Is There A Future for Eterna Watches? Analysis and Review.
Вставка
- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- The Eterna Watch SA is one of the oldest manufacturers of wristwatches on earth. But in the last years the company went trough tough waters and now its future is unclear. Bureaucracy and bad management led to two bankruptcies in 2018 alone.
In this video you may learn about the history of Eterna and you can see a Eterna 1948 Legacy Automatic Date in a review.
Caseback Watches on Instagram
/ caseback_tim
Very interresting topic, I like that you talk about a big range of brands on your channel.:)
I owned a Kontiki Four hands. Too big for me (42mm and 22 mm lug) but very great finition and the bracelet was very very good quality. I've never understood why Eterna make so big watches. In 40 it would be perfect.
Great video Tim! I agree, Eterna has a great history and needs to organize its business!
By the way, i'm new here, i love the style of your videos and your journalistic approach to video production, cheers!
Eterna is a really interesting brand, but it takes just one look at their website to see that the ship is rudderless at the moment. Watches for sale with just one photo (no images of side of case, case back, etc...), no reference to the water resistance, etc...it just really hurts the credibility of the brand.
Great video Tim as usual I have an 8 and a quarter inch wrist so42 is perfect for me it's a beautiful watch. What I would like to know is can you do a video on how Eterna and ETA became separate, and how now their watches have sellita movements in them ?? which I find very "ironic" I guess for lack of a better word . "thanks for your time and hopefully until next time" 🤟😊
A watch brand I never really looked at to be honest. Maybe I should.
This video is executed masterfully. Thank you for your dedication. I have admired Eterna dress watches for some time. The prices for new Eternas kept me away. I will have to look on eBay.
Thanks for watching, Tony!
Hi Tony I have a new Eterna Automatic watch available on eBay from today. If you are at all interested please let me know. Thanks, Charlie.
I recently bought an Eterna Super Kontiki. I personally really like cushion divers. It’s a very nice watch, but I probably overpaid.
How much?
theres a new one for about 800 on ebay
My father had an Eterna watch back in the 1960’s. It was sadly lost in a break in. Your review brings back fond memories of my childhood. I hope Eterna one day will be back to former days glory. Thanks for sharing this.
I have a modest collection of vintage watches one of which is an eternamatic 2002 from the early 70s.I bought this as new old stock in 1989 from a small private jeweller and he told me it had been in his shop since he opened in 1970 and he hadn't sold it (nobody wanted mechanical watches at this time)he sold me it for £85 UK which at the time was probably about 1/3 of its price.I would rate its quality as around the same as omega of the same period.
I love my classy 60's eterna matic and wear it very often. this brand could be turned around.
So sad. Their watch portfolio is an odd bag of very different design choices and apart from the logo nothing binds the collections together.
I have a gold Eterna matic Centanaire with a date complication. I love it.
The only Eterna watch I’m fond of is a Kontiki super. But there’s just that much sport watches a man really needs...so I had to pass, but a really cool brand that’s being manipulated beyond abuse.
I have the Eterna 1939 Czechoslovakian pilot reproduction, and it is really well made. Would love to have it smaller , close to original size , but still really good made watch
Just picked up a used 1592 Kontiki four hands, and i must say for the money it is fantastic, blown away by the build quality, a great name in watch making i hope it endures
Love my super kontiki, finally a great size for my 21 cm wrist. :-)
I have collected watches for over 15 years. What I can say, is prior to Eterna being sold ~1990-2008 the quality was superb on a lot of their pieces. I would easily put them in the same tier as Omega or Breitling at the time, as far as build quality goes, only for a fraction of the price.
I think the thing that held them back prior to their sale was that a lot of the esthetic designs weren't very iconic or memorable. They seemed to lack inspiration. However, as far as quality for price, I don't think you could get better bang for your buck than eterna from that era.
I own my late grandfather's solid gold Eterna Matic 3000 Sevenday probably from the early 70s. A gorgeous piece and still super accurate.
