1881 Establishment by Kintaro Hattori of K. Hattori & Co., Ltd., predecessor of today's Seiko Holdings Corporation. 1919 Asashi Optical joint Stock Co. founded (Present Hoya Corporation) 1921 Import and sales of optical frames started by the optical department of K. Hattori & Co., Ltd., 1942 Optical glass lenses launched under the brand name Vista 1972 Asahi Carl Zeiss founded The worldfs first optical frames with multi-coated lenses released 1973 Frames under own brand Vista released 1975 First domestically produced optical plastic lenses released 1976 Company name changed to PENTAX Carl Zeiss 1980 First domestically produced optical plastic progressive power lenses released The worldfs first multi-coated optical plastic lenses released 1982 Brand name for optical lenses changed from Vista to Seiko Ruishin SF brand lenses, the first domestically produced left-right independent progressive power lenses, released 1988 Ruishin Combi brand lenses, Japanfs first laminated progressive power lenses, released 1989 Optical frames under the SEIKO brand released 1990 P-1 G brand lenses, the worldfs first aspheric progressive lenses, released Pentax Vision,inc founded 1996 SEIKO OPTICAL PRODUCTS CO., LTD founded Operation transferred from Seiko Holdings Corporation. 1997 SS P-1 brand lenses, the worldfs first back-surface progressive power lenses, released 1998 SSV AtoZ brand lenses, the worldfs first double-sided aspheric lenses ,released 1999 Vision Care Division founded at ASAHI OPTICAL CO., LTD., with the relevant operation transferred to it. 2000 SPG brand lenses, aspheric ultrahigh refractive index of 1.74 lenses, released Comfortable Vision Life Supporters, a Web site that offers information to glasses users starts 2001 ASTERIA SAT-UV brand lenses, back surface aspheric lenses, released PERFAS series brand lenses, back surface progressive lenses, released 2002 Prevent Stain Coating, released. 160 Pafina brand lenses, back surface progressive lenses for short and medium distances, released. PCway brand lenses, back surface progressive lenses for PC use, released. 2003 SFCK brand lenses, progressive lenses for PC use, released SS P-1 and SFCK series win good design awards in the design section for the year 2003 products. Furthermore, the Super P-1 series was also selected as a product for the universal design award, a special award. 2004 PENTAX Corporation(Present Hoya Corporation) and optical lens sales business consolidated to sell lenses under the brand name PENTAX beginning January 1.