Dear friends of the cultivated madness,
some of us may still remember the manufacturer of ebauches that was founded in 1856 by the physician Josef Girard and the teacher Urs Schild as “Girard & Schild” in Grenchen, and the companies that emerged from it, Eterna SA and ETA SA.
Eterna is – or should we say was – one of the most innovative watchmakers in Switzerland. For example, the company applied for a patent for the first wristwatch alarm as early as 1908, and in 1914 it was presented to the world for the first time at the Swiss National Exhibition. Eterna is also the inventor of the ball-bearing rotor, which increased the winding capacity of the automatic caliber and is now indispensable for every manufacturer of automatic watch movements. This rotor bearing was equipped with five balls and these five balls have formed the company logo of Eterna SA since 1948.
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Eterna worked with the Italian automobile designer Pininfarina and with Porsche Design, and developed its own movements even after ETA SA was sold to the Swatch Group, which unfortunately did not include Eterna.
Until 2011, things may not have gone particularly well with Eterna, but overall they were not too bad. But then Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, who had taken over Eterna in 1995 with his F.A.P. Beteiligungsgruppe GmbH, withdrew and sold Eterna SA to Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group Ltd, which belongs to China Haidian Holding in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Under Chinese management, the traditional Swiss watchmaker is steadily declining.
But it is not only the Chinese, who are said to have taken a lot of money out of the company and invested nothing in return, who are driving the traditional manufacturer to the wall. The management in Grenchen also seems to have no idea what they are doing.
The Eterna SA operates a website at eterna.com where interested potential customers can view the current portfolio and find out about the technical data of the watches. Prices are not mentioned, but that is not a problem, because potential buyers can find out about these from the authorized dealers listed under the “Store Locator” menu.
But wait! Can the customer really do that?
No, he can't! The Store Locator only shows the Service Centers to which the customer can send a purchased watch for repair or servicing. These Service Centers do NOT sell watches!
But maybe Eterna SA offers an online shop where potential buyers can get rid of their money and purchase one of the (really and without sarcasm) excellently crafted watches?
... and yes, Eterna SA does have such an online shop, but you won't find it because there is NO link to it on the homepage. If you happen to come across the address shop.eterna.com at some point, you are in for a real surprise! Eterna actually offers not only 23 watch models in 3 model series, but 57 men's models and 7 women's models, for a total of 64 different watches, some of which feature the ultra-modern in-house caliber EMC 39!
With such an organizational masterpiece, it's no wonder that forums don't show new watches from Eterna – who knows, for example, that the Royal KonTiki GMT is available again and that the KonTiki Diver 200M is available in more than only two variants?
![Image]()
I think the staff at Eterna SA should give the management a good kick in the pants so that the brand is noticed again – it certainly deserves it.
some of us may still remember the manufacturer of ebauches that was founded in 1856 by the physician Josef Girard and the teacher Urs Schild as “Girard & Schild” in Grenchen, and the companies that emerged from it, Eterna SA and ETA SA.
Eterna is – or should we say was – one of the most innovative watchmakers in Switzerland. For example, the company applied for a patent for the first wristwatch alarm as early as 1908, and in 1914 it was presented to the world for the first time at the Swiss National Exhibition. Eterna is also the inventor of the ball-bearing rotor, which increased the winding capacity of the automatic caliber and is now indispensable for every manufacturer of automatic watch movements. This rotor bearing was equipped with five balls and these five balls have formed the company logo of Eterna SA since 1948.
Eterna worked with the Italian automobile designer Pininfarina and with Porsche Design, and developed its own movements even after ETA SA was sold to the Swatch Group, which unfortunately did not include Eterna.
Until 2011, things may not have gone particularly well with Eterna, but overall they were not too bad. But then Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, who had taken over Eterna in 1995 with his F.A.P. Beteiligungsgruppe GmbH, withdrew and sold Eterna SA to Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group Ltd, which belongs to China Haidian Holding in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Under Chinese management, the traditional Swiss watchmaker is steadily declining.
But it is not only the Chinese, who are said to have taken a lot of money out of the company and invested nothing in return, who are driving the traditional manufacturer to the wall. The management in Grenchen also seems to have no idea what they are doing.
The Eterna SA operates a website at eterna.com where interested potential customers can view the current portfolio and find out about the technical data of the watches. Prices are not mentioned, but that is not a problem, because potential buyers can find out about these from the authorized dealers listed under the “Store Locator” menu.
But wait! Can the customer really do that?
No, he can't! The Store Locator only shows the Service Centers to which the customer can send a purchased watch for repair or servicing. These Service Centers do NOT sell watches!
But maybe Eterna SA offers an online shop where potential buyers can get rid of their money and purchase one of the (really and without sarcasm) excellently crafted watches?
... and yes, Eterna SA does have such an online shop, but you won't find it because there is NO link to it on the homepage. If you happen to come across the address shop.eterna.com at some point, you are in for a real surprise! Eterna actually offers not only 23 watch models in 3 model series, but 57 men's models and 7 women's models, for a total of 64 different watches, some of which feature the ultra-modern in-house caliber EMC 39!
With such an organizational masterpiece, it's no wonder that forums don't show new watches from Eterna – who knows, for example, that the Royal KonTiki GMT is available again and that the KonTiki Diver 200M is available in more than only two variants?
I think the staff at Eterna SA should give the management a good kick in the pants so that the brand is noticed again – it certainly deserves it.
