Orient

Orient

In 1901, Shogoro Yoshida set up a watch shop in Ueno, Tokyo, Japan. He began manufacturing gold clock cases by 1912 and set up a factory, Toyo Tokei Manufacturing, to produce clocks by 1920. In 1934, the company began producing wristwatches, and a factory was established at Hino in the following years. The original factory was shut down after World War II, but the company returned to watch production in 1950, now operating as Tama Keiki Co. Ltd.

The next year, 1951, Tama Keiki changed their name to Orient Watch Company and began sales of the Orient Star watch. The company expanded international sales, first to China, in the following decade. In 1959, the Royal Orient appeared, presenting a challenge to Seiko's Lord Marvel and similar high-end Japanese watches. In the 1970's, Orient focused mainly on mechanical watches, never developing their own quartz movements to rival Seiko, Citizen, and Casio. By 2001, Seiko Epson had become a major shareholder in Orient, and the company completed a complete takeover in 2009. Today, Orient operates as an independent but wholly-owned subsidiary of Seiko Epson, which is itself a producer of many Seiko-brand watches.