Mido

 By Bruce Shawkey

Mido was founded in 1918 by Georges G. Schaeren (left). Born in 1882, this ingenious (some would say eccentric) Swiss watchmaker founded his company in Biel and immediately began advertising primarily wrist versus pocket watches. To this day, the company’s full name is Mido G. Schaeren & Co. The name Mido is actually a form of the Spanish verb medere, meaning “to measure.” No one seems to know why Schaeren selected this name. We can only guess that Schaeren was looking for a “catchy” name and chose this word. The practice was certainly not without precedent: Watch company names Movado (founded in 1881) and Mimo (founded in 1889) come to mind, and certainly there are others. 

Mido offered its first self-winding movement in 1934 (while others waited until the late 1940s and even ‘50s). They perfected the design of their self-winding mechanism to the point where it only had seven parts, while most others had 16. Eventually, the company offered ONLY automatic watches. A technical bulletin from the 1950s boasts: “Some day, ALL watches will be self-winding. For Mido, that day is NOW.”

They also incorporated shock-protected balance mechanisms and unbreakable mainsprings into many of their watches. Mido watches are, in a word, solid. Nevertheless, watches by Mido have never been elevated to the level of so-called “better” Swiss brands such as Omega, Movado, LeCoultre and others. There could be several reasons for this. One is perhaps the name itself. No one seems to be quite sure how to pronounce it—MEE-doh or MY-doh (the first is correct, although the second is certainly understood by almost anyone in the vintage watch collecting world). 

Secondly, the majority of Mido’s watches for men were made on the small side and perhaps did not appeal to large-wristed men. Many of the company’s automatic watches were 29 and 30mm in diameter, while an “average” watch is 33mm in diameter. In fact, it is difficult to find a larger Mido automatic watch before the late 1950s or early ‘60s. Also, Midos were marketed primarily in Europe until the 1940s. And finally, the company never really took aim at the upscale market, instead positioning its products as well-built and reasonably priced “sport” (not dress) timepieces for the average buyer.

Despite all this, vintage Mido watches are today some of the best quality watches at the most affordable prices. Mido is a natural pick for the collector on a budget who still wants a nice watch. During the 1920s and early 1930s, Schaeren’s eccentricity revealed itself in unusual watch designs. One model that appeared during the 1920s was a direct reading timepiece (right) where the hour and minutes are

printed onto discs which rotate and are read through windows in the case. A “normal” second hand appears at the bottom of the watch, which is printed onto its own disc. This is different from many of the direct read watches of the time, which used a seconds disc with printed numbers on it. Schaeren’s design makes more sense, as the printed numerals on a typical seconds disc (zero to 60) tend to be quite tiny.

In the 1930s, Mido manufactured a number of watches styled after the grill covers of various automobiles including Bugatti, Buick, Excelsior, Peugeot, and Chevrolet (below). Today, these early models are considered the most rare and collectible of all Midos.

The company made its first automatic movement in 1934, and it began to appear in ads in 1935. It was a bumper automatic; while the rotor traveled in both directions, it wound the mainspring only in one direction.  Called a “Multifort Superautomatic,” the automatic portion was rather complex and consisted of 16 parts. Again, we see the introduction of a rather strange word—Multifort. As with the word Mido, no one seems to know why the term was selected. But if we break down the word into its two parts, we have “multi” (many) and fort (probably from forte meaning strength or skill). We can only guess Schaeren was aiming for a term that expressed how his watches had many strengths. These earliest Mido automatics often had cases that were octagon shaped, although rounds were certainly common as well.

A couple of years later, the trade press was buzzing with two new technical innovations—the release of a Multifort automatic watch that was water resistant to two atmospheres (66 feet below the water surface) AND a water-resistant chronograph called the “Multi-Centerchrono” (right). It was a

revolutionary design that placed all the functions of the chronograph on the center post, along with the hour, minute, and constant seconds hands of the watch. The Multi-Centerchrono has been built on various ebauches over the years, including the Minerva 13-20 and the Valjoux VZ, both of which are 17 jewel. This model is another one considered quite collectible, not only by aficionados of Mido but of chronographs as well. The company promoted watches not only to sporting enthusiasts but to doctors, dentists, engineers, and chemists who needed not only to measure elapsed time, but who had to wash their hands often and/or work under harsh conditions (dust, vapors, corrosive chemicals, etc.).

By the early 1940s, the company had made significant inroads to the U.S. market, assisted by importers on both coasts. Dress models with manual-wind movements are seen from this era, but the emphasis continued to be on automatic sport models. The onset of World War II signaled a dormant period for Mido. In fact, the decade of the 1940s is not even mentioned in the history section of the company’s web site (www.mido.ch). While American advertisements of the time outlined the “robustness” of Mido Multifort watches for soldiers, it does not appear that Mido made any contract watches for the military during the war. It is known that the military (both U.S. and abroad) was still dubious of automatic movements even though they had been well tested by then. With contracts calling for watches with manual-wind movements only, it is not surprising that Mido was not associated with military-issue watches. According to Mido, the company’s primary markets during this time were Mexico, Brazil, and Thailand, countries which were not directly involved in the war.

