Description
Eterna occupies a very important place in the history of watchmaking. To mention just two facts: it was Eterna that introduced the ball bearing solution that is still used in automatic movements today, and ETA, the largest manufacturer of Swiss watch movements (now part of the Swatch Group), was founded by Eterna.
The story of the brand began in 1856, when Dr. Joseph Girard and Urs Schild, a twenty-eight year old teacher, realized that with the emerging Swiss watch industry, there was a great opportunity for a movement company. They set up the watch movement factory "Dr. Girard & Schild" in Grenchen (Canton Solothurn) and soon began producing both semi-finished and fully finished watch movements.
When Dr. Girard left the factory in 1866, he remained the sole owner.Urs Schild innovated the production process by introducing the first automatic production machines in the area, which could be powered not only by water from the surrounding streams, but also by a modern steam engine.
When the production of ebauches began to become less profitable due to the increase in supply and the drop in prices, Schild also began to produce fully assembled watches. The first pocket watch, completely made in Grenchen, was introduced with great success in 1876. In response to this change, and in view of the fact that his brother Adolf had joined the company in the meantime, Urs changed the name of the factory to "Präzisionsuhren-Fabrik Gebrüder Schild" (Schild Brothers Precision Watch Factory). The company was known as "Schild Fréres & Co.".
When he was only 58 years old and a year after being elected to the National Council of the Swiss Confederation, founder Urs Schild died in 1888 and the company was taken over by his two sons Max and Theodor.
In 1890, when the company employed about 300 workers with a daily production of 180 watches, the "Eterna" logo began to appear on the dials of some watches as the name of the collection.
The company is now owned by Hong Kong investment holding company Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group Limited, formerly known as China Haidian Holdings.