I have 3 Eterna Watches from the 90's. They are accurate and I love them. They are kind of like a poor man's Rolex. If you are into Eterna then also check out French watch maker Yema
Earlier generation of Eterna under Porsche Design has definitely better samples comparing to today's Eterna. I own early 2000s Kontiki Chronometer 300 limited from Porsche Design Era, it is definitely built to last with everything. I love Eterna, they have a great history, they have great design language, they are inventors of ETA. And nowadays they started to develop movements back again with extended power reserve.
38mm would be perfect..
Eterna manufacture are wonderful
Heavy Hitter lol it's a nice watch though really quality an price not to over the top .
I recently picked up an Eterna-Matic from the early 60s. Beautiful dress watch, totally wearable with a suit at a mere 33mm - practically a ladies watch by today's standards! It is sad to see an important manufacturer in hard times, and I do hope that they can weather the storm. Their legacy of course will live on - ball bearings are standard on rotors now, and ETAs and derivatives are the most widespread Swiss movements out there!
Very intriguing brand for me. Great intro Tim !! Thank you
Eterna is a very under appreciated brand that needs new life breathed into a once great brand.
It looks a little ad-hoc, over size, and I can't stand these dials with subdivided minute markings, and the whole thing looks like a micro-brand with so many fails.
Have a 1962 33mm Eterna.matic. It's a 17 jewel automatic masterpiece, and is still accurate to 3-5 seconds a week! Just horrible to think the world may lose one of the greatest Swiss watch houses. Come on one of the big boys and thank ETA, (which many other major watchmakers may have used in the past I'm sure), and MERGE with a fine company - and take note of what the gentleman here has pointed out i.e. that Eterna make some of their watches unnecessarily large; but if they changed that to 34mm , and up to 42mm (max), then the whole concept of keeping them still at the forefront of a tough and yet challenging industry could still be satisfactorily achieved. As the reviewer rightly says - they are just too famously good to lose!
Size seems more suited to a sportier style. Nice otherwise though, interesting choice for bigger wrists.
Você é português? Que canal bacana! Parabéns 👏
Obrigado. Sou alemao mas nós falamos um pouco de português na família.
I agree. The brand Eterna is valuable!
This man has a Telecaster in the background, instant kudos. My uncle has an old Eterna in a watch box, a little field watch. First looked up the history after seeing it.
Stratocaster ;-)
Terry Hampton If it's one of the "dirty dozen", twelve manufacturers were commissioned to build military watches in the 1940s, then its value will increase. I bought one in 1981 for £35 and sold it for £150 in 2001 in order to fund the purchase of a Rolex Oysterdate. I've since discovered that only 6,000 were made, but do your research.
Great topic and great video. I have a Soleure complete calendar monopusher automatic chronograph by them. It's a hell of a lot of watch, and I bought it new (grey market) for under $900. It's too bad the brand has so mismanaged in an era where lesser brands (like Rado and Zodiac and Hamilton, much less Squale) are having a moment, when Eterna really should be competing with Longines and Breitling.
They founded ETA
Love the KonTiki Four-Hands.
Agreed, the brand caché does carry real value in my opinion. A smart move would be to sell the brand to a European/Swiss watch group such as LVMH or Richemont to be used as a mid-level brand. However, I would not like to see it go to the likes of Citizen Watch group (like Frederique Constant) or Invicta (like Glycine) as I feel it would severely harm its brand caché and they would merely use it to prop up its own reputation instead of the other way around. Likewise, the Swatch Group would swallow the brand and it would lose its identity like Longines, Hamilton and Tissot have.
Eterna is a little like Longines, a very old and venerable brand now making very nice watches and asking more for them than they are really worth. The difference is that Longines has access to Swatch's money and movements, and Eterna doesn't. So Eterna, sadly, will fail.
Both could sell as many watches as they could build if they adopted Hamilton's model and dropped their prices by 500 or 1000 dollars.
I READ THEIR WATCHES WERE ON PAR WITH OMEGA IN QUALITY, DON'T KNOW, THATS WHAT I READ.
@@gg9483 Depends on the Model , you get what you pay for , Omega is in my opinion a level above Eterna but Eterna makes really Great watches for the money , they are definitely better than Mido , Tissot , Certina and co. probably on par with longines like many people wrote in the comment section .
