Navy evaluated and used the Seapearl, which it compared favorably to the Rolex Submariner and Blancpain Fifty-Fathoms considering its performance and low cost.Įnicar, like many watchmakers, faced its downfall amidst the so-called Quartz Crisis of the ’70s and ’80s despite the fact that the watchmaker was part of the Swiss consortioum to develop the Beta 21, one of the wolrd’s first qurtz movements. Around the same time, the brand supplied its diver, the Seapearl 600, to mountain climbers, most notably a group of Swiss mountaineers who scaled to the top of both Mount Lhotse and Everest in 1956. In 1954, it had produced its first movement with chronometer certification from the Neuchatel Observatory. It even touted its watch movements as being ultrasonically cleaned.Įnicar’s peak seemed to be in the 1950s and ’60s.
Following WWII, the watchmaker upped the ante, producing its own movements in-house (as opposed to relying on supplied movements) and building tool watches that were, by most accounts, exceptionally reliable and affordable. What started out as a relatively humble operation quickly grew as the brand distributed timepieces to Eastern markets like Russia and China (where the brand came exceedingly popular). Key WatchesĮnicar was founded in 1914 in La Chaux de Fonds Switzerland by Ariste Racine (whose last name, you might notice, is Enicar when spelled backward). Given their ubiquity in America, vintage Elgin watches are relatively cheap to acquire and service, with most models selling for just a few hundred dollars on the vintage market. Military (notably the iconic A-11) as well as some unique and innovative designs, like the Direct Read (which displayed time on discs long before it became a trend).
The Elgin name has been bought and sold numerous times since any modern watches bearing the Elgin name are in no way related to the once-historic American watchmaking powerhouse.Įlgin made lots of pocket watches (as many American watchmakers during their heyday), but the brand was an early producer of wristwatches and made some excellent time-only pieces. Much like other American watch companies, Elgin had a hard time keeping up with competition from Swiss watchmakers, who had been bolstered by Swiss neutrality during WWII, in the ’50s and ’60s, and eventually shuttered production in 1968. Elgin was able to achieve such incredible production numbers by being an early adopter of mass production methods, using interchangeable, machine-made parts. It was also the biggest: Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, its factory complex was the largest dedicated watchmaking facility in the world, and over the course of 100 years, the brand made around 60 million timepieces. Key Watchesīased outside Chicago in the town of Elgin, Illinois, and founded in the 1860s, the Elgin National Watch Company was one of the earliest watchmakers to set up shop in America. The remnants of Cortébert continue as Perseo today, though it’s an entirely different company than the former juggernaut it once was. Despite this watchmaking legacy, Cortébert eventually became a victim of the so-called Quartz Crisis and shuttered. Supposedly, it even built the movement that formed the basis for the Rolex 618 which was used in old Panerai watches. Cortébert eventually produced a jumping hour wristwatch in the 1920s. It is perhaps best known today for accurate railway watches supplied to the Turkish and Italian railway system (the latter of which were sold under the Perseo brand name).Ĭortébert also produced one of the world’s first jumping hour watches in the 1890s when it acquired the rights to use a jumping hour movement made by watchmaker Josef Pallweber (the movement was more famously used by IWC).
Not much is known about Cortébert (its records were lost in a fire in the ’50s), but it was considered a high-end brand in its day. However, the name wasn’t used until the mid-19th century.
Cortébert’s roots go back all the way to 1790, when watchmaker Abraham-Louis Juillard opened up his watch store in Cortébert, Switzerland.
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