ORIENT STAR, a higher-end brand of popular watch brand Orient, opened its first boutique in the Philippines at the Mitsukoshi BGC mall on March 21.
While the company started making watches in 1901, the company was formally known as the Orient Watch Company in 1951. During the quartz watch boom in the 70s and 80s, the company sought a revival of mechanical watches, many of which are still made today.
In 2017, the brand became a part of Epson (as in the printer company). Toru Murauchi, General Manager for WP Sales and Marketing Department, Sales and Marketing Division for Epson, outlined the relationship between the electronics company and the watch brand. “Epson has been providing timepieces for over 80 years,” he said. While Epson began as a company manufacturing parts for the Seiko group, it began to make printers in response to a requirement during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He gave an example of Epson’s know-how helping give rise to their new F8 movement, launched in 2021, which uses a silicon escape wheel, that allows the watches to have a 70-hour power reserve.
Meanwhile, Naoto Ueda, Deputy Chief Operating Officer of Wearable Products Operations Division of Seiko Epson, said, “As we expand Orient Star in the Philippines, we want to share our masterful range of models, which expertly balance precision mechanical movement with modern design and fashion-forward color combinations. Our Japanese artisans have masterfully crafted the mechanical watches to endure over time. We also can’t imagine a better place to open the first Orient Star boutique than Mitsukoshi BGC.”
Mr. Murauchi said, “For a long time, Orient Star focused on the Japanese market. We’ve just started Orient Star branding relationships worldwide. Fortunately, we met with the Lucerne Group, and we caught a big opportunity to start the Orient Star business in the Philippine market.” He also said that they plan to open more boutiques in the country in the future.
The boutique is located on the Ground Floor of Mitsukoshi BGC. — JLG