Interesting and good video as always. Did the Eterna watch have an ETA movement? Don’t think so. Strange isn’t it
They founded ETA and Eterna Movement and don't use any of them. Usually the movement comes from Sellita on current models.
Well, the thing is, ETA movements belong to the Swatch company now, and they put restriction on market selling, which means that no company other than companies inside of the Swatch Copr can get ETA movements. Since Eterna is not owned by Swatch, you get the rest. (Hope you don't mind my reply from 2021, which takes it's time to get here)
40mm would be perfect. I kept mine though.
Yeah - too big. I should stop watching your channel because I still want that Landeron from your holiday video.
Haha, when I see one at a good price, i'll tell you!
Looks like a SARB033 that's eaten all the pies
I lived in The Hague for a year, and it was HOT in the summer. 30 degrees many days, hot at night, and my beautiful old house in the old city center there was poor circulation, and the fans from the store were expensive and of such poor quality they broke after a week of use. Crazy! European life is appealing in many ways, food, walking in the city, and ease of transit, but in many other ways it is lower quality of life than here in the US.
Informative and inspiring, well done
Excellent review and analysis Tim! Thank you 👍
5:30 "Great, great ..." XD XD XD
I share your opinion about the size of the watch, my wrists are only 16.5 cm in diameter and 42mm is too much for me in a dress watch.
On the bankruptcy of Eterna: perhaps its new owners have already negotiated the sale of the brand with some fashion watch company and are in a hurry to saw the deal. Maybe in the future we will see minimalist Eterna watches with Chinese quartz mechanisms, great ... great !!
...thankyou for this Tim, and please do part 2, would be interesting to know how/when the "mess" started...and who/what is responsible for the downturn in one of historys' great watch manufactorys...i have my fathers' Eternamatic Centenaire and have just acquired an 1856 Skeleton Limited Edition to bookend it...beautiful, classy, an important brand that needs some love...
The Chinese company is now known as Citychamp Watch & Jewelry Group. They also own Corum, and the watches of the Dreyfuss Group. They had begun using an Eterna
movement in a Dreyfuss & Co watch and, I believe, the plan was to use more Eterna movements in other brands that they own. I don't have any insight into the current
financial problems but Eterna's movement production seems important to the future of this watch group, so maybe that side of the brand will not be sold after all.
Vines for wine? Good idea ... probably. See if you can get him to plant an olive tree or two. They are beautiful trees - and if the climate change stuff pans out as scientists think it will, they produce good olives in time.
Meu eterna matic kontiki me acompanha há 44 anos. todo original, selo ouro. 20 atm. não vendo, nem empresto. ficará na família.
it looks a really nice watch , & i like the colour too , i have skinny wrists but love big watches , so i would love that size lol .
I have recently bought an Adventic GMT on $900, utilizing their in house calibre 39 movement. 65 hrs power reserve, second sub dial and 2nd timezone. Same class with Tudor in house movement. It's a bargain ! Service centre ? At least in Jakarta some independent watch repair company having technician with 30 years experienced even more in mechanical watches. And Eterns movement quality is very good, so what you need to do is wear it few days in a week, service it once in 2-3 years to get the movement cleaned and oiled.
For my 20th birthday 1970, my father bought me an Eternamatic watch from a jeweler who had closed his shop years ago. It was $60 without box or documentation. It is capped with rolled gold with a white face. It does not have 3000 on the face. My best friend had an Omega watch which seemed to be much more widely recognized as a brand name, especially after the moon landings. I wore it all the time for 35 years so it is well worn and not in perfect condition. I had it cleaned several times but in the end they said it wasn't worth cleaning again and it stopped periodically. They said "get a new watch". But I still have it. I wonder whether it is worth anything or whether it should be restored?
Is Eterna now splitted? Watches on a side and movment on the other? Eterna movment are very great. Check Ultramarine watch for exemple.
The Eterna Movement Company is part of Eterna, and still in business.
@@CasebackWatches oh OK. Danke !
