Seiko Astron: the wristwatch that rewrote time

On Christmas morning 1969, a clerk at a Tokyo jeweller laid out a tray of 18-karat solid gold wristwatches and priced each at 450,000 yen — roughly what a new Toyota Corolla cost that year. The watch was called the Astron. Within a week, the initial run of one hundred had sold. The Swiss watch…