A brand of legend
ETERNA In 1856, Granges (German part of Switzerland) was in the depth of unemployment. Hunger was daily fare, for domestic production could no longer feed its citizens. There were no alternative sources of income, for nobody was prepared to commit themselves to the unknown. In an effort to alleviate the worst distress, Dr Josef Girard and the school-teacher Urs Schild, opened a small production facility for watch movements on 7 November 1856. It was the origin of the Eterna Watch-manufacturing company. At first only movements were made, soon followed by complete timepieces. Urs Schild devoted himself with considerable fair to the production of pocket-alarms. This experience formed the basis of the first ever wrist-alarm launched by his successors in the early 20'. This avant-garde model was patented in 1908 and put into production in 1914 (!!). Then Eterna came out with a succession of technical innovations, including :
- the smallest serially produced wristwatch, with a baguette movement, in 1930
- an eight-day alarm in the early 30'
- the first Eterna automatic wristwatch in 1938 - a men's model with a swinging winding-weight - followed two years later by the similarly pendant for ladies'
- an automatic wristwatch in 1942, considered remarkably small and thin for this time
- the futuristic winding-rotor on ball-bearings launched in 1948 for the Eterna-Matic self-winding wristwatches
- an elegant automatic calibre with center seconds, specially developed for ladies' watches in 1952
- the Golden-Heart in 1958 with a 23-carat-gold rotor which reigned as the smallest ever automatic watch and graced the wrist of the Italian film-star Gina Lollobrigida
- the Sahida and the Eterna-Matic 3000 launched in 1962 as the thinnest automatic watches for women and men
- the Royal Quartz KonTiki in 1976, the thinnest quartz watch with date in a case water-resistant to 100 meters
- in 1979, the 1,5 mm-high Linea Quartz Squelette and the Estrellita Quartz - the smallest water-resistant quartz watchesin the world with movements weighing just 1,06 grams
From 1982, the Eterna company went through various hands, ending up in October 1995 in the ownership or Ferdinand Alexander Porsche and his family interests. Eterna produces the Porsche watches too. When Thor Heyerdahl and his crew of five again stood on dry land after 97 days and 7600 kilometers at sea on board their storm-battered balsa-wood raft, KON TIKI, their Eterna wristwatches were none the worse for wear. Eterna's subsequent line of sports watches were consequently named KON TIKI.
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Wristwatches, by Gisbert L.Brunner & Christian Pfeiffer-Belli - Konemann
LINK
- Our Kontiki Automatic Watch Series collection
- Our New Kontiki Automatic Chronograph Series collection
- Our Kontiki Automatic Chronometer Diver´s Watch Series collection
- Our Superkontiki Automatic Series collection
- Our Eterna page
- Our Porsche page