Entirely too large of a watch. It would be perfect at 36.
that's pretty much it... you can have all the history you want and all the nice designs, but if you make watches that are too big (and too expensive at msrp) for most people to wear, you're not going to sell many and you're going bankrupt
they should "just" refocus on 2, max 3 model lines, hype up their in-house movement even more, figure how to put it cheaply into smaller watches, and resize their entire collection to offer most/all sports watches in 40-41mm (they don't need to discontinue the big 'uns, just offer more sensible sizes alongside), and the dressy ones in 36-38, suck up a bit and lower the prices to minimum profit margins, and sell directly from their website (no dealers)
can i be the CEO? :)
praetor47 for CEO!
:-)
@@CasebackWatches where do i apply? they changed so many, they might as well give me a chance :D if i'm hired, i'm making you... CMO!
but seriously.... they have so many designs that i like that i'd want to buy, but don't because i couldn't wear them :(
We should all buy Eterna watches now.
I just had a gift, ETERNA-MATIC KonTiki 1958 CHRONOMETER Limited Edition model ref. 1573.47
I love it, love to have a watch with a great history.
It’s a shame what happened to the company.
I hope that Swatch group adopt this brand and rescue it from vanishing
Eterna one of dirty dozen. I respect. History is there skill is there.... Marketing... Can't find it.. Maybe it hide somewhere.. Love my kontiki bronze..
I own two vintage Eternas and my son one.
A 1966 Eterna 1000 date, 1967 Eterna 1000 date with gold bezel and a 1969 Eterna 1000 with gold filled case, no date.
Thanks for a very informative video! Would love to learn more about Eterna in future videos.
6.69 inches??? Wow! I think at 7.25 inches, I am lucky to be in the middle range... no?
Excellent video Tim, both in content and presentation. Not a brand I have considered before but certainly a good range of designs and styles that demonstrate their heritage within the world of horology. I would be buying vintage, but feel comfortable in the fact that I can service the watch myself if required.
To save on air conditioning in your home, maybe remove the waistcoat first and see if that makes you feel better!
BR, TC
Remove waistcoat?! Never! 😉
Hi Tim! Thank you very much for your video. I am a big fan of Eterna and this video is very interesting for me, also because help to understand some behaviours of Eterna in last period. The only positive thing is that in this period you can find some new Eterna for a very good price... just bought a fantastic Kontiki Super 1973 limited edition :D I hope really that the brand will save itself.
It looks just like a Hamilton Jazzmaster, even the shape of the case. Who copied whom? Or is this a common form for a watch?
Thank you for the post. Tim is cool! Eterna has always been a favorite watch, sadly so under rated especially with its impressive history. I look for the Chronometers from the late 1950's with movements marked 5 adjustments. I will subscribe!
The Legacies and the Tangaroas are nice models. But the Kontikis are just too cluttered. Just my opinion.
I bought a Porsche Dashboard by Eterna a few years ago for a fraction of retail, the whole case was encrusted with diamonds! I also bought a number of Ventura designed by Hannes Wettstein, These came from the English arm of the Chinese company with bought and ruined both manufacturers ! I believe they had an interest in several other cheap high volume watch brands including Ingersol .
Actually, a shit-ton of chaos before City Champ bough them.
www.tempusfugit.watch/2019/04/time-to-sack-up-eterna-can-be-saved.html
The Swatch group, will pick Eterna up...maybe!!
A lot of watch companies with follow cause new generations are not that much interrested in wrist watches anymore. A wrist watch will be just a kind of jewellery accesoire that is nice to have but not necessesary anymore.
Wow! Major shame that the people running Eterna could let the company slide so far and so fast. Eterna has or at least had some great models. Kon Tiki for sure but also their chronograph line. I can't help but to think that someone could turn things around at Eterna quickly with some steady leadership. Tim, it's up to you! Buy Eterna!!!
Great Eterna watch... Similar to 1948 Heritage... 👌🏼🇵🇦
hopefully eterna will have solutions for the problems they're facing and survive this difficult time for them and come out stronger as a brand. we still need the kind of brand that have long span history with expert knowledge of the industry that will provide us with alternatives of quality time pieces to have (or not to have), at least to widen our horizon about this industry.
enjoying your content very much, thank you.
Invicta to the rescue of Eterna just watch! lol
I would love if Invicta became a Swatch Group of sorts: parent company that makes absolutely hideous watches under their own name and then a brand portfolio of dozens of interchangeable sWiSs mAdE watches.
