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: