning "success" is
usually written 成功.)
The first watches produced under the Seiko brand appeared in 1924. In 1969, Seiko introduced the
Astron, the world's first production
quartz watch; when it was introduced, it cost the same as a medium-sized car. Seiko later went on to introduce the first quartz
chronograph. In 1985,
Orient Watches and Seiko established a joint factory.
The company was incorporated (K. Hattori & Co., Ltd.) in 1917 and
was renamed Hattori Seiko Co., Ltd. in 1983 and Seiko Corporation in
1990. After reconstructing and creating its operating subsidiaries (such
as Seiko Watch Corporation and Seiko Clock Inc.), it became a
holding company in 2001 and was renamed Seiko Holdings Corporation as of July 1, 2007.
Seiko is perhaps best known for its wristwatches, all of which were
at one time produced entirely in-house. This includes not only major
items such as microgears, motors, hands,
crystal oscillators,
batteries, sensors, LCDs but also minor items such as the oils used in
lubricating the watches and the luminous compounds used on the hands and
the dials. Currently watch movements are made in
Shizukuishi, Iwate (
SII Morioka Seiko Instruments),
Ninohe, Iwate (SII Ninohe Tokei Kogyo),
Shiojiri, Nagano (
Seiko Epson)
and their subsidiaries in China, Malaysia and Singapore. The fully
integrated in-house production system is still practised in Japan.
Models
A 'Seiko 5' Automatic Watch
Seiko produces both quartz and mechanical watches of varying prices.
The least expensive are around ¥4,000 (US$45) (sold under the brand
Alba); the most expensive (Credor JURI GBBX998) costs ¥50,000,000 (US$554,000).
[2]
Seiko Grand Quartz, produced in 1978.
Seiko SBDX001 Marinemaster Professional Diver's 300 m mechanical watch for mixed-gas diving.
Seiko mechanical watches are highly prized by collectors—from the
Seiko "5" series (the 5 reflects the five essential features of the
watch, namely shock resistant, water resistant, automatic, and day and
date display), which is the most common, to the highly prized luxury
"Credor," "King Seiko," and "
Grand Seiko"
lines. The A359 5040 Sports 100 Chronograph released in 1981 is an
extremely rare chronograph with only a few examples seen world wide.
From Seiko Australia 22/1/2013 regarding the A359 5040
Sorry, all the
details of that model have been lost in the mists of time. We have no
image/s on file Regards,Harold Seiko Australia,Sydney
Today,
Seiko Kinetic watches account for a large proportion of sales that combine the self-energizing attributes of an
automatic watch with quartz accuracy. The watch is entirely powered by its movement in everyday wear.
Spring Drive
On 7 October 2005, Seiko announced the launch of the Seiko
Spring Drive,
a new movement that provides 72 hours of power compared to 40 hours for
mechanical and 3 years for battery powered quartz watches. This new
movement uses a "Tri-synchro Regulator". The power from the spring is
used to turn the gear train and a generator. The generator powers a
circuit that includes a low consumption (~25 nanowatts) quartz crystal
oscillator. The oscillator is a part of a continuous feedback circuit,
which holds the speed of the generator close to eight revolutions per
second. According to Seiko records the resulting movement delivers
accuracy commensurate with other quartz timed watch movements. The
Spring Drive movement was also used as the basis for the first ever
watch designed to be worn by an astronaut during a space walk, the aptly
named Seiko Spring Drive Spacewalk.
[3]
Seiko in America
Seiko Pyramid Talk, the world's first quartz talking clock, from 1984.
Seiko Corporation of America is responsible for distribution of Seiko watches and clocks, as well as
Pulsar brand watches, in the
United States.
The models available in the United States are normally a smaller subset
of the full line produced in Japan. Seiko Corporation of America has
its headquarters (and Coserv repair center) in
Mahwah, New Jersey.
In the United States, Seiko watches are sold primarily by fine jewelers
and department stores as well as 19 company stores located in various
cities.
Seiko's 2004 marketing campaign emphasized that a watch, as opposed
to other traits (such as what car they drive, for example), tells the
most about a person.
Media appearance
Various Seiko watches were worn by the cinematic
James Bond 007 in four films starring
Roger Moore from 1977 to 1985. Also, a Seiko watch was worn by
Sean Connery in the 1983 Bond film
Never Say Never Again.
