ETA SA
| ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse
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| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1793 |
| Seat | Grenchen , Switzerland |
| Number of employees | approx. 8000 |
| Branch | Watch industry |
| Website | www.eta.ch |
ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse is a Swiss manufacturer of movements and watches belonging to the Swatch Group . The Grenchen- based company employs around 8,000 people at eleven production sites, mostly in Switzerland.
Companies
ETA SA emerged from a merger of several manufacturers. The company supplies individual clockwork components, kits or complete clockworks and occupies a dominant position in this market.
The kits are further processed by some manufacturers (for example Nautische Instrumente Mühle Glashütte / SA, DEPA clockworks ), refined and in some cases provided with additional functions. Only a few watch manufacturers , such as Rolex , Omega (especially Co-Axial escapement), Girard-Perregaux , Zenith , Jaeger-LeCoultre , Nomos Glashütte and A. Lange & Söhne , could do without parts from ETA in their production as a manufacturer and raw material supplier , but still fall back on them, since, for example, spiral springs can only be manufactured cost-effectively from a certain number of pieces.
In July 2002, ETA announced that from January 2003 it would only produce a reduced number of blanks and that it would stop deliveries entirely from 2006. Instead, only fully assembled movements should be delivered.
Since, according to the Swiss Competition Commission (Weko), ETA has a dominant position in the mechanical raw works (so-called ébauches) manufactured in Switzerland up to a price of CHF 300 per piece , it was recognized in the investigation that was completed on November 19, 2004 obliged to continue to supply their customers with raw movements for mechanical watches until the end of 2010, but only to a reduced extent (until 2008: 85%; 2009: 50%; 2010: 25%).
From June 2011, another examination took place. As a result, it was agreed in October 2013 between Weko and ETA that the reduced delivery (2014/2015: 75%; 2016/2017: 65%; 2018/2019: 55%) to the customers of ETA would continue to be made. The decisive factor here are the average sales volumes between 2009 and 2011.
history
The company's roots go back to 1793, when four master watchmakers opened the Benguerel & Humbert watch factory in Fontainemelon . At that time, many workers were still employed from home. The factory led to the village's heyday in the 19th century. In 1825 it was taken over by the Robert family and, as a stock corporation, was named Uhrenfabrik Fontainemelon AG in 1876 . In 1984 the company was bought by ETA AG.
In 1856 Josef Girard and Urs Adolf Schild founded the raw material factory “Dr.” in the farming village of Grenchen as the first permanently viable industrial company. Girard & Schild ”. Initially, the simple transmission machines were still powered by the water power of the Dorfbach, until a steam engine was installed in 1870 . From 1876 onwards, the company also produced finished clocks in addition to raw movements. Managing director Urs Schild had decided to make the company more crisis-resistant through diversification . All the watches produced were still pocket watches.
In 1900 Urs Schild's descendants converted the company to electric power and in 1906 it was renamed "Eterna-Werke, Gebr. Schild & Co." (a limited partnership ). In 1932, under the then managing director Theodor Schild, the company was divided into two separate stock corporations : ETA SA for the manufacture of raw works (for own use, but also for third parties) and Eterna SA for the manufacture of finished watches.
Urs Schild's sons Adolf, Caesar and Ernst had expanded the company founded by their father under the name A. Schild SA (ASSA) into the largest raw works factory in the world at the time. In 1978 it was integrated into the ETA .
The Swiss watch crisis of the 1970s, triggered by the economy and the Japanese quartz watch export offensive, called for innovations. Ultimately, it was Ernst Thomke who came up with the Swatch idea, who made the plastic watch available in an almost fully automatic production method, and generally gave the ETA and the watch city of Grenchen new impetus. Today, the ETA Group is one of the largest watch movement manufacturers in the world.
On December 29, 2013, the electroplating department of ETA Plant 1 in Grenchen was completely destroyed by fire. However, according to Hayek, head of the Swatch Group, it is possible to switch to electroplating departments at other plants, including that of the new dial factory in Grenchen, until the electroplating department of Plant 1 can be put back into operation.
Common calibers (movements) from ETA
| designation | Diameter × height (mm) | description |
|---|---|---|
| ETA 2000-1 | 19.4 x 3.6 | Automatic |
| ETA 2824-2 | 25.6 x 4.6 | Automatic, for example MÜHLE-GLASHÜTTE Rescue Timer |
| ETA 2841-1 | 25.6 x 5.2 | Automatic, for example SWATCH Irony Body & Soul |
| ETA 2892-A2 | 25.6 x 3.6 | Automatic, for example OMEGA Seamaster (Omega caliber 1120), IWC Ingenieur, OMEGA Speedmaster Automatic (basic caliber for chronometer attachment) |
| ETA-Peseux 7001 | 23.3 x 2.5 | Hand winding |
| ETA-Valjoux 7733 | 31.05 × 6.7 | Hand-wound chronograph (no longer in production) |
| ETA-Valjoux 7734 | 31.05 × 6.7 | Hand-wound chronograph like the 7733, but with an additional date display (no longer in production). The Poljot 3133 caliber is almost identical. |
| ETA-Valjoux 7736 | 31.05 × 6.7 | Manual winding chronograph like the 7733, but with an additional 12 hour counter (no longer in production), this movement is also available with a 24 hour display, e.g. B. Gallet Flying Officer. |
| ETA-Valjoux 7750 | 29.9 x 7.9 | Automatic chronograph, for example BREITLING Navitimer, OMEGA Speedmaster Date, SINN 103, TAG-HEUER Carrera |
| ETA-Valjoux 7751 | 29.9 x 7.9 | Automatic chronograph full calendar, for example OMEGA Speedmaster Day Date and LONGINES Master Collection moon phase are based on it |
| Valgranges A07.111 | 36.5 x 7.9 | newest large automatic movement in different versions |
| C01.211 | 30 x 6.1 | Automatic chronograph with plastic escapement, for example Tissot Couturier, PRC 200, SWATCH Irony Right Track |
| ETA 251.232 | 13.25 lines x? | thermocompensated quartz chronograph movement |
swell
- F. Kauffungen: Watchmaking in the Canton of Solothurn. 1987
- Eterna: 135 years of precision watchmaking. 1991
Web links
- ETA SA website , multilingual
Individual evidence
- ↑ Delivery reduction: Swatch and Weko agree , Handelszeitung October 25, 2013
- ↑ "Pioneers of the art of watchmaking - Dr. Josef Girard and Anton Schild ” , schild-eterna.de
- ^ German Vogt: Schild, Adolf. In: New German Biography. Volume 22, 2005, p. 756 ( online version ).
- ↑ Nick Hayek: "The heart of Eta production has been hit" . Solothurner Zeitung, December 30, 2013