Interview: Seiko Watch Corporation President Akio Naito On Grand Seiko’s FutureHello World

Interview: Seiko Watch Corporation President Akio Naito On Grand Seiko’s Future

Mr. Naito: Well, on that particular topic, I draw a line between corporate competition and individuals, which are totally different in my view. First of all, Japan versus Switzerland is an industry relationship that was, I think, aggravated in part because of our launch of the world’s first quartz watch, which completely changed the industry in the early seventies. Japanese brands almost destroyed the Swiss watch industry, which was traditionally a national industry. And that, for a very long time, created trauma on the part of the Swiss watch industry against Japan. But prior to that era, if we go back in history to the 1950s or even 1960s, there was, as you say, an exchange of ideas and technologies, and we imported a lot of machinery from Switzerland. And there was, of course, a competition, but a friendly sort of relationship existed at the same time. 

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