Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

We (as 7Axx enthusiasts) all know that Seiko created (or should I say correctly announced) the World's First Analogue Quartz Chronograph in 1983, but the history of Hattori Seiko / Seiko(sha) goes back much further: by over 100 years to 1881:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiko

However, it's amusing to note that they count their achievements as only beginning in 1969, with the Seiko Astron.

http://www.seikowatches.com/world/history/our_achievements/index.html

There's an interesting little documentary video on YouTube, covering  the history  of Japanese Watch and Clock-making.

It's 27-odd minutes long - and well worth watching all the way through: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt2UY1d3wow

However, if you can't spare half an hour, the story of Seiko's struggle to produce the world's first quartz wristwatch runs from approx. 15:00 through 21:00. 

I did debate (for some considerable time) whether it was worth creating this forum sub-section, because the subject matter has already been covered on most of the major watch forums. For those interested here's a few links to previous notable threads:

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f9/160198.html  Seiko Analog Quartz Table with Pictures (by Martback from June 2008).

http://forums.watchuseek.com/f9/160408.html  (Almost) the start of Seiko quartz watch history (same author and date).

http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?239818  From the early days of quartz............. (by KeithT from November 2012).

http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?278475  Early Seiko quartz........... (by same author in October 2013).

http://www.thewatchsite.com/21-japanese-watch-discussion-forum/31428.html  Very Early Seiko Quartz (by Garfre in June 2012).

Indeed there are a number of threads on SCWF (and probably many with better content to be found on the old Network54 SCWF, which unfortunately is no longer searchable). But I did find the initial confusion in this one highly amusing. 

http://www.thewatchsite.com/21-japanese-watch-discussion-forum/2718.html

Question- Does anyone collect Seiko calibre 38 series Quartz Watches

And here is a link to an accuracy test from 2011 of first Generation Seiko's Quartz watches   

http://www.thewatchsite.com/21-japanese-watch-discussion-forum/14637-2011-quartz-accuracy-test-guess-winner.html