====== Eterna ======
{{wst>menue|Eterna}}

**Eterna S.A.** is a Swiss watch manufacturer established in [[1856]] and currently part of the [[Citychamp]] group.

===== History =====
==== Dr. Girard & Schild ====
On 7 November [[1856]] the physician [[Girard, Josef|Dr. Josef Girard]] and the school teacher [[Schild, Urs|Urs Schild]] founded the [[raw movement]] manufacturer **Dr. Girard and Schild Ebauches** in [[Grenchen]]. The company was formally organized eight years later, as production grew.

In [[1866]], [[Girard, Josef|Girard]] retired from the company, selling his shares to Urs Schild for CHF 35,000. [[Schild, Urs|Schild]] as sole owner introduced the production of complete mechanical watches under the new name, **Präzisionsuhren-Fabrik Gebrüder Schild** (Precision Watches Factory Schild Brothers). In the following decades, greater mechanization was slowly introduced, including water- and steam-powered machines.

==== Eterna ====
Since [[1875]] (or perhaps as late as [[1889]]), the first watches signed with the **Eterna** name on the dial appeared. Beginning in [[1878]], the company also produced its own cases and dials, becoming a complete [[manufacture]]. Urs Schild became a National Councilor in [[1882]] but died in [[1888]]. The company was taken over by his brother, [[Schild, Adolph|Adolph Schild]], his widow, and his sons Max and Theodor. The company was soon renamed **Gebr. Schild & Co.** even as the brand name Eterna became more prominent. Adolph Schild left in [[1896]] to found [[A. Schild|A. Schild SA (ASSA)]], a movement maker that would remain mostly independent of the Schild operations until the creation of the modern [[ETA]] in [[1979]].

Max Schild traveled to the United States around 1890 to see the mechanized American production model. He returned with machines to help automate the company's production, but these ideas proved unpopular. He left the company and his brother, Theodor Schild became the head of the company in [[1899]], serving in that capacity for 33 years. The company was then known as **Schild Fréres** but officially changed its name to **Eterna** in [[1905]].

Eterna was an early proponent of wristwatches after the turn of the century, patenting "safety" lugs in [[1904]] and introducing the world's first [[alarm watch]] prototype in [[1908]]. That watch went into mass production in [[1914]]. Eterna was gaining renown in those years, winning the Grand Prix at the [[Swiss National Exhibition]] in [[1910]]. By the 1920's, the company had grown to produce over a million watch movements each year, introducing mens products like a cigar lighter watch and protected self-winding sports watch, the [[Eterna Hexa|Hexa]]. The company continued strength in women's watches as well, with a tiny baguette movement rivaling [[Jaeger-LeCoultre]]'s [[JLC 101|Cal. 101]].

==== Eterna and ETA ====
The great depression of the 1930's hit the Swiss watch industry hard, and the Swiss government and banks moved to consolidate the vast number of small suppliers to reduce disastrous "dumping" of product. With Eterna one of the strongest companies in the space, many component manufacturers were consolidated within the company's [[ETA|ETA AG]] movement arm. Watch operations remained separate as Eterna AG under Theodor's son, [[Schild-Comtesse, Rudolf|Rudolf Schild-Comtesse]]. Both parts of the company became part of the [[ASUAG]] holding company in [[1932]], with ETA falling under the [[Ebauches SA]] umbrella. Although [[A. Schild]] was a founding member of Ebauches SA, it remained separate from ETA/Eterna until [[1979]].

Development continued throughout the 1930's and 1940's, with Eterna introducing [[chronograph]]s, [[center seconds|sweep central seconds]] and the first [[automatic]] movement in [[1938]]. The [[Eterna-Matic]] of [[1948]] was a watershed for the industry, with its ball bearing-supported central rotor setting the standard from then on. The five balls used to support the rotor became the company's logo in the following decades.

Eterna grew with the Swiss watch industry throughout the 1950's, introducing the famous [[Eterna Kon Tiki|Kon Tiki]] watch to celebrate Thor Heyerdahl's [[1947]] journey, which had included Eterna watches. Other important pieces from that decade include the very-thin [[Eterna Centenaire|Centenaire]] automatic watch and the [[Eterna Golden Heart|Golden Heart]], a women's watch with a large gold rotor that became a Hollywood favorite.

In [[1962]], Eterna introduced the ultra-thin [[Eterna Eterna-Matic 3000 Dato|Eterna-Matic 3000 Dato]], the thinnest-yet automatic men's watch with a date mechanism. For women, the 4 mm thin [[Eterna Sahida|Sahida]] was a favorite thin watch.

