MIMO

By Bruce Shawkey

MIMO was founded in 1889 by Otto Graef,  in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland. MIMO is an acronym for the company's actual name, Manufacture Internationale de Montres en Or. For years, MIMO was an "invisible" company, supplying ebauches (rough movements) and components to the watch trade. By the 1920s and '30s, MIMO was coming out with wristwatches bearing the company name on the dials. The company had a number of innovative movements, including one with an 8-day reserve, and calibers with digital displays.

The company did so well, that some time in the 1930s (the exact year is disputed) the Graef family bought Girard-Perregaux. Both brands did very well, with GP selling primarily in the United States, and MIMO doing well in Europe.

Evidence suggests that Graef dropped the MIMO brand after WWII, presumably because it was not profitable, and concentrated on the GP brand. Demand for watches in the United States was extremely high after the war because Hamilton, Elgin, and Waltham had all been devoted 100 percent to making ordnance for the war. Further, the American companies had not yet produced an automatic movement, and GP had several calibers, including the highly successful Gyromatic, introduced in 1956.

But I digress. My theory is that the Graef family held on to the MIMO trademark, even though they didn't market it, or register it.

Here are some additional images of Mimo watches from the 1920s, including one with an 8-day run time:

We jump to the 1960s, and the Mimo brand reappears in this automatic watch:

I find it interesting that on this particular model, the company used a water-resistant case design that they had used all the way back in the 1940s with some of its GP models. The two-piece case uses a flanged crystal and gasket between the bezel and the case to keep out moisture. The case and bezel are held together under pressure by the use of four threaded miniature bolts that screw through the bezel just under the lugs on the backside of the watch. The screws make contact with the case and hold the entire watch tightly together:

The case back is stamped "7046" which is presumably a reference (model) number assigned to the watch.

This case design is based on the "Schmitz Freres" patent of 1937 for a waterproof case, and not coincidentally, was used by Girard Perregaux in the 1940s on several of its models.

In any event, it appears that the reintroduction of the MIMO brand was not a success. This is the only post-1940s example of a MIMO watch I have ever seen.