In 1881, K. Hattori & Company was established as a trading company for clocks and watches. From this came the Seiko Group which had Suwa Seikosha as a part of it is what Seiko Epson evolved from over time.



However, Seiko Epson, as they were called in the 1960's, was not quite in the printer market as of yet, developing crystal chronometers and timers for the timekeeping to be done at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. The first printer mechanism was soon to follow, called the EP-101. Soon to follow was the invention of the first quartz watch in 1969.

Since then, Epson has been on the forefront of many technological breakthroughs including the first digital wristwatch. But in 1975, Epson started to create office equipment to meet the demands of the American electronics market. As the personal computer rose in popularity in the late 70's, the MX-80 was released by Epson to provide a reliable Epson dot matrix printer at a price that was reasonable in comparison to the computers at the time. Quickly becoming the industry standard, Epson had about 60% of the dot matrix printer market because of this one product alone according to the Epson website.

With the notebook computer in 1982 and the color inkjet printer for your desktop in 1994?the illustrious Epson Stylus Color?Epson has never let down and never backed off of the marketplace. Epson America now leads the way for digital imaging products in the Americas, offering ink jet printers, dot matrix printers, scanners, projectors and more. They also are a part of the EPA, and support the Energy Star Program since it began in 1993.