As electronic watches rose to prominence in the 1970's, Eterna introduced their own [[tuning fork]] watch, the [[Eterna Sonic]], as well as a [[quartz]] watch in [[1974]]. The [[1979]] [[Eterna Estrellita Quartz|Estrellita Quartz]] was the smallest water-resistant watch ever made, wit a 1.06 gram movement. In the 1980's, Eterna's [[Eterna Museum|Museum]] line competed in the [[ultra-thin]] category, with a .98 mm watch the crowning achievement.

==== SMH and Porsche Design ====
In [[1982]] **Eterna** was bought by the [[SMH]] trust. This emerging conglomerate, later to become [[Swatch Group]], needed access to Eterna's holdings in ETA, the movement maker. Keeping ETA, SMH quickly spun the Eterna brand off to the PCW Group, part of [[Porsche, Ferdinand Alexander|Prof. Ferdinand Alexander Porsche]]'s [[Porsche Design|F. A. P. Beteiligungs GmbH]] ("Porsche Design") group. In [[1988]], Eterna purchased [[Sosclan]], maker of [[Fiorucci]]-branded watches and managed by [[Schild, Claude|Claude R. Schild]], son of long-time Eterna and [[ETA]] director [[Rudolf Schild-Comtesse]]. The younger Schild became manager of Eterna, returning the company to the founding family, from [[1988]] through just [[1990]]. He was replaced by [[SMH]] veteran Herbert W. Arni, who would run Eterna through the 1990s.

The Porsche Design license was long held by [[IWC]], but this agreement expired in April of [[1998]]. From then on, production of Porsche Design watches was taken on by Eterna. One major innovation of this era was the [[2004]] [[Porsche Design Indicator]] [[chronograph]]. Introduced at [[Baselworld]], the Indicator was the first chronograph to feature mechanical digital hour and minute counters.

Although stripped of ETA, Eterna set about once again designing in-house movements in the 2000's. In [[2004]], Eterna once again introduced their own movement, [[Eterna 6036|Cal. 6036]]. This was followed in [[2005]] by the [[automatic]] [[Eterna 3030|Cal. 3030]] and [[Eterna 6037|Cal. 6037]] in [[2007]]. Eterna returned to their roots with the introduction of the [[ball bearing]]-supported [[barrel|mainspring barrel]], called "Spherodrive" and introduced in [[2009]]. Another major advance was [[Eterna 3510|Cal. 3510]], a hand-wound eight-days movement with the Spherodrive barrel, introduced in [[2010]].

==== Citychamp ====
Eterna was purchased in [[2012]] by International Volant Ltd, a subsidiary of China Haidian (now [[Citychamp]]) that also includes [[Corum]]. That same year, Eterna introduced [[Eterna 3843|Cal. 3843]] in the [[Eterna Advantic|Advantic]].

In [[2013]], Eterna announced [[Eterna 39|Calibre 39]], a modular in-house movement. The project or five years development, Cal. 39 can be equipped in various configurations, including as a [[column wheel]] [[chronograph]]. The company plans to make this movement available to other Swiss watchmakers looking for an alternative to [[ETA]] movements. They claim that over 70% of the movement is sourced from [[Grenchen]].

===== Adolph Schild S.A. =====
[[Schild, Adolph|Adolph Schild]] left the company in [[1896]] and founded the [[Adolph Schild S.A.]] (also called **ASSA**). Amid economic issues in [[1926]], ASSA was merged with [[FHF]] to become [[Ebauches SA]]. This was reunited with Eterna when it was merged into [[ASUAG]] in [[1931]], though movement manufacturing continued under the A. Schild name for decades. These familiar "AS"-marked movements were used by many companies into the 1970's. But the quartz crisis ended production, with ASUAG's movement assets merging with [[ETA]] in [[1979]]. This merger reunited all components of the Schild family watchmaking operations for the first time in almost 100 years.

===== The ball bearing of the weight segment =====
The company belongs to the pioneers of [[wristwatch]]es with [[automatic]] winding and in [[1948]] introduced the [[central rotor]] with [[miniature ball bearing]] (at the automatic watch model „[[Eterna Matic]]").

Because of the superior importance of this development Eterna has the principle of the ball bearing weight segment also shown symbolically in the logo of the brand.

===== Weblinks =====
  * [[http://www.eterna.ch/|Eterna]]


{{tag>Watch_brands Watch_brands_Switzerland Movement_manufacturers_Switzerland General_Watch_Co. Citychamp ASUAG Grenchen}}