New technology gave hope for a more exciting, brighter future. Back then, old stuff like mechanical watches was for old people and the previously unimaginable now looked like it was within reach. In 1969 Seiko established another two industry milestones with its caliber 6139, the first automatic chronograph and most noteworthy at the time, it introduced the first quartz wristwatch to the world.
The Quartz ‘Astron' 35SQ was based on a quartz crystal oscillator and the company is reported to have sold 100 gold models in a week for 450000 yen each (R54000) — the price of a mid-sized car. Boasting accuracy to 0.2 seconds per day, 5 seconds per month, or one minute per year, this was to be the first of many to embrace the new technology.
Combining their skill with quartz and that of chronograph watchmaking Seiko created the world's first analog quartz chronograph 7A28-7009 in 1983. Designed by celebrated Italian car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro this watch also featured on the wrist of Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in James Cameron's 'Aliens' film in 1986.
Technology is so fast-tracked today that it is almost impossible to image a time when a calculator on your wrist was space-age. Now hybrid vehicles almost seem old-fashioned. We have Formula E and soon electric and autonomous vehicles will be the norm. But turn your watches back only a few years to 1999 and imagine how advanced Seiko’s revolutionary ‘Spring Drive’ must have seemed to the industry. To purists, probably horrifying. The watch world’s version of a hybrid car, Seiko created a luxury mechanical watch with one second a day accuracy by introducing the benefits of quartz to a mechanical timepiece. By replacing the ‘critical’ component of the mechanical movement, the escapement, with a ‘tri-synchro regulator’ they have a beautiful automatic, almost completely mechanical movement that is extremely accurate.
In 2012, the company introduced the first GPS receiver in a watch that can identify time zones. The Astron GPS Solar, like the first quartz watch, introduced a new age of technology. Arriving in September this year, the GPS Solar Big-Date will feature the familiar caliber 8X42, which adjusts automatically to wherever we are in the world using the power of light. It also features the big date window and a dual-time dial at the 6 o’clock.