The Eterna Kontiki Story
Eterna Heritage Super KonTiki 1973 ‘Team aBlogtoWatch’ / Credit: Watches4Trade
Some watches have an everlasting impact on the sector, be it for technological innovation, aesthetics, or memorable PR campaigns. The Eterna KonTiki in many ways falls into all of these categories and became a very important watch in Eterna’s collection at a critical time in its history.
On April 28th, 1947 Thor Heyerdahl set off on his historic sea voyage to the Polynesian atoll aboard a makeshift raft named the KonTiki, after the Incan Sun God. Despite there being no direct evidence, apart from Eterna’s own claims, the entire supposedly crew wore an Eterna watch. This type of publicity was typical at the time, as Eterna also competed with the likes Enicar, Rolex, and Omega. So, when Rolex released the Submariner in 1954, Eterna had to respond. As such, Eterna released the Eterna KonTiki in 1958 to commemorate Heyerdahl’s trip. The Eterna KonTiki was quickly seen as a robust dive watch, its screw down caseback allowing for high water resistance and its dial made with radium markers for maximum visibility. In particular, the watch was noted for its large triangular markers – a design often compared to that of the Zodiac Seawolf. There were many other KonTiki variations over the years, one relatively popular model was the SEterna Super KonTiki that came about in the early 1960s. The Super KonTiki was made for divers and featured a large diver’s bezel, even being used by the Israeli Defense Forces at the time. Deciding to double down on the dive watch market, and also to differentiate themselves in light of decreasing sales due to the Quartz Attack, the KonTiki was completely redesigned by Eterna in 1973. Their redesign was aimed at capturing the niche market of recreational divers by making a watch for them as opposed to a ‘sporty’ watch for everyday wear.
Eterna continued to redesign the KonTiki, today having integrated a variety of features to coincide with modern trends. Even through its acquisition by China Haidian, the Eterna KonTiki has remained an integral part of Eterna’s offerings and will likely remain so for many years to come.