- Orient Watch Company
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This article is about the watch company. For other meanings, see Orient (disambiguation).
Orient Watch Co., Ltd Type Subsidiary Industry Retail-Jewelry Founded Tokyo, Japan (1950) Headquarters Tokyo, Japan Key people Founder: Shogoro Yoshida, Directors; Masakazu Iiyama, Masahiro Yoshimura, Toshiji Kawabe, Satoshi Sato, President:Jun Watanabe Products Watches, clocks Employees 604 (2009, consolidated) Website Orient Watch Co. 
An Orient mechanical watch.
The Orient Watch Company, Limited (オリエント時計株式会社 Oriento Tokei Kabushikigaisha) is Japan's largest producer of mechanical watches[citation needed]. It has been a subsidiary of the Seiko Epson Corporation since 2001 and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Seiko Epson in 2009.[1] The company produces both quartz and mechanical watches, but concentrates its marketing efforts and receives 55% of its international sales from the latter.[citation needed]
The company was founded in Tokyo, July 1950; though, it has roots that date back to 1901 when Shogoro Yoshida opened a wholesale watch shop in Ueno. Through its sixty-year history, the company has contributed several technological advances in watchmaking efficiency such as the development of power-reserve indicators and use of in-house movement production of watches in the hundred-dollar price range.[citation needed]
In-house movement production, defined as a watch manufacturer having direct intellectual property rights to the movement they produce, is not common; the list of companies that do this is very short.[citation needed]
Orient sets itself apart from the other major Japanese watch companies by focusing on self-winding mechanical watches; Seiko, Citizen, Ricoh Elemex and others primarily or exclusively sell quartz watches.[says who?]
Notes
- ^ Company history, Orient Watch. (Japanese). Accessed 20 December 2009.
External links
Categories:- Watch brands
- Companies based in Tokyo
- Seiko Epson
- Companies formerly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
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