The Japanese Watch Industry
Our whole day is divided into hours, minutes, and seconds, and we have scheduled all our activities accordingly with the time. The human psyche has taken a great leap for keeping by the time; everything is related to time such as keeping time, being on time, and managing times, etc.
This has taken the shape of an obsession for the humans, but the history of this obsession goes back to the times of Egyptian and Mesopotamian. If we look into the Egyptian history, the history of tools for time keeping started with the making of the Egyptian sundial, which goes way back in to 1500 B.C. Whereas time keeping itself dates back way more than this. The sundial was an initial tool for telling time, but with the passage of time, it has gone under many technological changes and developed side by side with the evolution of the human society.
The monks of the monasteries are believed to be the first ones to develop the mechanical clock in order to match their meditations with the time. It was sort of an alarm for them. Apart from the twenty-four hours of the day, remaining division of time of the whole day was dependant on the chimes of the bells. With the passage of time all this was further divided into hours, and then into minutes, and seconds.
Japan has pioneered its matchmaking industry over the years with Seiko being one of the greatest and largest watch manufacturing industries of the world. This company saw the battles of the world war one, and two, and managed to come out unscathed, only to surface as a leading example of the latest technology, which built the foundations of an international timepiece industry.
Initially the Japanese developed such a watch that was economical and affordable by everyone, and that has the ability of telling the time correctly. Even the word Seiko means precise in the Japanese language. Kintaro Hattori was the founder of Seiko, and he started the company in the year 1892. Seiko introduced its first pocket watches in the year 1895. They launched their wristwatches in the year 1913.
Seiko has set a great example for all the manufacturers of the world. Their history is a lesson to be learned by every company around the globe. In the beginning, what they did was that they started with manufacturing simple designs that does not involve much of the technology. These designs were imported, and then developed at home to precision. Then they moved towards producing more complex product that involved a higher level of technology.
They started their exports firstly in their own region i.e. Asia, and then they moved towards other continents like Europe, and the United States, and became the world leaders in the industry. They took up the challenge when Swiss watch imports increased in the decade of 90s, and started manufacturing their own fine mechanical watches. For this purpose, they hired experienced watchmakers. After some restructuring, they launched a Shizukuishi in the year 2004.
There is not a single person on earth who can escape time. Somehow, our lives are dependent on time. Everything we have, such as cell phones, etc have a time telling feature in them. A lot man companies and designer brands have taken advantage of this obsession, and have introduced a large variety of luxury, and collectible watches.
John P Stevens is a online marketer. Check out wide range of Seiko Watch and avail huge discounts on sale of these watches at his recommended site at http://www.freedomwatches.com.
