Movado
Watches - A Brief History
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[American
Waltham
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Piguet
| Blancpain
| Breitling
| Bulova
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| Corum
| Ellesse
|Fortis] [Girard Perregaux
| Gucci | IWC
| Jaeger le Coultre | Longines] [Movado
| Oris | Omega
| Patek
Phillipe
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Seiko | Tag
Heuer]
Movado, a
company whose name means "always in motion" in Esperanto, began its life in 1881
in a small workshop in La Chaux-de-faunds, Switzerland. Founded by talented
watchmaker Achille Ditisheim and his team of six employees, all watches were
manufactured and assembled by hand.
By 1899, their hard work and
determination had paid off. They were awarded six first-class Official Rating
Certificates in their class, and in the following year, they were awarded the
Silver Medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris.
By 1905, the company had settled on its now famous name, Movado, and began in
earnest its now famous pursuit of excellence in design and function. They won
the 1910 Grand Prix Exhibitions in Paris, Rome, Brussels and Rio de Janeiro for
their introduction of 8 ligne wristwatch movements. The introduction of the
Polyplan watch in 1912 took the watch community by storm, and these watches are
highly sought after at auction today.
In 1947, American designer Nathan George Horwitt created the first Museum
Watch. It featured an uncluttered dial, with a simple gold dot marker at the
12:00 position. He likened the design to that of a sun-dial, like recognizing
the sun at its zenith at high noon. Movado later teamed up with designers and
artists such as Andy Warhol to create one-of-a-kind limited edition watches,
which reside in museums, galleries, and collections today.
Movado is returning to its roots today. It has re-introduced the KingMatic
series, which was originally introduced in the 1950's, and featured the first
automatic movement and sweeping second hand, both driven from a central rotor.
Today, the KingMatic features an all stainless steel case, stainless steel or
leather bracelet, sapphire crystal, automatic movement, and is water resistant
to 50 meters. |