Article: The moving territories of the Japanese watchmaking industry: the Seiko group in the twentieth century

Pierre-Yves DONZE

Professeur associé d’histoire économique
Université de Kyoto

Abstract

The Seiko group, the largest Japanese watch company, experienced three different kinds of territorial organization for its production system during the 20th century. Watchmaking was successively achieved within the urban cluster of precision mechanic in Tokyo (1895-1940), Nagano’s industrial district (1940-1985) and a transnational system of production in East and South-East Asia (since 1985). This paper offers an analysis of these various organizational types, and an outlook on the factors which explain the shift towards new kinds of industrial organizations.