The Seiko company became a holding company in 2001 and is now called the Seiko Holdings Corporation, which is a Japanese holding company and contains many divisions including Pulsar.
What’s a holding company?
A holding company is a company that owns other companies’ outstanding stock,
What is the relationship between Seiko watches and Pulsar watches?
Seiko was formed in 1881, when a 22 year old man named Kintarō Hattori opened a watch and jewelry shop. In fact, the movements that are used in Seiko watches today are often called Hattori movements, out of respect and honor towards the company founder. In 1892, Hattori began to produce clocks also.
The first watches appeared under the Seiko brand in 1924. Seiko has been the engineer between many firsts in the watch industry. In 1969, Seiko introduced the Astron, the worlds first production quartz watch.
In the late 1980s Seiko produced the first automatic quartz that combined the self-energizing attributes of an automatic watch with quartz accuracy. The watch is entirely powered by its movement in everyday wear.
In 1991 Seiko rebranded their automatic watch and called it Seiko Kinetic which can be described as an automatic watch on steroids. The Seiko Kinetic watch has the promise to hold a charge up to 6 months from everyday movement simply by wearing it, the same way an automatic watch can be charged.
Seiko now produces quartz, kinetic, solar, and mechanical movements of varying prices.
Seiko also has several lines such as the Seiko 5,[8] luxury “Credor”, “Presage” and the “Grand Seiko” series.
A team led by John Bergey of The Hamilton Watch Company designed, developed and launched the Pulsar Time Computer, which was the world’s first digital watch.
In the early 1970s the Pulsar line was a brand of the Hamilton Watch Company which at the time had recently moved their factory from Lancaster PA to Switzerland after being bought out by the Buren Watch Company.
At the time, The Pulsar watch was a division of the Hamilton Watch Company within the Buren Watch Company
.
Pulsar, the world’s first electronic digital watch, created a sensation when it was unveiled in New York
in 1972 and it changed the world’s perception of time.
A digital watch is common today but imagine seeing a digital watch for the first time and how cool that must have been?
“That Pulsar Time Computer sold for $2,100, which was more than a new Ford Pinto (think car in Waynes World) went for at the time”
A Pulsar even appeared on James Bond’s wrist in 1973’s Live and Let Die.
Pulsar joined the Seiko Watch Corporation in 1979 leaving the Swatch Group which in 1974 had acquired The Hamilton Watch Company
including the pulsar brand.
Once Seiko had brought the brand to the world this enabled the brand to have further growth.
Pulsar brought the first calculator watch to the world in 1980
and Pulsar carried the first all-quartz watch line in 1981.
By the 1980s Pulsar now had international distribution.
In the 1990s Pulsar added new lines including titanium, diamond, and a sports line.
Today Pulsar continues to thrive.
Seiko and Pulsar are supported by the Seiko Holdings Group but are marketed differently.
Both brands contain different ambassadors to their lines as they are both marketed differently
Pulsar watches are marketed differently to a different audience as Seiko watches are higher end than Pulsar.
Similar to Honda and Acura, in the car industry.
What are some of the differences between the brand?
The cases could be made differently. The pulsar case may have hollowed stainless steel
links where the Seiko links are typically solid.
The movements are both Hittori Japanese but the difference is you’ll can find more complicated movements in the Seiko line.
Both these brands contain amazing history and are responsible for much of the luxuries we take for granted in watches today.