The Schild family was important to watchmaking in Grenchen from 1856.

Two separate Schild operations were established by 1900

• Eterna (formerly Dr. Girard and Schild Ebauches, Präzisionsuhren-Fabrik Gebrüder Schild, Gebr. Schild & Co., and Schild Fréres) was established in 1856 and was split into two components under ASUAG in 1932
  • Watchmaking operations retained the Eterna name but were sold to PCW (Porsche Design) in 1982 and then to International Volant (now Citychamp) in 2012.
  • Movement manufacturing was reorganized as ETA in 1932 and eventually succeeded Ebauches SA to become the primary movement maker of Swatch Group in 1985.
• A. Schild SA was established by Adolf Schild-Hugi in 1896. This was a founding member of Ebauches SA but remained mostly independent until the establishment of the modern ETA in 1979.

Schild & Co was an unrelated company established by Otto Schild of Grenchen in La Chaux-de-Fonds around 1900. It became famous for the Hebdomas 8-day pocket watch movement, which it produced until 1979.