is a Japanese watch manufacture founded in 1950. Established as an independent company in 1950, it became a functional

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

Epson Seiko Epson Corporation, or simply known as Epson, is a Japanese multinational electronics company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of computer printers and information- and imaging-related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano, ...

in 2009 before being fully integrated into the company in 2017. Until it was absorbed into Epson, the Orient Watch Company had primarily marketed

mechanical watch A mechanical watch is a watch that uses a clockwork mechanism to measure the passage of time, as opposed to quartz watches which function using the vibration modes of a piezoelectric quartz tuning fork, or radio watches, which are quartz watches ...

es ( self-winding & hand-winding),Message From the President of Orient Watch Company
, Accessed 28 September 2014Explanations of Mechanical Movement by Orient Watch
Accessed 30 September 2014 but also produced

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

, light-powered (solar) and

radio-controlled Radio control (often abbreviated to RC) is the use of control signals transmitted by radio to remotely control a device. Examples of simple radio control systems are garage door openers and keyless entry systems for vehicles, in which a smal ...

models.List of Orient Watch Product (Global Market)
Accessed 28 September 2014List of Orient Watch Manual & Movement (Global Market)
Accessed 28 September 2014List of Orient Watch Product (Japan Domestic Market)
Accessed 28 September 2014List of Orient Watch Manual & Movement (Japan Domestic Market)
Accessed 28 September 2014 Outside of the main business, the company produced some

moving parts Machines include both fixed and moving parts. The moving parts have controlled and constrained motions. Moving parts are machine components excluding any moving fluids, such as fuel, coolant or hydraulic fluid. Moving parts also do not include ...

and

electronic component An electronic component is any basic discrete device or physical entity in an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields. Electronic components are mostly industrial products, available in a singular form and are not ...

s that were then assembled into Seiko Epson's

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

devices.Orient Watch Factory History
, Accessed 28 September 2014 Currently, Akita Epson Corporation (formally Akita Orient Precision Instruments Co., Ltd.), a group company of Epson, manufactures all of the Orient movements in-house in

Yuzawa, Akita is a city located in Akita Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 44,346 in 17,789 households, and a population density of 56 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Yuzawa claims to be the birthplace of the famou ...

, Japan.Orient Watch Factory Profile
, Accessed 28 September 2014Orient Watch Production Process (Video)
Accessed 29 September 2014Orient In-house Automatic Movement Assembly (Video)
Accessed 30 September 2014

History

The origin of Orient Watch Company dates back to 1901 when Shogoro Yoshida opened a

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

shop called "Yoshida Watch Shop" in

Ueno is a district in Tokyo's Taitō Ward, best known as the home of Ueno Park. Ueno is also home to some of Tokyo's finest cultural sites, including the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Western Art, and the National Museum of Na ...

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...

, Tokyo, Japan. Yoshida Watch Shop was successful, selling imported

pocketwatch A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatc ...

es. In 1912, Yoshida expanded his business and began producing gold wristwatch cases. In 1920, Toyo Tokei Manufacturing was established, originally producing table clocks and gauges. It was not until 1934 that Toyo Tokei Manufacturing started the production of

wristwatch A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...

es. In 1936, the Hino factory was built in Hino, Tokyo, Japan. For several years, Toyo Tokei Manufacturing boomed at the Hino factory. However, the company shut down in 1949 in the Japanese economic devastation following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After Toyo Tokei Manufacturing was shut down, Yoshida's wristwatch manufacturing company was reborn in 1950, founded under the name Tama Keiki Company. Tama Keiki Co. continued manufacturing watches at the Hino factory. In 1951, Tama Keiki Co. changed its name to , and in the same year the first Orient Star went on sale. Orient Watch was able to expand their visibility overseas after a memorandum trade agreement with China in 1955. The Royal Orient went on sale in 1960. Other important watches in the company's history include the "Dynamic" in 1956, "Grand Prix 100" in 1964, "Fineness" (the world's thinnest automatic wristwatch with day and date calendar function for its time) in 1967, and the "Tenbeat" in 1970.Orient Watch Museum
, Accessed 20 December 2009 In 2003, the Orient Technical Center (OTC) was established and the assembly of luxury watches began in

Ugo Ugo is the Italian form of Hugh, a widely used name of Germanic origin. Its diminutive form is Ugolino. It is also a Nigerian Igbo first name. It may refer to: People * Vgo (stonemason), medieval stonemason * Ugo Bassi, a Roman Catholic prie ...

, Ogachi,

Akita is a Japanese name and may refer to: Places * 8182 Akita, a main-belt asteroid * Akita Castle, a Nara period fortified settlement in Akita, Japan * Akita Domain, also known as Kubota Domain, feudal domain in Edo period Japan * Akita, Kumamoto, ...

, Japan. In 2004, the high-precision caliber 88700 movement went on sale via the Royal Orient watch line. In 2005, Orient Star Retro-Future collection was launched. In 2010, Orient Watch Co. celebrated its 60th anniversary with a limited edition model. The Royal Orient line was discontinued around 2016, likely to prevent cannibalism between it and fellow Seiko group brands Grand Seiko, and Credor. To celebrate 70 years of the Orient Star line, the Orient Star skeleton watch was introduced with a silicon escapement made using Epson's

MEMS Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), also written as micro-electro-mechanical systems (or microelectronic and microelectromechanical systems) and the related micromechatronics and microsystems constitute the technology of microscopic devices, ...

technology, which has been used in high end Seiko watches since 2009. In 2001 Seiko Epson (one of three core companies of the

Seiko Group is a Japanese corporate group consisting of three core companies Seiko Group Corp. (Seiko), Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII) and Seiko Epson Corp (Epson). The three companies are linked by a common thread of timepiece technology. Epson has establi ...

) became the majority shareholder (52%) of the company. Orient Watch became a wholly owned subsidiary of Epson in 2009.Company history
, Orient Watch. . Accessed 20 December 2009 After transferring its business to Epson, the company now exists as a

dormant company A dormant company is a company that carries out no business activities in the given period of time. Dormant companies do not engage in buying/selling for profit, not carrying on business or profession, providing services, earning interest, mana ...

. Epson Sales Japan Corporation markets the Orient watches, while Akita Epson Corporation manufactures them.

Gallery

File:Orient CEY04002B.jpg, File:CFHAA004W.jpg, File:Orientwatch.JPG, File:Orient SFD0H001B.jpg, File:Orient Capital FUG1R003W9 wrist watch face.jpg, File:Orient Star - Classic.jpg, File:Vintage Orient 21 Jewels Men's Watch, Manual Wind (9656659874).jpg,

References

External links

* {{Authority control Epson Manufacturing companies based in Tokyo Companies formerly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Fashion accessory brands Japanese companies established in 1950 Manufacturing companies established in 1950 Japanese brands Watch brands Watch manufacturing companies of Japan