Uh Tim...you forgot about the wristwatch check, HELLO! 😂
its 2020 and I own Soleure and would like to sell or trade it but no takers .
Sad that a brand with such history should hit hard times - looks like the owners have not invested in marketing to keep the brand in the public eye - For example, not aware that they have ever sponsored sports events of any kind or used celebrity endorsement. In the past Eterna's technology was a match for the likes of Omega - but Omega have risen through continued technical investment, allied to the kudos of the moon landings, use in Bond films, sponsorship of sports events etc. etc. Not cheap to do, but necessary to keep the brand alive.
They lack on creativity new designs , investments or marketing but all their watches are good quality made by skillful watchmakers, the focus is on the watch itself , People who know eterna know it , no need for waste of money for commercials or sponsorship in sports .
Can't Eterna get more profit from their ETA movements?
Having founded ETA I believe they sold it to the Swatch group who is the current owner. Problem with the recent Eternas is they use the Sellita movement because Swatch has restricted the supply of ETA movements for companies outside the Swatch group. Sellita attempts to copy the ETA movement but it is not the same thing. I have a Kontiki and a Centenaire from the 1960's. Those are excellent watches.
how is Sellita not the same thing , there is no quality difference .
Eterna is a beautiful brand, but the Chinese killed them
Well, the Chinese acquired it at 2010, when Eterna was on the very edge of death. If you really have to blame someone for the cause, it's General Swiss Watch Industry's bad management, with Japanese invention of Quartz movement taking parts, and finally Swatch's monopoly over the market.
What image is that on the computer screen behind you? It looks like x-rays or CT scans. Are you also a radiologist?
No, thats the editing software, Premiere Pro. Its dark and so a good background.
Dam I got mine on ebay around 500usd brand new
Please make a video about Ebel.
This video aged like fine milk
90% the watch company take a dial with 42 mm, 33 - 36mm fits more to 1970 - 1980. Even Rolex produce 39mm, 41 mm. Perhaps the eterne is too thick and massive.
eterna chrono moonphase is a great watch
Excellent. Thank you.
Lug to lug not mentioned ruins the whole review.
22 mm
@@CasebackWatches 22mm is the lug width,lug to lug is the height from tip to tip.
The shape is far more important than the actual measurements however it's always better to know both . IMHO.
Just by mentioning it on the channel means you're selling it on the channel. I am not in any way impugning your integrity, but to say, that "I am not going to sell it on the channel, but in a forum", simply means all one has to do is go to the forum and it there. How would you know that they didnt see it on the channel?
Also, ich finde, die Uhr passt dir gut 👍
Look like tony stank 55555
Can't really find these to purchase in the U.S.
As of July 2020 do you still recommend to buy an Eterna?
If I had 25K dollars I would buy Eterna, like Jean Claude Biver did with Blancpain in the 80s, and sell Eterna in twenty years for 60 million dollars.
ryvr madduck for CEO! ;-)
Beautiful timepiece. Is this inhouse movement?
Has a very Seiko like dial. Reminds me of a SARB.
Yeah, is it just me or does it look a lot like a Presage....
ETA ROCKS.
And straps? how its ne movment? click? weight? usual you say that things.
Sorry, I was a little brief. Unfortunately they use Sellita movements now.
Please tell me what brand are glasses?
In that video a RayBan, now Polaroid.
@@CasebackWatches thx!
If Eterna closes down, wouldn't all its watches have a spike in price and can only go up from there? Because the supply is dried up and there's only a limited amount of watches circulating in the market.
Or people will be concerned about the possibility to service the watches. Then prices could go down.
@@CasebackWatches If you live in switzerland there should be no problem with the service even if they go out of business .
Depends on the Model , only specific ones could definitely go up in price .
If Eterna had had its difficulties a bit earlier, it would have been gobbled up by Swatch, like Rado, Mido, Omega, Hamilton and a dozen other old and honorable brands. Alas, I think it might be too late for that now.
This is actually sad man.. based on the most basic of observation I would say Eterna is well on their way under.. I actually do hope a buy out would come along and keep this brand alive.. but still, with such an honorable position in the history of horology, it’s sad.