When it comes to Japanese horology we are probably all familiar with Seiko, Citizen, Orient together with their subsidiary brands. The same can be said for Casio. The one we rarely hear anything about is the last of the major Japanese watch companies, RICOH. Yes, that RICOH (the photo copier maker). A successful and important Japanese company which has a long history of manufacturing watches, Ricoh's watch history has somehow been almost lost for posterity, with no firm attempt to remedy this deficit. And indeed, the number of pre-owned and vintage Ricoh watches for sale on the internet indicates that the company was an important player in the watch market. Ricoh started on February 6, 1936 as Riken Corporation (or per the Ricoh Fact Book, "Riken Kankoshi Co., Ltd.") based on the work of Dr. Ookawati Masatoshi [which apparantly deals with photographic paper or "sensitized paper"]. March 1938, the company name was changed to Riken Optical Industry (or "Riken Optical Co., Ltd.") and started production of optical devices and equipment. On Apr. 1, 1963 the name changed (again) to Ricoh Co., Ltd. In 1962, Hamilton entered into a joint venture (60% owned by Hamilton) with the Japanese matchmaking firm Ricoh to produce electric watches meant primarily for the Japanese market. The electronic components were produced at Hamilton's Lancaster factory while production of the mechanical works and final assembly was undertaken in Japan. Although production levels of Hamilton-Ricoh watches was high (over 1000 per month), demand was low and consequently, the Hamilton-Ricoh partnership was unable to compete with the substantial market presence of Seiko. The partnership was dissolved in 1965, with the remaining Hamilton-Ricoh electronic movements (marked 'Ricoh 555E') re-cased as 'Vantage' and sold in the US." It is widely said, in collector circles, that Seiko is traditionally considered #1in Japanese watch production (at least for the 1955-to-Present time period), Citizen 2nd, and Orient 3rd [which, by default, leaves "Ricoh" 4th]. Is this indeed true? In a 1970’s research paper, "The Watch Industries in Switzerland, Japan, and the United States" Japanese watch production figures in 1970 are shown as follows: Company / Est. Share of Japanese Production K. Hattori (Seiko) = 60% Citizen = 28% Orient = 9% Ricoh = 3% Nowadays, Ricoh is most closely associated with cameras and other imaging equipment, as well as office machinery. Comments are closed.
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Old Time WatchesI enjoy collecting mechanical (manual wind and automatic) and early electric and quartz timepieces. I take great pleasure in researching and writing about the companies and people that created these beautiful watches. PF
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September 2018
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