Director, Chairman, Group CEO and Group CCO, Seiko Group Corporation
Mr. Hattori's Opening Address at Baselworld, 2016
But his real goal was always to be a manufacturer in 1892 he set up the Seiko sha Factory and started to produce W clars the ...
About Shinji Hattori
At the 2016 Baselworld trade fair, Shinji Hattori delivered the opening address, recounting the history of Seiko from its founding by his great-grandfather Kintaro Hattori in 1881 through the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. He stated that the company had adopted a new strategic direction for 2016, moving away from a regional strategy that produced watches tailored to local tastes, because "today we all live in one global village." Hattori noted that this shift had begun in 2010 with the international launch of Grand Seiko and the globalization of the Astron, Prospex, and Presage collections. Hattori presented new products including a Grand Seiko sports design, a Prospex GPS solar watch, and an Astron model featuring a dial decorated with colored lacquer and gold engraving, which he described as "the smallest tourbillon by volume in the world." He stated that Seiko operated 64 boutiques worldwide and that his aim was to increase that number to 200 in the coming years. Hattori described his vision for Seiko as "a brand that is moving ahead touching hearts," emphasizing innovations in both high technology and traditional watchmaking.
Transcript (28 segments)
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Narrator0:00
[Music]
Kintaro Hattori opened a shop selling and repairing watches and clocks in central Tokyo. Right from the start, he decided that he should always be one step ahead of the rest. Kintaro started by importing clocks and then pocket watches, but his real goal was always to be a manufacturer.
In 1892, he set up the Seiko-sha Factory and started to produce wall clocks. The name Seiko comes from the Japanese word meaning precision, and Kintaro named his factory the House of Precision, Seiko-sha.
In 1895, the company building was constructed. The clock tower came to be known as the Hattori Clock Tower and was soon known by everyone in Tokyo as the landmark symbol of Ginza.
On September 1st, 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck Tokyo. The company building and the Seiko-sha factory were both completely destroyed by the fire that followed the earthquake.
These burnt watches give us a sense of the devastation caused by the earthquake. Just a few months after this disaster, Kintaro Hattori placed an advertisement in the newspaper. It said: since our customers' watches and clocks were damaged because of the earthquake, we replace them with new ones for free.
Because Kintaro made this generous promise, his company won the trust of many, many people.
In 1932, the main office and store was rebuilt on the same site in Ginza. These are pictures from those days. The man in the center of this picture is Kintaro Hattori, our founder. The man wearing glasses is his son Genzo, who took over when Kintaro died. The boy to the left of Kintaro is Kaneyoshi, my father, and the boy on the right is Reijiro, my uncle.
They went on to be presidents of Seiko.
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Shinji Hattori2:47
[Laughter] Good morning. It is 135 years since my great-grandfather Kintaro Hattori founded our company. Every generation of my family has been involved in the development of Seiko, including my grandfather Genzo Hattori, my uncle Reijiro, and my father Kaneyoshi. As I look back on the long and splendid history of my family and Seiko, I am proud of what we have done, but I also feel a great responsibility to ensure that Seiko prospers in the years ahead.
Our industry is entering a period of change and of new opportunities. I enjoy the challenge, and I look forward to continuing my family's tradition.
2016 is important in another way. Thirty years ago, the Basel Fair decided to open its doors to exhibitors from outside Europe. Seiko was delighted to accept their invitation, and we remain grateful to MCH and Baselworld for their generous hospitality, back then and today.
So 2016 is a major milestone for us, but I have come here to talk about the future and not the past. During the next thirty minutes, you will see a collection that is both surprising and powerful. I think that it is one of the best introductions we have ever made in the thirty years of our presence here at Baselworld.
For 2016, we have a new strategic direction for Seiko. For two decades or more, we had a regional strategy in which we made watches that fitted the taste of each region. It worked well for many years, but today we all live in one global village, and it has been clear to us for some time that we needed to adapt.
This is why in 2010 we launched Grand Seiko internationally. It is why Astron and Presage are global collections, and why Prospex is now also more widely available.
Today we complete the globalization of our elite collections with new creations in each of these collections, and with the launch of entirely new collections called Brillage.
In Grand Seiko, we will show you a new sports design and a new creation that will widen the appeal of the brand. In Presage, you will see that we have created a GPS Solar using the technology that has until today been reserved for Astron.
In Astron itself, you will see another new caliber that will bring the advantage of GPS Solar to those whose taste is more classical.
In Prospex, we have created an entirely new design series that takes the collection in a new creative direction.
Finally, Brillage today becomes a global collection. It is a full line of mechanical watches in a medium price zone. Brillage will be heavily promoted throughout the world and will bring our mechanical watchmaking into the spotlight as never before.
In 2016, and for many years to come, the new Seiko strategy will concentrate on these five collections.
And we have a special surprise for you. For the very first time, we have created a tourbillon watch. It is part of the Credor collection and is made by three of our leading craftsmen. All of them have been recognized as Contemporary Master Craftsmen by the government of Japan.
Satoshi Hiraga assembles the movement, Koshi Terui is the engraver, and overall design was entrusted to Nobuhiro Kosugi.
The watch design is based on the image of Mount Fuji, made famous by the Ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai in the late Edo period. The dial is decorated with colored lacquer and three-dimensional gold engraving. The movement is less than four millimeters deep, and we believe it to be the smallest tourbillon by volume in the world.
We will present this watch at selected Seiko boutiques around the world later this year. By presenting this and all the other creations you will see today at our boutiques, we will give our customers a new insight into the Seiko world, and this is very important to us.
We need to show and explain this new Seiko world, and this is why we now have 64 boutiques around the world. My aim is to increase this to 100 in the coming years, so that as many people as possible can experience the rich world of Seiko in the best possible way.
When my great-grandfather Kintaro Hattori established Seiko 135 years ago, he was determined that Seiko would always be one step ahead of the rest. Today we are still true to his idea, but we have renewed it for this new era. Our new range is born, my vision of Seiko as a brand that is moving ahead, touching hearts.
We are moving ahead with important innovations in both high technology and traditional watchmaking, and we will touch the hearts of our customers by giving them more opportunities to enjoy the rich appeal of Seiko in new and engaging ways. Thank you very much.