The sad state of Eterna
For those of you not familiar with Eterna and it’s history, it’s very well documented and fascinating. You can find a good overview here. For those of you that just want a bullet point, they founded ETA. As I was doing some cruising on the interweb last night, I came across this on Hodinkee discussing the Caliber 39, this was written in 2015 when the caliber first came out. As a true in-house modular movement with 88 permutations and 65hr power reserve, on paper this is extremely impressive. I would have thought that at this point, 9 years later, the use of this would be fairly widespread. But the only non-Eterna brand I can find using it is Ultramarine. And there is a great Fratello article about that here. Where they also point out that it’s one of the few available movements that is entirely Swiss made. And surprisingly Eterna itself only uses this in a few of it’s models, for example the chronograph in the Heritage collection. Most of the automatic’s they use, seem to be Sellita. I think a large part of Eterna’s problem stems from it’s ownership of a Chinese holding company Citychamp Watch & Jewelry Group Limited since 2011, and them not really knowing what to do with them or how to market the brand. Also note that they developed the Caliber 3030 back in 2006, so they have developed 2 in-house calibers in the last 20 years, an impressive accomplishment for a company that has been allowed to seemingly languish for such a long period of time. Not sure there are any great answers here, but I find it sad to see a company that has such historical significance allowed to flounder with no real direction. I think at some point it would benefit them to be acquired by Richemont, LVMH, or Swatch group (would make the most sense since they own ETA SA), if there would be an interest by any of them to revive the brand.
New watch enthusiast.
Monta has tried, but the movement just didn't cut it. I'm not sure if it's an ownership issue. Back in 2015 "manufacture" and "in house" was all the rage.
If you believe this article, it almost destroyed Monta and they learned their lesson. Sometimes it isn't a marketing, ownership or supply chain issue. Sometimes the product just isn't good enough.
And Ultramarine stopped using it for Kenissi.
Monta has tried, but the movement just didn't cut it. I'm not sure if it's an ownership issue. Back in 2015 "manufacture" and "in house" was all the rage.
If you believe this article, it almost destroyed Monta and they learned their lesson. Sometimes it isn't a marketing, ownership or supply chain issue. Sometimes the product just isn't good enough.
Wow that is very interesting, thanks or sharing.
When the Swatch Group was formed Eterna was left outside looking in. I think at the time watch brands were expected to die, not live on in as zombie companies. Eterna exists in that space between light and dark, like Universal Geneve did before their recent acquisition by Breitling. Unlike UG, you can't make Eterna back into a prestige brand. Its niche in the big conglomerates is already filled by brands with more current name recognition. (Richemont has Montblanc, Swatch has Longines, LVMH has Tag Heuer and Zenith, Fossil has Zodiac, etc...)
It is also unlike Titoni and Technos that have both transitioned into no longer being Swiss brands. It still tries to be Swiss. It is an orphan, like Atlantic and West End. But Oris was an orphan too, and it reinvented itself.
So, who borrows the money to buy the name and watches that aren't selling? The brand is known for the Kontiki, the Eterna 1000, and the Centenaire. Who really remembers those?
Ironically, Eterna would have a better chance if it was worse off and could be bought cheaply like what has happened recently to Benrus and Waltham.
Well that was an interesting rabbit hole