A Seiko Chronograph is also worn by Jason Bourne in the book "The
Bourne Identity" by Robert Ludlum. Aki Ross wears a Seiko wristband
computer in Final Fantasy the Spirits Within.
NASA Flight Director
Gene Kranz
wore a Seiko 5 model 6119-8460 during the height of his career. It was
on his wrist when the Apollo 11 crew touched down on the lunar surface,
when the Apollo 13 explosion occurred, and throughout the remainder of
his career at NASA. The watch was recently sold and is still in working
order.
Nazi war criminal and
SS officer
Josef Mengele wore a Seiko Automatic 21 Jewels watch in South America held by the archives of the
Federal Police in Brazil and it is still working to this day. (seen in National Geographic Mengele Twin Mystery)
Official timekeeper
Seiko is also the official timer of many major sporting events:
Seiko is also named as the official timekeeper of the
Gran Turismo racing game series, published by Sony. It's also the sponsor of
FC Barcelona.
Seiko used to sponsor Honda F1 (previously known as BAR [British
American Racing] Honda). The Seiko name cannot currently be found on the
Honda racing cars because Seiko Japan refused to be advertised whilst
the names of tobacco companies are still appearing on the cars. They
can, however, be found on the lollipop used in the pitlane.
Operating companies (products and services)
- Seiko Watch Corporation — watches: Seiko (Grand Seiko, Dolce &
Exceline, Brightz, Lukia, Prospex, iu, Ruse, Spirit, Alpinist, Ignition,
Premier, Velatura, Coutura, Arctura, Sportura, Criteria, Rivoli,
Vivace, etc.), Credor, Galante, Wired, Wired XYZ, Alba, Pulsar,
Lorus. Seiko Watch is a planning and marketing company. Seiko Holdings
delegates a large portion of the manufacturing in its watch business to Seiko Epson and Seiko Instruments.
- Seiko Clock Inc. — clocks, kitchen timers: Seiko, Decor Seiko, Seiko
Emblem, Seiko Premium, Seiko Melodies in Motion Musical Clocks, Pyxis
- Seiko Service Center Co., Ltd. — repair and after service for watches
- Seiko Time Systems Inc. — system clocks (outside, building wall, monument, floral clocks), sports timing equipment
- Seiko Sports Life Co., Ltd. — golf clubs, stopwatches, musical accessories (tuners, metronomes)
- Seiko Precision Inc. — printers, time servers, electronic devices, micromechatronics devices, camera shutters, etc.
- Seiko NPC Corporation — semiconductors
- Seiko Jewelry Co., Ltd. — jewelry
- Seiko Optical Products Co., Ltd. — optical lenses & frames
- Seiko Instruments Inc.
— electronic components, precision parts, watches, analysis and
measurement instruments, machine tools, printers, network items,
information systems and services, IC dictionaries, etc.
- Wako Co., Ltd. — upscale specialty retails
- Cronos Inc. — retail sales of watches, jewelry items and eyeglasses
- Seiko Business Services Inc. — human resources
- Ohara Inc. (Seiko owns 32.2% TYO: 5218) — specialty optical glass (glass materials for lenses and prisms)
Seiko Group
Main article:
Seiko Group
Seiko Holdings is one of the three core companies of the
Seiko Group. The Seiko Group consists of Seiko Holdings Corporation (Seiko),
Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII), and
Seiko Epson Corporation
(Epson). Although they have some common shareholders, including the key
members of the Hattori family (posterity of Kintarō Hattori), the three
companies in the Seiko Group are not affiliated. They are managed and
operated completely independently. Seiko Watch, an operating subsidiary
of Seiko Holdings, markets Seiko watches, while SII and Epson
manufacture their movements.
On January 26, 2009, Seiko Holdings and Seiko Instruments announced
that the two companies will be merged on October 1, 2009 through a share
swap. Seiko Instruments became a wholly owned subsidiary of Seiko
Holdings as of October 1, 2009.
Other
Seiko also produces other electronic devices. Notably, during the 1980s, the company produced a range of
digital synthesizers, such as the
DS-250, for use in electronic music. Today, the music division, a part of Seiko Life Sports, produces metronomes & tuning devices.
