A Quiet Revolution: How Seiko became one of watch collecting's greatest obsessions

The story begins in 1881, when Kintaro Hattori opened a clock shop in Tokyo’s Ginza district. By 1913, his company had produced the Laurel - Japan’s first wristwatch. In 1923, the Great Kantō earthquake took everything: the shop, factory, and machinery. Hattori rebuilt, offering replacement watches to customers who had lost theirs in the disaster. A year later, the first watch to carry the Seiko name left the workshop.

What followed was not a steady climb, but a series of ruptures. In 1969, Seiko introduced the Astron, the first quartz wristwatch, accurate to within five seconds a month and far more precise than any mechanical watch of its time. It cost as much as a medium-sized car. The Swiss called what followed the Quartz Crisis. Seiko had been working toward it for a decade.

But Seiko was never only about historic firsts. In 1963, the Seiko 5 put automatic winding, day-date practicality, water resistance, and durability into a watch people could buy.

Two years later came the 62MAS, Japan’s first diver, setting the foundation for tool watches that made Seiko a favourite of soldiers, divers, travellers, collectors.

The mythology grew from there. The 6139 was one of the first automatic chronographs ever made, arriving in 1969 during a race between Seiko, Zenith, Heuer, Breitling, and others. During the Vietnam War, American servicemen bought the 6105 diver at base exchanges because it could handle river crossings, jungle heat, and monsoon humidity.

When Francis Ford Coppola made Apocalypse Now, Martin Sheen wore his own 6105 on set. Collectors later named it the Captain Willard, after his character.

In 1973, NASA astronaut William Pogue slipped his own 6139 into a pocket before boarding Skylab 4. The Omega Speedmaster was the official watch. Pogue carried the Seiko anyway, strapped it on in orbit, and wore it for 84 days. It became the first automatic chronograph in space, not through any official programme, but because one man trusted it.

Last day to participate in the giveaway as winners will be announced tomorrow. Bring your timepieces to our second Seiko Club Meet on Sunday, 14th June, at The Revolver Club, Mahim from 12 PM onwards.