| 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. |
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. 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.
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.
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.
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?]