8. Seiko

www.seikowatches.com/

Seiko Holdings Corporation (セイコーホールディングス株式会社 Seikō Hōrudingusu Kabushiki-gaisha^?) (TYO: 8050), more commonly known simply as Seiko ( /ˈseɪkoʊ/ say-koh), is aJapanese watch company.

The company was founded in 1881, when Kintarō Hattori opened a watch and jewelry shop called "K. Hattori" (服部時計店 Hattori Tokeiten^?) in the Ginza area of Tokyo, Japan. Eleven years later, in 1892, he began to produce clocks under the name Seikosha (精工舎 Seikōsha^?), meaning roughly "House of Exquisite Workmanship". According to Seiko's official company history, titled "A Journey In Time: The Remarkable Story of Seiko" (2003), Seiko is a Japanese word meaning "exquisite," "minute," or "success". (The meaning "exquisite" is usually written 精巧, while the meaning "success" is usually written 成功.)