Seagull Watch Group

Founded in January 1955 as Tianjin Watch Factory by four craftsmen under order of the People's Republic of China government, Seagull created China's first domestically made mechanical watch, the 'Five-Star' timepiece. In 1963, the factory developed China's first aviation chronograph (D304) for military use, featuring a movement based on the Swiss Venus 175—now known as the legendary ST19. The company was promoted to national enterprise status in 1990, and in 1992 became Tianjin Seagull Corporation. After briefly pivoting to quartz (1992-1997), the company made a complete reversal to exclusively produce mechanical movements and watches. Seagull went public in 2000, opened a Hong Kong office in 2003, and moved to new facilities near Tianjin Airport in 2010. The 2000s marked breakthroughs in high complications with China's first in-house tourbillon, minute repeater, and perpetual calendar. In 2009, the ST9250 movement integrated all three complications. In 2024, Seagull celebrated its 70th anniversary with innovations including a proprietary silicon hairspring tourbillon.