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 company that manufactures and sells watches, clocks, electronic devices, semiconductors and optical products.
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" or "success" ("exquisite" is usually written 精巧 from Chinese jīngqiǎo, while the meaning "success" is usually written 成功 from Chinese chénggōng)
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 the late 1980s, Seiko produced the first Kinetic watch that combined the self-energizing attributes of an automatic watch with quartz accuracy. The watch is entirely powered by its movement in everyday wear.
Seiko (聖子, 青子, 晴子, 清子, 正子, etc., Seiko) is a Japanese given name, almost exclusively used for female. People that have the name include:
Seiko Sports Association (Chinese: 精工體育會) were one of the most famous and successful football teams in Hong Kong history. The team withdrew from the Hong Kong First Division League after the 1985–86 season.
Seiko was a team sponsored and named by the agents of Seiko Corporation. The team entered Hong Kong Third Division League in 1970. It got the second place in Third Division (B) League (28 matches: 26 win, 1 draw, 1 loss) and got promoted to Second Division in the next season. In 1971–72, the team captured the league Champion immediately after its promotion (24 matches: 21 win, 1 draw, 2 loss) and was able to compete in Hong Kong First Division League for the first time. The team then stayed in the league for 14 consecutive years.
Throughout the 14 years in the Hong Kong First Division League, Seiko captured 40 major Hong Kong football trophies, which included 9 times League champion, 8 times Hong Kong Senior Shield, 6 times Hong Kong Viceroy Cup, 6 times Hong Kong FA Cup and many more. Its reserve team also captured 2 times reserve league champion.