Tianjin Seagull Corporation is a watchmaking company located in Tianjin

Tianjin

' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...

, China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

. Founded in 1955, it is the world's largest manufacturer of mechanical watch movements, producing one quarter of total global production.

History

The company was originally formed as Tianjin Watch Factory in January 1955 with four craftsmen on order of the PRC government. In 1990, the Tianjin Watch Factory was awarded the status of a national company, and in 1992, the Tianjin Seagull Corporation was founded. That same year, the decision was made to discontinue the production of mechanical watches in favor of quartz watches; five years later it came to a complete reversal of this decision. It has since produced exclusively mechanical watches.

In 2000, the Seagull Group went public, and in 2003 a representative office in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 was opened.

Seagull is known for its expertise in the manufacture of tourbillons

Tourbillon

In horology, a tourbillon is an addition to the mechanics of a watch escapement. Developed around 1795 by the French-Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet from an earlier idea by the English chronometer maker John Arnold a tourbillon aims to counter the effects of gravity by mounting the...

 and chronographs.

Further reading

• Adam, Jean-Luc, "Tianjin Sea-Gull Watch", Europa Star, 1 October 2010