The 1950s ushered in an unprecedented decade of  demand for consumer goods, and watches were no exception. This was Mido’s glory decade. By 1954, the company had perfected its automatic movement to the point where it had only seven parts. The company called this its “powerwind” system—a word that is seen on many Mido watch dials. The company had also perfected its water-resistant techniques to the point where it wanted its jeweler outlets to provide dramatic in-store demonstrations of the

brand’s capability. And so it developed the “Mido Super-Watertest Apparatus” (left). It is essentially a pressurized submersion tank to test the water resistance of a watch. It was the first device ever developed by a watch company—that I am aware of—to be used not only on the watchmaker’s bench but on the counter in front of customers and in window displays. A jeweler would fill the glass container with tap water and then hang the watch on a hook (minus the band, of course) on the cover that screwed on to the glass container. After securing the cover with the watch attached, the watchmaker or salesman would operate a hand pump and increase the pressure inside the glass (the pressure was read on a dial). The watch would then be lowered into the water by means of a slide that was mounted on top of the device. If no bubbles escaped from the watch, it was watertight. If bubbles appeared, the watch had to be dissembled, dried out, reassembled and tested again. It is assumed that salesmen only demonstrated on new watches from the factory!

Repairs by the watchmaker were most likely tested only in the back room. During this same time, Mido developed a mascot to be used in jewelry store window and counter displays. It was dubbed “Mido

Man” (right). The figure, made to look like a robot, was made of wood and painted silver. Consisting of six parts in all, the figure stood about eight inches tall when fully assembled. The arms and legs had several joints, so the figure could be posed in a variety of ways. The main part of the figure—the torso—was made in the shape of a Mido watch, complete with red dial and painted-on hands. The Super-Watertest Apparatus is seen occasionally at watch shows and marts to this day. Mido Man, on the other hand, is almost never seen at watch shows and has become quite a collectible item in its own right, sought after by watch and advertising collectors alike. It is a very fragile item, and undoubtedly many a Mido Man has been destroyed at the hands of children who were perhaps given the toy as the company phased out its use. Oddly enough, a collector seeking a Mido Man is more likely to find it at flea markets and such where sometimes it is displayed with doll collections. In any event, the combination of Mido Man and the Super-Watertest Apparatus was a huge success for Mido. This was a time when America was caught up in a technology craze, and the marketing folks at Mido did a great job of tapping into this sentiment.

In 1959, Mido introduced the OCEAN STAR, calling it “a revolutionary single-shell case, eliminating the possibility of leakage from the backside of the case.” (Actually, the single-piece case was not revolutionary; it had been used by many other watch manufacturers.) However, the combination of the single-piece case with the company’s patented crystals and the “AQUADURA” crown-sealing system, made these Mido watches more water resistant (equivalent to approximately 100 feet under water) than many of the watches produced by the competition. Ironically, the use of these patented crystals and crowns has today made many Mido watches unrestorable (at least to original factory specifications) because supplies of these vital parts have been depleted.

The 1960s and beyond

The 1960s were still a going decade for Mido. This was a time when many other watch manufacturers were struggling against the surge of Timex and cheaper imported brands that were flooding the American market. Part of the reason for this, I believe, is that Mido retained strong ties with its overseas markets (most, if not all, its service bulletins were printed in five languages), while other makers by this time had come to rely too heavily on the U.S. market. Plus, the price of Mido watches remained low enough to compete with many other brands.

Still, Mido could not stand alone against the coming quartz revolution. The company, which had remained family-owned since 1918, sold out to the ASUAG Swiss consortium in 1971. In 1983, ASUAG and SSIH merged and became SMH. That consortium has now been renamed “The Swatch Group,” and Mido remains part of that group. American offices are maintained in Lancaster, Pa., while Mido retains a “home base” in LeLocle, Switzerland, as well as representation with Swatch in Biel. During the 1970s, Mido developed and produced battery-operated mechanical watches, as well as digital quartz models and a “Swissonic,” which I assume was a tuning fork model similar to the Accutron. See image below:

But the company soon returned to its “roots” of producing mechanical timepieces. Today, the Mido line of watches bears an uncanny resemblance to those watches produced in the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s. Images are seen below. You could buy a vintage Mido, and be right in fashion!

Here are some additional articles I've written about Mido. 

An ad from the March/April 1958 issue of Swiss Horological Journal for the Mido Waldorf model. It's an automatic model from the company that claims it only makes automatic watches, though they made plenty of manual wind models as well.

 

Another ad in the Nov./Dec. 1957 issue of Swiss Horological Journal for Mido watches. The model in this particular ad was called the Datometer, a manual-wind watch.

Here is a beautiful color ad for Mido watches from the March/April 1954 issue of Swiss Horological Journal. It features two Superautomatic watches in stainless steel cases. In addition to being self-winding, the watches are 100% "waterproof" (before watch manufactures were required to modify the language to "water resistant"), shock protected, anti-magnetic, and with unbreakable mainsprings.

Mido's first automatics (shown below) were a bit smaller than the "standard" man's watch of  33mm, but they were robust watches and perfectly suited in the days before larger watches became the norm.

In May of 1971, Henri Schaeren (pictured below), was the last family member to own Mido before it was eventually absorbed by the the Swatch Group.