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This was the second Japanese quartz watch, (after Seiko,) the first Japanese quartz watch using the now standard 32,768KHz frequency, the first quartz watch displaying day & date, the first quartz watch under 100,000 yen.
From https://thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?/topic/95876-japanese-giant-goes-missing-ricoh-watches/
The other product that Ricoh produced with the help of Hughes aircraft was their first analogue quartz watch - the cal550. This was a large, two-battery dinosaur. It is not as elegantly executed as its contemporaries, but it was produced in 1971 - meaning it was around at the same time as the first Seiko 38xx and some Beta21 models. Like most very early quartz watches it was not produced in high volumes. It preceded Citizens and Orients first quartz watches by more than a year - a long time during the race for new products in these early quartz years. It is claimed to be the first quartz watch with day and date mechanism.
In 1970 there were no quartz models below Seikos 150,000 yen cal 38xx watches. In December 1971, Ricoh released the Riquartz 550 which at 90000 yen was the first quartz watch below 100000 yen. Seiko chased the Riquartz prices but in 1972 were still at 100000 yen with their cal 39xx models. Citizen did eventually bring hisonic prices down to about 20000 yen with mass production economies, but their efforts were matched by both Ricoh and Seiko with their quartz watches and by the mid-1970s prices were more or less the same for quartz and hisonic watches. The writing was on the wall and Citizen, by this time was piling resources into quartz and digital development.
From the web: “1972 The 'Riquartz' caliber 550, first model with two batteries and later ones with one battery, is introduced. The watch has a frequency of 32 kHz, a stepping motor, a tuning fork quartz and electronic parts made by Hughes Aircraft.” [The Hughes anecdote is not verified. Ricoh did make LED watches with movements made in America by Hughes at around the same time.]
From "Electrifying the Wristwatch": "The CMOS integrated circuit was supplied either by AMI (American Microsystems Inc.) or Hughes Aircraft, and the 32 kHz tuning fork-type quartz resonator was made by NDK*. For fine frequency tuning, six ceramic capacitors could be connected to the quartz with a bank of screws. The six-pole stepping motor featured a platinum-cobalt rotor. Two serially connected silver oxide batteries supplied the necessary power."
*AMI founded 1966 in Santa Clara
*Nihon Dempa Kogyo Co., Ltd are still in business making quartz. NDK. The 59F is a date code. It means it was made in May of 1979. The "F" denotes the country it was made outside of Japan.
1973 Seiko 38 calibre quartz around 70,000, Grand Seiko stainless steel approx 50,000
Yen to dollar
The second digit could easily be the year, ie 1 for 1971. The third digit could be the month ie 4 for April. This is only a guess.
| Number | Ref | Date |
| 010491 | 550001 | |
| 011346 | 550002 | |
| 012683 | 550002 | Oct 1972 |
| 014425 | 550003 | |
| 015145 | 550002 | Aug 1972 |
| 015227 | 550002 | Jul 1972 |
| 017906 | 550002 | |
| 018308 | 550004 | |
| 021906 | 550002 | |
| 022966 | 550002 | Sep 1972 |
| 024188 | 550002 | Sep 1972 |
| 024887 | 550002 |
Technical section
