History Of Movado Watches
Movado, the creator of Movado watches, began in 1881 in Switzerland. The company, named Movado because in Esperanto it translates to "perpetual motion," started as a tiny workshop in the town of La Chaux de Faunds. Achille Ditisheim, already a well-known watchmaker, assembled a staff of six for his fledgling firm. All Movado watches were hand assembled by this small group.
Movado watches had earned six prestigious awards by 1899, called Official Rating Certificates in the first class category. One year later, Paris' Universal Exhibition was the setting for a silver medal for Movado watches.
It wasn't until 1905 that the name Movado was chosen for the firm. In 1910 a new line of Movado watches debuted, winning that year's Grand Prix Exhibition in Paris, as well as Rio de Janeiro, Rome and Brussels. Movado's 1912 Polyplan watch premier was an astounding success. These watches are popular with collectors still today.
Movato's Nathan George Horwitt, a designer and U.S. resident, designed the first of the Movato Museum watches in 1947. These Movato watches have uncluttered dials with markers at 12:00 that are simply gold dots. Horwitt's compared his new Movato watches to a sundial that sees the sun at its noon zenith. Andy Warhol and other famous designers of the team joined Movato during the next few years to create limited edition timepieces that were one-of-a-kind. These unique watches are now the property of art galleries, historic collections and museums.
Now Movado watches are striving to return to their roots. The firm has re-launched the KingMatic Movato watch series that was premiered around 1950. These watches had the first automated watch movement and sweeping second hand, both of which had a central rotor to drive their movement. The re-introduced KingMatic watch has a case that is entirely stainless steel, a band of leather or steel, a crystal made of sapphire, automated movement and water resistant to 165 feet deep.
If you'd like to turn back the clock as you wind your watch, you might do well to look online for one of the early Movado watches. We found several nice early Movado timepieces without a shocking sticker price. A man's Movado watch, circa 1939, is available at one collector's site for under $300. This Movado watch is 9 carat solid rose gold, with a brown leather band. It has the untouched dial of early Movado watches, as well as a seconds dial. It is wound by hand, and comes with a gold case with three pieces. The case is also 9 carat gold and has a 1939 import mark from Glasgow. The Movado watches signature is on the movement and the case dial as well.