Geneve Hosts Mini 1955 Exposition

By Bruce Shawkey Switzerl

The big watch show in Switzerland is of course the Basel Exposition. In the mid-1950s, another show tried to make a start in Geneva, the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich).

Swiss Horological Journal decided to cover the event and published their report in the Sept./Oct. 1955 issue. Here are some of the watches that were exhibited at the event:

From left: Universal Geneve, Eberhard,  Rodania, Universal Geneve

This is just a sample, of course. Many high-grade watch companies were at the expo, including Patek Phillipe, Vacheron and Constantin, and Rolex. But as most know, I don't report on those brands, because they are outside my interest.

In ant event, the Expo never caught on, and I believe it was only held once. The Basel Exposition remained the show that everyone wanted to attend, and remained so until about 2020 when the cost to exhibitors to attend the show became too expensive.

In an ironic twist, smaller shows, like the one held in Geneva in 1955,  have grown in popularity since 2020.

Technos

 By Bruce Shawkey

Technos is one of those brands that has fairly simple beginnings, but grew rather complicated as the quartz invasion of the '70s and '80s wreaked havoc on the Swiss watch industry and the brand was tossed around to various owners. It was a respected brand in the United States in the '50s and '60s, but today is primarily known in South America, especially Brazil.

Still, a small group of savvy collectors in the United States are familiar with this quality brand and eagerly buy up vintage Technos watches whenever they are offered on eBay or other venue. So let's take a look at the history of this brand.

 Founded 1900

 Technos is a brand that was registered in 1924 by M. Gunzinger-Hug, which in turn was founded in 1900 by Melchior Gunzinger in the city of Welschenrohr in the Swiss canton of Solothurn. Not much is known about the early years of the company's history, nor of Mr. Hug, who I assume was a founding partner in the firm. It appears the company started manufacture of wristwatches in 1918. In 1920, the company passed to Melchior's sons, and became, “Gunzinger Bros. Ltd.” (Gunzinger Frères SA) and the "Hug" name was dropped.

The brand experienced a modest success in those first years. A 1928 ad (left) showed 12 different styles of men's and ladies' wristwatches. But the brand didn't really take off until after WWII when pent-up demand for consumer goods resulted in a boom for watches. Gunziger Bros. ran a flurry of ads for Technos watches in the various trade journals of the time, and also exhibited at the Basel Fair in 1954 and '55 (two of their featured watch are shown below).

Their movements during the post-WWII boom and beyond were supplied by A. Schild, Kurth, FHF, and other ebauche suppliers. One interesting watch introduced during this time was called the Atomium (left), capitalizing on the atomic craze sweeping the world in the wake of the atom bomb. The watches -- often with molecule diagram motifs on the dials -- have become cult classics of sorts among watch collectors and chemistry geeks.

As stated earlier, Technos enjoyed a moderate success in the United States in the '50s through the '70s and even into the early '80s with a few quartz models. The country was swept up in the technology boom given the space race, the advent of computers, and the shift from the Industrial Revolution to an economy primarily based upon information technology. Technos seemed to be the perfect brand name reflecting the times.

Gunzinger registered a flurry of model names during this time, according to Mikrolisk.de, the online database of trademarks. These include: Alarmdate; Clinic (1957); Cougar, Goldshield (1962); La Marque qui se distingue (1975); Masterpiece (1962); Neutron; Partner (1962); Perpetron; Positron; Select (1955); Slim Dandy; Slim Master; Slim Mate; Slim Neat; Star King (1963); Supercron; Technograph; Technotron; Trans-World (1956); Univision (1962); Univista (1962); and Ultramar (1947).

Not all these model names were brought to market, of course, but it illustrates how much Gunzinger wanted to become a known brand during this period of expansion.

In 1956, Gunzinger and its Technos brand partnered with Brazilian businessman, Mário Goettems. Thus began the story linking the history of the brand with Brazil. Technos flourished in Brazil to the point where in 1973 Goettems was the largest brand importer/distributor in the world, selling half a million Technos watches per year. More on this later, but the bond exists to this day, with new Technos watches being sold on a Brazilian website, technos.com.br, and at retail outlets throughout the country. Let's pause now to look at some Technos ads and watches through the decades. 

Even as Timex and cheap Asian imports began to eat away the market for fine Swiss watches in the '60s, Technos still scored a few hits during this time. One of these was "The King," (left) introduced circa 1963. With its fluted bezel, date at 3:00, and ETA 2472 movement (same base movement used in the Rolex Date model), it's probably no coincidence the watch is a dead ringer for the Rolex Date model introduced in 1945.   

    Another was the "Skydiver," (below, right) introduced in the mid-1960s, with various dial/case configurations and water resistance up 500 meters. I see these offered for $1,000-$2,000 on various websites. They have jumped quite a bit in price, probably due in part to the 2021 article on the Fratello website: https:www.fratellowatches.com/technos-sky-diver-vintage-watch-review/#gref.

In 1970 or thereabouts, Gunzinger sold out to General Watch Company, which had recently joined the ASUAG consortium of Swiss watch companies. The history of Technos gets a little crazy after that, but the story goes that ASUAG could never quite find a niche for Technos. So in 1982, they sold Technos to the long-time Japanese importer, Heiwado & Co. Heiwado, which in turn, granted limited license to Goettems to design and manufacture their own Technos branded watches in Brazil.

This arrangement continued until 1995 when Heiwado sold the rights to the Technos brand outright to the Brazilian importer Technos Relógios SA, which I believe grew out of the company Goettems had started back in '56. The Technos stronghold remains in Brazil to this day.

