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| Industry | Watch manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1856 by Josef Girard and Urs Schild |
| Headquarters |
Grenchen, Switzerland
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| Website | www.eterna.ch |
Eterna is a Swiss watch company founded in Grenchen, Canton Solothurn, on 7 November 1856 by Josef Girard and Urs Schild.[1] The company is now owned by Hong Kong-based Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group Limited, an investment holding company formerly known as China Haidian Holdings.[2]
On 7 November 1856, Dr. Joseph Girard and Urs Schild, a 28-year-old school teacher, founded the ébauche factory "Dr. Girard & Schild“. Eight years later the enterprise set out the mutual rights and obligations of employees and employers in writing. Urs Schild became a National Councilor in 1882. Six years later, he died at the age of 58. After the death of Urs Schild, his son Max took over the company and soon made a business trip to the United States. He returned to introduce machinery to the craftsmen. Max Schild was ahead of his time and his ideas were unpopular. Discouraged, he left the company and handed power over to his brother Theodore, with whom Eterna entered a prosperous 20th century.[citation needed]
In the 1900s, wristwatches were just starting to become fashionable. Schild Fréres, as the company was then known, started to produce ladies’ wristwatches adapted from small pocket watches. In 1905, the company changed its name to Eterna. The company continued to be at the leading edge of watch development, and in 1908 it patented the first alarm wristwatch. The watch went into production in 1914 and was launched at the Swiss National Exhibition in Bern that year.[citation needed]
By 1932, Eterna had set up a subsidiary company, ETA SA, to make movements for itself and other Swiss watch companies. This same year, Theodore retired and handed over the control of the company to his nephew Rudolf Schild. Theodore remained on the board of directors after retirement until his death in 1950.[citation needed]
Eterna produced many innovations in their history: the smallest production wristwatch with a Baguette movement in 1930, an eight-day alarm watch in the 1930s and their first automatic watch in 1938.[citation needed]
In 1948, Eterna advanced self-winding watch technology with the development of the Eterna-matic automatic movement. The use of five strategically placed ball bearings made the movement very efficient and significantly reduced friction and resistance on the oscillating weight that wound the mainspring. This reduced the wear and tear on internal parts, increasing the watch’s accuracy and useful life. The new watch became popular, and is probably the most famous Eterna watch and may be one of Eterna’s greatest designs. Its popularity was such that in 1948 Eterna adopted the image of five balls as its corporate logo.[3]
The Golden Heart for Ladies watch model, powered by Eterna-matic, was worn by actresses Gina Lollobrigida and Brigitte Bardot.[4]
In 1958, the KonTiki watch collection was released. It was inspired by 1947 Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki expedition.[5]
After 1982, Eterna was sold several times. By 1995, it was owned by FAP Beteiligungs GmbH. In 1999, Eterna produced a range of watches marketed under the Porsche Design label. Porsche Design sold Eterna to International Volant Ltd, a subsidiary of China Haidian on 29 June 2011.[6][7] CEO Patrick Kury left the company in April 2013.[8][9] China Haidian was renamed in 2014 to Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group Limited. According to the Dutch OSINT platform Datenna, Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group Limited's stake in Eterna led to a low risk of state influence on Eterna by the Chinese government.[7]
In the 2000s Eterna resumed manufacturing watches and creating the Calibre 6036 in 2004. The ultra-thin automatic 3030 was produced for the 150th anniversary in 2006. In 2009, a half-century after the Eterna-Matic, the "Spherodrive" once again highlighted the significance of tiny ball-bearings in mechanical watchmaking. The company remains active in wristwatch design.[10]
In 2014, it was announced that the partnership with Porsche Design would end and therefore end the production of Porsche branded watches,[9] a partnership they started back in 1998.[11]
In 2016, the company celebrated its 160th anniversary with the release of its limited edition Skeleton 1856 watch. The watch was available with straps in 3 different colours and only 160 of each was released.[12]
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