Seiko Has the Perfect Watch for Every Man, Whatever Your Budget

Is there a more misunderstood watch brand than Seiko?

The Japanese behemoth is often thought of as (a) the product of the Seventies quartz crisis, (b) the maker of second-tier watches and (c) not especially cool or stylish. None of which – unlike its watches – is remotely accurate.

Seiko has been in business since 1881, when an entrepreneur named Kintaro Hattori opened a watch and jewellery shop in the Ginza district of Tokyo. He progressed to selling wall clocks, pocket watches, watches with alarm functions, and finally in 1913, wristwatches. Depending on who you talk to, the company he named Seiko means either ‘exquisite’, ‘success’, ‘force’ or ‘truth’.

Today the Seiko Group has annual revenue of around £1.8bn and is made up of a dizzying menu of watch sub-brands and product lines: Grand Seiko (high-end), Seiko Sarb (mid-range), Seiko Presage (dress), Prospex Sea (dive), Prospex Street (‘urban’) and Seiko 5, which isn’t even a watch, rather a standard that a set of its watches are held up to meet. (To add to the headache, the Seiko Group also has subsidiaries that make jewellery, clocks, glasses and golf clubs. In the Eighties it was notable for its pioneering range of synthesisers.)

Seiko’s watch movements initially copied those made by the Swiss, but its watchmakers were soon innovating on their own. With foresight, it began experimenting with quartz watches – a crystal powered by a battery, in place of a mechanical movement – and in 1969 its Astron became the first mass-produced quartz watch. More technical innovations followed with the first computer wristwatch (in 1984) and Spring Drive (in 1999), technology that combines the accuracy of quartz with a mechanical movement, to create an ingenious hybrid.

These days Seiko produces watches with quartz, kinetic, solar and mechanical movements of varying prices, from £35 to £400,000. Historically cheap, it offers watches with reliability and accuracy far greater than some watch companies selling ‘luxury’ pieces at ten times Seiko’s prices. Criminally undervalued in the West, its catalogue is vast and its global reach unrivalled. It is the only company to offer terrifically affordable watches for a couple of hundred pounds alongside handcrafted Grand Seikos that cost as much as a house.

The company has been gaining more respect recently, particularly with its Grand Seiko line, which is increasingly sought-after by collectors, as well as its relaunched Seiko 5 Sport Line, arguably the most pocket- and wardrobe-friendly way into the world of mechanical watches.

We’ve selected our nine favourite Seikos from across the current catalogue. Though, to be fair, we could have picked nine completely different models. And nine more after that.