Eterna

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Eterna is a Swiss watch company founded in Grenchen, Canton Solothurn on the 7th of November 1856 by Dr Josef Girard and Urs Schild. They initially specialised in producing pocket watches with alarms. In 1906 the company name changed from U. Schild to Eterna. In 1908 they became the first company to produce an alarm wristwatch. The movement production part of the company eventually became ETA SA.

In 1995 Eterna was bought by the German company Porsche Design.^[1]

[edit] History

The basis of the Eterna Watch Company was founded in 1851. By the 1900’s wristwatches were just starting to become fashionable. Schild Fréres, as the company was then known, started to produce Lady’s wristwatches from adapted small pocket watches. In 1905 the company changed their name to Eterna. The company continued to be at the leading edge of watch developments and in 1908 they patented the first alarm wristwatch. The watch went into production in 1914 and was launched at the Swiss National Exhibition at Berne in that year.
By 1932 Eterna had set up a subsidiary company, ETA, 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. Although retired, Theodore remained on the board of directors until his death in 1950. Eterna produced many innovations in their history, the smallest production wristwatch with a Baguette movement in 1930, an 8 day alarm watch in the 1930’s and their first automatic watch in 1938. Probably the most famous Eterna watch was their Eterna-matic. This watch was launched in 1948. The design of the automatic winding was one of Eterna’s greatest designs. The weight ran on shall ball bearings making it very efficient, hence the trademark of 5 ball bearings. The Eterna-matic continued in various styles and was still available in 1998, and has indeed been relaunched.
After 1982 the Eterna company was sold several times. By 1995 it ended up being owned by F.A.P. Beteiligungs GmbH. In 1999 Eterna produced a range of watches that were marketed under the ‘Porsche Design’ lable. The company is still at the forefront of modern wristwatch design.