Cyma

By Bruce Shawkey

Below is my article that appeared in a June/July 1984 issue of the NAWCC Bulletin. It still holds up today.

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Brothers Joseph and Theodore Schwob founded Cyma (SEE-mah) in 1862. The company employed 40 people who produced about 40 pieces per day, and included both simple (time only) and complicated pocket watches, including chronographs and repeaters.

By 1905, Cyma’s daily production had increased to 1,000 pieces. Chief among the company’s markets were Europe, South America, and the Far East.  Cyma watches were also imported by at least one other U.S. company, Jos. Brown & Co., of Chicago. These were 12- and 16-size pocket watches. One thin16-size Cyma model was proclaimed the “best watch ever made for the money.” 

By 1913, when Cyma’s founder, Henri Sandoz, died at the age of 62, Cyma had become one of the preeminent watch factories of Switzerland. Its employees, who now numbered 1,000, turned out 2,500 watches and movements daily.

About this time Cyma began producing wristwatches for sale in Europe, South America, and Asia. Cyma watches appeared in the U.S. beginning in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Today, thanks to international trading venues such as eBay and others, it is possible to obtain many of these earliest Cyma wristwatches from sellers outside the United States. Many examplescased in 9 kt. gold, for example, can be found in the United Kingdom, where that alloy was popular for many years.

The 1930s began to see the importation of wristwatches to the United States, though the contribution to the company’s bottom line was not significant due to the Great Depression. Thanks to larger markets elsewhere, the company survived the 1930s.

Courtesy Mario Mardones

Innovative case designs can be seen on some watches from this era. Antofagasta, a port city in northern Chile. The city   was a boom town—a shipping point for the export of     sodium nitrate, used in fertilizer and gunpowder—at the time   of this watch’s production. 

Another watch, right, is in a silver case with multi-angle facets cut into the bezel. Another early Cyma watch is seen below.

Left, a hinged nickel case, circa 1914, with a 15-jewel movement, and a red numeral 12 on the dial.

By 1938, Cyma’s production reached 4,000 watches and movements per day. The manufacturer employed 2,000 workers. Cyma claimed at one point during this decade to be Switzerland’s “largest supplier of precision watches.” Its product line was diverse, and included dress watches, shockproof and waterproof watches, and chronographs.

The chronographs were equipped with Valjoux movements, one of Cyma’s few concessions to using ebauches (rough movements) from other companies.

A couple more early Cymas are seen at left:

Left: Cymas with bullseye dial and small
seconds at 9:00. Right: Cymas with exploding
numeral dial.

The company exhibited at the Swiss National Exhibition in Zurich in 1939 with a 2-1/2 ligne movement that Cyma claimed was “the smallest in the world.” It also in that year that Cyma came out with its first water- and shock-proof watches.

The outbreak of war in Europe in the 1940s did not slow Cyma’s pace. As a neutral country,

A Cyma British Army watch from the World War II era.

Switzerland could continue to supply watches of all kinds to countries on both sides of the conflict. The Swiss watch industry’s ties to Great Britain since the early days of production resulted in lucrative contracts for government-issued watches for British ground and air forces. An example is seen at right. It is still possible today to find many of these watches, though they are becoming rare, bearing the characteristic arrow insignia on the dials and/or case backs.

In 1943, Cyma launched its first automatic movement, the caliber 420, with a swinging arm, or “hammer,” which winds the movement in one direction only. This movement was fitted into the square-cased “Watersport” model, among others.

The boom economy of the postwar decade translated into growth for almost all of the watch companies, and Cyma was certainly no exception. Watches from this decade are the most plentiful and easiest to find by today’s collectors. Here are a few watches from the 1950s:

 Left: A Teledate (triple date) with a steel snapback case and a caliber 455 (a Baume Mercier 454) movement. Center, a two-register, Valjoux 22 movement chronograph in a 38mm steel case with a 4-screw back. Right: A square automatic with “Watersport” stainless steel case and caliber 420 movement.

By the late 1950s, the in-house automatic calibers were replaced with ebauches purchased from ETA.  The 1950s also saw Cyma coming up with clever names for the mechanisms that protected the movements from shock and the elements. These often bordered on the wacky and absurd. One of my favorites is “Cymatriplex,” which can be seen on some watch dialsof this period. The watch was antimagnetic, dustproof, and shock-resistant. The name “Cymaflex” is also seen on many dials of this period to denote a shock-protected balance. During this time, Cyma also updated its logo to a letter “C” with a tiny globe inside. 

The late 1950s were more or less the “final hurrah” for Cyma. The invasion of the market by Timex and cheap Swiss imports was in full swing, and many traditional watch companies died a slow death by the mid-1960s. Cyma finally ceased all in-house production in 1966. Three Cymas from the era are seen below:

Left. A square model from the 1970s with a 17-jewel signed manual wind movement and stainless steel signed square case. The subsignature on the dial reads: “Cambord.” Right: A British Army issue quartz diver watch from the 1980s, with military markings on the back. It is water-resistant to 300 meters, has a screwdown crown, and 20mm lug openings.

Then, like many brands, Cyma experienced a rebirth. An article on Cyma in a 1995 issue of the trade magazine Europa Star showed numerous styles of Cyma watches, including solid gold models, and a modern re-creation of a duo-dial physician’s watch (all with quartz movements). 

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