Collection: RICOH - 🇯🇵 MADE

On May 8, 1962, Takano was taken over by the larger Ricoh company. Takano became Ricoh Watch Ltd. in 1963 and the watches were re-branded as Ricoh from late 1962 onward. Ricoh was founded in 1936 as Riken Kankoshi Co. Ltd., a producer of optics and was successful in cameras and industrial equipment.

The joint venture with Hamilton (which owned a 60% stake) continued, with American movements assembled and cased in Japan for the domestic market there. The movement, Ricoh Cal. 555E, was the same as the Standard Time Cal. 130E or Hamilton Cal. 505. Sales were poor in Japan, with most taking place on US military bases where Seiko was not as strong a competitor. The venture ended in 1965, with some leftover stock sold under the Hamilton Vantage brand in the United States.

Ricoh launched an automatic watch of their own in October 1962. Known as the Dynamic, it had a 33 jewel movement with instantaneous day and date change. After initial quality issues, which resulted in large-scale returns, the movement was perfected and remained in production until the 1990s.

Ricoh developed their own quartz watch, introducing it in July 1971. Although behind Seiko, this was before Citizen and established Ricoh as a major producer of watches in the 1970s.