To Market, To Market

All you need to know about Japan Domestic Market watches.

- Melissa Kong

Love all things Japanese? You’re not the only one. Demand for products from the East Asian nation has always been high (remember the queues for buttery cheese tarts and anything Hello Kitty?). And it doesn’t stop at kawaii trinkets and the latest food craze either. Japanese cars and watches also have their share of fans and there are good reasons for the enthusiasm—the country’s reputation for innovation, creativity and exacting workmanship being some of them.

When it comes to timepieces, the Swiss may have a longer (and some argue, richer) history. But one can’t discount the strides the Japanese have made in the industry. The Japan Clock & Watch Association attributes the birth of the country’s horological industry to Christian missionaries who arrived in the mid-16th century and later taught the locals how to make clocks. Since then, the country has been producing timepieces, with the first Japanese wristwatch—the Laurel—made in 1913 by the company that would later go on to become Seiko.