To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first domestically produced watch by the precursor to the Seiko brand, the Seiko Museum in Sumida, Tokyo is holding a special free exhibition.

The first Japan-made watch was crafted by K. Hattori & Co., now Seiko Watch Corp., with the release, in 1913, of the mechanical Laurel model. Entitled “Celebrating 100 Years of Seiko Watchmaking,” the will be comprised of two parts. The first, “A step ahead of the times”, features Laurel watches that are still ticking and telling time accurately. Seiko has seven Laurel watches, of which one has been disassembled into its fifty handmade parts for display during this centenary year.

For this first part of the exhibition, Seiko takes visitors through the history of the brand with the aid of some 30 watches, including the Quartz Astron (about which you can read more here), which was released in 1969 as the world’s first quartz watch.

The second part of the exhibition starts on October 29 and is titled “To all people”. It will focus on the range of watches Seiko has sold over the past 100 years, including watches for the visually impaired and a jewel-encrusted watch worth about 220 million yen.

The exhibition can be viewed from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (except Mondays and public holidays) through until 30 March 2014. For more information, call the museum at (03) 3610-6248.

Categories: Japanese watches, Seiko, Vintage watches, Watch exhibition, Watch movements, watches, Watchmaking