Technos did maintain a small presence in the United States through the General Watch Company years and even the early years of Heiwado ownership. A quartz model is shown above. But the brand gradually lost presence in the U.S. and to my knowledge there are no authorized Technos dealers in the United States today. But collectors can certainly buy on the secondary market for vintage, or from the Brazilian website mentioned earlier for current models (some shown below) which bear very little resemblance to the classic (1950s) Technos watches.

 

Some examples of current-day Technos watches

 

Ran across this interesting ad in the Nov./Dec. 1958 issue of Swiss Horological Journal for a Technos "Atomium" watch. They were obviously capitalizing on the "atomic" craze that was sweeping the country at that time. Here is an image of the watch:

Note the atomic motif on the dial.

The Technos brand was registered in 1924 by Joseph Gunzinger. The company began to increase its manufacturing capacity and became one of the main employers in the area.

Here are other articles on Technos watches I've published:

Found this ad in the Sept./Oct. 1954 issue of Swiss Horological Journal for Technos watches.

The Technos brand was registered in 1924 by Joseph Gunzinger. The company began to increase its manufacturing capacity and became one of the main employers in the area.

Here's picture of a watch from the 1960s:

Highlights from the 1957 Basel Watch Fair

 By Bruce Shawkey

In this installment, let's look at some of the watch companies that exhibited at the 1957 Basel Watch Fair. Let's start out with Fortis:

There were probably 40 watch companies exhibiting at the Fair, a far cry from the hundreds of watch companies that exist today. Watch and Jewelry sent a single reporter (who was probably also the photographer) to cover the fair, again a far cry from the hundreds of reporters who have descended on the Fair in more recent times.

Here's two Universal Geneve watches from the Fair:

Here's a Tissot watch:

and a Girard Perregaux:

And Longines:

Here's Enicar, including their latest "Sherpa Ultrasonic" (right):

And finally, Roamer:

Alpha

 By Bruce Shawkey

Ran across this interesting ad for an Alpha watch in the March/April 1955 issue of Swiss Horological Journal. It is a manual-wind model with gold-filled top, stainless steel back "waterproof" case and Incablock shock-protected balance.

There is virtually nothing written about the Alpha Watch Co. The ad states the company was founded in 1902. According to Kathleen Pritchard in her two-volume encyclopedia of Swiss Watch manufacturers, the company specialized in skeletonized watches. An image of one of their watches is pictured below:

Delbana

 By Bruce Shawkey

Delbana was established in 1931 by Goliardo Della Balda in Grenchen, Switzerland (image below).

Goliardo Della Balda

Delbana has produced high quality, affordable, Swiss made timepieces over generations. There isn't much written about Delbana. Kathleen Pritchard, in her encyclopedia of Swiss watchmakers, reports that Delbana registered several model names ove the years, including Colorette, Delbos, Delora, and Voltige. I was fortunate enough to run across this beautiful color ad for their Voltige model in the March/April 1954 issue of Swiss Horological Journal. Click on the image to see a larger image. Note the knurling around the edge of the bezel. Very classy!

Here are some additional vintage Delbana ads from the company's website at delbana.ch:

1930s

1940s ad

Vintage 1956 models

1960s ad

Samples from current collection

Here is another article I wrote on Delbana:

By Bruce Shawkey

The company was founded in 1931 by Goliardo Della Balda. Originally from the Republic of San Marino (Italy), Della Balda moved to Switzerland in the early 1920s. The place where he decided to settle with his family was the city of Grenchen. located in the mountainous region of Jura and considered (as it is today) the watchmaking region par excellence. After having worked for various watch companies for years, Don Goliardo decided to found his own company, which he named Delbana Watch Company. Just as the chosen name comes from his own last name, the chosen emblem comes from the flag of his native country. (On the flag of the Republic of San Marino you can see a coat of arms in the center which has three towers inside that refer to the three ancient fortresses of the country and symbolize strength, independence and freedom.)

Here are some imagest of Delbana watches and advertisments for Delbana watches ove the years:

Hoga

 By Bruce Shawkey

Of all the watches exhibited at the Basel Watch Expo of 1957, the Hoga direct reading watch gets my vote for the most obscure.  The watch had three super-imposed apertures enabling the hour, minute, and second to be read rapidly and without risk of error.

There is very little written about the Hoga Watch Co. It appears to have been founded circa 1949 and was listed as a manufacturer as late as 1966. They registered several brand names, including Appointment, Cleartimer, Directime, Eiffel, Filos, Hoba, Hogaflex, Jeromex, Ocean, Oceanmaster, Vistatime, and Yachtimer.

My source on this is Kathleen Pritchard's exhaustive, two-volume encyclopedia of Swiss Timepiece Manufacturers. 

Highlights From the 1957 Basle Watch Exposition

 By Bruce Shawkey

Swiss Horological Journal sent a single reporter (who was also the photographer!) to the 1957 Basle Exposition. It is almost unimaginable, when today watch magazines will send several reporters and photographers to cover the event. Yours truly was sent by the NAWCC's Bulletin to cover the event in 2004, and I can tell you that is quite the spectacle, a far cry from the trade show it was in 1957. 

The reporter wrote there were 720,000 in attendance at the multi-day affair. Exhibitors numbered in the hundreds, covering everything from watches to watchmakers' tools and machinery. Here's some of the watches that were exhibited:

L to R: Luxor                                       Universal Geneve               Revue

Of particular interest is the Hoga "Cleartimer," a direct-reading model with three super-imposed apertures enabling the hour, minute, and second to be read rapidly and without risk of error.