Kintarō Hattori (服部金太郎, November 21, 1860 – March 1, 1934) was a Japanese businessman and one of the first and most important Japanese

watchmaker A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their par ...

s in history, as well as the founder of

Seiko , commonly known as Seiko ( , ), is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, semiconductors, jewelry, and optical products. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced one of the first quartz watches and the ...

, one of the world's largest manufacturers of watches. He was a permanent council member of the

Japanese Red Cross The is the Japanese affiliate of the International Red Cross. The Imperial Family of Japan traditionally has supported the society, with the Empress as Honorary President and other imperial family members as vice presidents. Its headquarters i ...

Early life

Kintarō Hattori was born in Uneme-cho,

Kyōbashi, Tokyo is a neighborhood east of Tokyo Station in Chūō, Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the city's oldest commercial districts, although it has since been eclipsed by Ginza to the south and Nihonbashi to the north. Kyobashi, together with Nihonbashi and ...

in 1860, to a well established family of merchants. At the age of thirteen he was initiated in commercial and technical training and was engaged the following year by Kobayashi Denjiro, one of the main watch and clock traders in Japan, where he began his first internship at the Kameda Clock Shop. In 1877, he opened in the

Ginza Ginza ( ; ja, 銀座 ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo, with numerous intern ...

area.

Career overview

In 1881 at the age of 21, Hattori established his first business , opening his own watchmaking shop. At 25 years old, K. Hattori initiated trade with the Swiss firms based in Yokohama, focusing on wholesaling and retailing of imported Swiss timepieces. After almost two decades of retailing Swiss watches from foreign firms, Hattori decided to manufacture his own watches locally, establishing a watchmaking factory in Tokyo called . Following the great success of his first Japanese manufactured timepieces, he traveled to Europe to inspect and purchase machinery tools to keep up with western technology and productivity. With great success, Hattori returned to Japan with new watchmaking equipment and several new production lines were born as a consequence. At the age of 35, he launched a line of pocket watches called the "Timekeeper" and just a few years later released his first line of alarm clocks, in 1899. By 1905, Hattori had expanded his trading operations all over Japan as well as Shanghai and Hong Kong, and becoming the largest watch and clock dealer in Japan. In 1913, when Hattori was 53 years old, Seikosha manufactured and introduced the first Japanese wristwatch: the "Laurel." In 1917, K. Hattori & Co. was converted to a joint-stock corporation (currently Seiko Group Corporation). In 1924, the "

" brand was launched. His company later revolutionized watchmaking with the introduction of the first

quartz movement Quartz clocks and quartz watches are timepieces that use an electronic oscillator regulated by a quartz crystal to keep time. This crystal oscillator creates a signal with very precise frequency, so that quartz clocks and watches are at least a ...

, becoming one of the world's largest watch manufacturers. Hattori died in 1934, at the age of 73, in Tokyo, Japan.

Life achievements

Kintarō Hattori was one of the key figures in establishing the watchmaking industry in Japan. His career accomplishments include founding the first watchmaking factory in Japan named "Seikosha", in 1892. Kintarō Hattori also founded the watch and jewelry shop K. Hattori (''Hattori Tokeiten'' in Japanese) in the

area of Tokyo, Japan, currently named Seiko Group Corporation and globally known as

.Hattori, Kintaro 服部金太郎 (1860–1934)
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hattori, Kintaro Watchmakers (people) People of Meiji-period Japan People of the Industrial Revolution 1860 births 1934 deaths