A history of Innovation
Since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Seiko has been capturing the moments when records are broken and history is made. With a legacy of pioneering cutting-edge technologies, we remain at the forefront of sports timing, measurement, and innovation.
Seiko developed revolutionary new stopwatches and other devices and was formally appointed as the Official Timer of the Tokyo Olympic Games 1964. Seiko’s technical capabilities in precision engineering and producing miniature quartz timepieces became known to the world, allowing the company to expand product sales on a global scale as an international brand.
Following the success of the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, Seiko developed new timepieces and technologies for the 1972 Winter Olympic Games in Sapporo, Japan
Seiko became the Official Timer of the International Amateur Athletics Federation (now World Athletics), marking the start of a 40-year partnership. Together, Seiko and World Athletics embarked on a journey of innovation, relentlessly pushing the boundaries to advance the sport.
Seiko introduced automatic false start detection. By adding force sensors to the starting blocks judges could quickly review each athlete’s reaction time.
Seiko developed its first Electronic Photo Finish system. The introduction of a computer based electronic system represented one of the first steps towards instant race results.
28 years later, Seiko returns to a Summer Olympic Games. Having accumulated almost three decades of experience Seiko was able to provide a range of innovative technologies contributing to the success of the Games.
22 years after the Sapporo Olympics in Japan, Seiko once again acted as official timer of the Winter Olympic Games. Building on the technology legacy of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, our precision technologies were applied to winter sports helping to improve the accuracy and speeds of official results.
The Winter Olympics returned to Japan after 26 years. Seiko continued to innovate its timing and measurement systems introducing its first video distance measurement system which was used to measure jump distance in ski jumping.
Transponder timing is introduced to out-of-stadium races, providing live split point timing and official finish times for events with large numbers of athletes.
Seiko acted as the Official Timer for the third consecutive Winter Olympic Games continuing to innovate. Introducing transponder timing for fast and accurate race times – A first for a Winter Olympic Games.
Seiko celebrated 20 years of partnership with the IAAF (now World Athletics). Having delivered over 100 World Championships events Seiko once again acted as the Official Timer for the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki.
Seiko introduced Video Distance Measurement for the horizontal jumps. Jumps can now be measured faster, and reviewed and revised during live competition in the case of appeals.
Video Distance Measurement was expanded to the shot put. Using high speed, high resolution cameras, throws can now be measured with greater speed, accuracy and reliability.
In accordance with new World Athletics rules, Seiko introduced its Jumps Management System incorporating high speeds cameras to facilitate the live judging of jump validity from the take-off board.
Seiko introduced live athlete tracking to the horizontal jumps. Using cutting edge machine learning techniques, this system measures performance data such as hop, step and jump phases, take-off angles, and runway speeds in near real-time.
Seiko introduced live athlete tracking using camera technology for the sprint races. This system provides real-time ranking, split times, speed and more without requiring the athlete to wear a traditional positioning tag.
In 2025, Seiko will celebrate 40 years of partnership with World Athletics. Serving as the official timer for the 20th time, Seiko will deliver cutting-edge timing and measurement technologies to capture historic moments as they unfold.