The company was originally formed as Tianjin Watch Factory in January 1955 with four craftsmen on order of the People's Republic of China 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 favour of quartz watches; five years later it came to a complete reversal of this decision.