Year Event
1860 Born in Uneme-cho, Kyobashi, Tokyo.
1874 Apprenticed to Kameda Clock Shop to become a clockmaker (age 13).
1877 Puts up a signboard, “Hattori Clock Repairer” (at his house) (age 17).
1881 Establishes K. Hattori & Co. (age 21).
1885 Starts a business with foreign trading firms in the Yokohama settlement focused on the wholesaling and retailing of western (imported) timepieces (age 25).
1892 Establishes Seikosha Factory and starts producing wall clocks (age 31).
(Established in Ishiwara-cho, Honjo-ward with around a dozen employees supervised by Mr. Yoshikawa, a chief engineer).
1895 Starts producing a line of pocket watches called the Timekeeper (age 35).
1899 Starts producing alarm clocks (nickel plated) (age 39).
Visits watch factories in the West to inspect latest machine tools.
1901 Becomes the largest watch & clock dealer in Japan (age 41).
1905 Opens sales agents in Shanghai and Hong Kong (age 45).
1909 Launches a line of pocket watches called the Empire (age 49).
Develops an automatic pinion lathe in-house, dramatically enhancing productivity.
1913 Introduces Japan's first wristwatch, the Laurel (age 53).
1915 Promoted to Jugoi (the Junior Fifth Rank) (Kintaro is acknowledged for his contributions to the development of the timepiece industry in Japan and later becomes known as the King of Timepieces in the East) (age 55).
1923 Seikosha and K. Hattori & Co. (temporary office) burn down in the wake of the Great Kanto Earthquake (September 1). Reconstruction of the factory and office starts in the following months (age 63).
About 1500 repair items destroyed by the fire are replaced with new ones at free of charge.
1924 Launches the SEIKO brand (age 64).
1929 Starts producing a line of pocket watches (19 model) called the Seikosha Railroad Watch (Japan's first railroad watch).
1930 Establishes the Hattori Hokokai Foundation to provide scholarships and public works support (age 70).
1932 Completes the main store of K. Hattori & Co. (the present-day WAKO) (age 71).
1934 Dies at age 73.