Atlantic Watches
| Atlantic-Watch Production Ltd | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1888 |
| Seat | Lengnau , Switzerland |
| management | Jürg Bohne ( Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors ) |
| Number of employees | 12 |
| Branch | Watch industry |
| Website | www.atlantic-watch.ch |
The Atlantic Watch Production Ltd (originally EKB ) is a Swiss watch manufacturer based in Lengnau in the canton of Bern .
Company history and technology development
In 1888 the businessman Eduard Kummer founded the EKB in Bettlach near Grenchen . The name of the company was composed of the first letters of the first name and name of the founder and the town of Bettlach. In the early days, 20 watchmakers mainly produced parts for pocket watches. Eduard Kummer was very interested in industrial progress : The production processes that were customary at the time, characterized by paraffin lamps and muscle or manual labor, were replaced early on, so in 1905 a mobile steam engine , the so-called locomobile, was introduced . The number of employees is increasing rapidly, so that by the turn of the century there were already more than 700 workers.
EKB was one of the first manufacturers of waterproof watches , so the company was renamed Atlantic in the 1920s . In the 30s, some of the first automatic movements were also installed, in the 60s the speed switch system (quick date changeover) was developed - the principle is still valid today.
Atlantic (like almost all Swiss watch companies) went through a severe crisis due to the Japanese quartz watch development in the 70 years , which was successfully overcome - not least due to the concentration on markets behind the Iron Curtain such as Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Hungary. To this day, Atlantic is one of the few (survived) independent watch manufacturers, albeit without its own caliber : both quartz and mechanical raw movements from ETA are used in the current collections . The watches are positioned in the inexpensive market segment, although the watches have high-quality components such as B. contain sapphire crystal and all watches are at least splash-proof (30 m waterproof). The product portfolio shows a focus on nautical timepieces.
In August 2008 the company moved its headquarters from Grenchen in the canton of Solothurn to Lengnau near Biel .
Collections
One of the most famous, most successful (and oldest) watch lines from Atlantic is the Worldmaster and the Seacrest . In the portfolio there are further clock lines in "nautical look", even for women.
Trivia
At the beginning of 2008, Atlantic won over the sailor and world champion Flavio Marazzi as an advertising medium.