Walk into any decent watch shop on a UK high street and you'll notice something odd. The £300 Seiko in the case doesn't look £300. It looks like it's borrowed confidence from something twice the price. That's not an accident, and it's not marketing spin either. It's just what happens when a company has been quietly obsessing over movements, dials and case finishing since 1881. Seiko...

Walk into pretty much any jewellery counter in Canada — from a mall kiosk in Mississauga to a boutique in Old Montreal — and you'll spot that unmistakable Seiko logo tucked among the diamonds and gold chains. It's a strange kind of staying power. Everyone's got a phone that tells time down to the millisecond, yet Seiko keeps selling watches by the truckload, and Canadians keep...