The History of ETA - How ETA Become the World’s Biggest Movement Maker
Unmarked ETA 2824-2
The story of ETA would not be complete without the stories of so many other entities. Much like many of the world’s largest conglomerates, inorganic growth was key to achieving ETA’s size today. So, let’s take a look at how ETA bought itself an empire.
ETA’s foundation goes back to 1793, when Fabrique d'Horlogerie de Fontainemelon was founded by Isaac and David Benguerel and Julien and François Humbert-Droz, becoming the world’s first ébauches and eventually opening their first factory in 1816. The next important date in the formation of ETA was the founding of Eterna. Eterna was founded in 1856 as a competing movement manufacture by Josef Girard and Urs Schild. At the time both companies were known for producing solid Swiss movements, Eterna, in particular, also gaining a reputation as a watch brand. Then, in 1926, FHF, A. Schild, and AMSA (all ébauches) merged to form Ébauches S.A., to compete with Omega’s SIHH. Other companies also joined Ébauches at the time, notably Bovet. Eventually, as a result of the Great Depression, Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie (ASUAG) was formed in 1931, including Ébauches. Eterna joined the group in 1932, officially creating ETA when it was forced to split into two divisions to join ASUAG. As such, 1932 marked the first time ETA’s name and mission were independent, albeit still being a part of the newly formed conglomerate.
By the 1950s ETA had become a high-end manufacture, known for its self-winding movements. As such, at the height of the Quartz Attack, ASUAG was forced to dissolves Ébauches into ETA, which was already the world’s largest ébauches having merged with A. Schild in 1978. Nick Hayek then merged ASUAG with SIHH, creating the Swatch Group – and ETA grew even larger. Today its responsible for creations such as the ETA 2824, the ETA 2892, and the Valjoux 7750, among others. Apart from Miyota and Sellita, there are few third-party manufactures that compete with ETA, and when it comes to Swiss third-party movements, few are better.