Excelsior Park

 By Bruce Shawkey

Found this ad in the Sept./Oct. 1954 issue of Swiss Horological Journal for an Excelsior Park "Bolsa Watch," but the watch is not shown in the ad. "Bolsa" is Spanish for "purse," so I have to assume Excelsior Park was going to launch a purse model, but never did. Instead, the ad shows a two-register chronograph and a stopwatch. Excelsior Park chronographs, of course, are quite desirable among vintage watch collectors.

Excelsior Park was founded in St-Imier in 1866, the brand has rather vague origins. The name "Joseph Bonnie" is often mentioned, but the history of the company seems unclear. The brand was still active as late as 1983, but disappeared after that.

More info from Chat GPT:

The Excelsior Watch Company was a Swiss watch company that was founded in 1888 by Johann Stüdeli and a group of investors in the town of Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. The company quickly gained a reputation for producing high-quality mechanical watches, and it became one of the leading watchmakers in Switzerland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the company's most significant achievements was the development of the "Grande Sonnerie" complication, which allowed a watch to chime the time in different ways (e.g., every hour, every quarter hour, etc.) automatically. The Grande Sonnerie complication was a major technical achievement in the watchmaking world, and it helped establish Excelsior as a leading innovator in the industry.

Excelsior also played an important role in the development of chronographs, particularly in the field of sports timing. In the early 20th century, the company produced several watches that were specifically designed for use in sports timing, including the "Monte Carlo" and "Chrono-Tachymeter" models.Despite its early success, the company faced financial difficulties in the mid-20th century, and it eventually went bankrupt in 1983. However, the Excelsior name has been revived in recent years by a group of watch enthusiasts who are dedicated to preserving the company's legacy and producing high-quality timepieces in the Excelsior tradition.

Grandia

 By Bruce Shawkey

Found this ad in the Sept./Oct. 1954 issue of Swiss Horological Journal for Grandia watches. They claimed to have 250 styles to choose from, and apparently focused on women's watches, because 13 women are pictured in the ad. I couold find nothing written about Grandia. Even a search on Google turned up nothing. Just another company company that succumbed to the Quartz Invasion.

1957 Watch Show in Geneva Features Expermental Designs

 By Bruce Shawkey

Found this article in a 1957 issue of Swiss Horological Journal for the "Watches and Jewels" show in Geneva that featured designs from some of the prestigious watch manufacturers. he designs were simply prototypes and never actually produced:

          Universal Geneve                                                                    Doxa

Patek Philippe

The show was a flop, and drew only a few watch manufactures and was never held again. It simply could not compete with the Basel Exposition.

Admes

 By Bruce Shawkey

Ran across this ad in the Sept./Oct. 1954 issue of Swiss Horological Journal for Admes watches, claiming to be the "watch of the future."

The pictured watch is an "Indimatic," with automatic movement, calendar and power reserve indicator. According to Kathleen Pritchard, in her two-volume encyclopedia of Swiss watch manufacturers, Admes was founded in 1949, the same year as the Swiss Watch Fair in Basel. They were listed in the Swiss Registry of Watchmakers as late as 1966. It appears they were another victim of the Quartz Invasion. So few Admes watches survived, I cannot even find images of them on the Internet.

Favre Leuba

 By Bruce Shawkey

Found this interesting ad in the Sept./Oct. 1954 issue of Swiss Horological Journal for Favre Leuba watches:

Here's a watch from 1953

Favre-Leuba’s roots go all the way back to a rather storybook beginning of 1737, when Abraham Favre opened a small watchmakers workshop in Le Locle, thereby staking a claim to be one of the oldest watch brands in existence. Here are some images of vintage Favre Leuba watches:

Here is an interesting altimeter watch from the mid-1960s:

Here is an article on Favre Leuba found in a 1951 edition of Europa Star magazine:

The "Compagnie des Montres Favre-Leuba" is a striking example of tradition in watchmaking and of progressive development of a craftsman's workshop into a modern manufacturing and sales organization. Through steady progress and thanks to an unabating need for improvement, this family enterprise grew into the watch company of today. As early as the end of the XVIIIth century, the family was settled in Loce as watchmakers. But in 1915, a small factory was created and took the name of Favre-Leuba. Fritz Favre-Leuba, the promoter of the enterprise, secures the renown of his articles in the Eastern and the Western hemispheres, crosses the seas and travels in the most trying climates of the Tropics, in both South America and India. In the latter country, the firm has gained its best footing and the branches of Bombay and Calcutta have today a staff of about 250 employees. The great schism that has divided this territory, at one time unified, into two parts: the Indian Union on the one hand and Pakistan on the other, has brought forth the Karachi branch. The Rangoon office is one more link in the oriental network, whereas the heart itself of the sterling area was also brought into the organization by establishing a branch in London. The Compagnie des montres Favre-Lueba S.A. in Geneva is now the center of a group of firms which are all filled with its own life and spirit. The reputation gained by the allied firms in London, Bombay, Calcutta, Karachi and Rangoon is the result of the efforts of both the Geneva managers and their delegates overseas. The former are keeping in constant touch with the very sources of artistic creation and watch craftsmanship, whereas the latter are maintaining, under sometimes very trying climatic conditions, a narrow contact with the populations of these big countries which have obtained a status of independence and are now on their way to great political and economic achievements, in spite of the obstacles which both the world situation and climatic calamities put in their way. The task of the managers of Favre-Leuba's overseas branches is to keep up among the people of these countries the desire to buy, not just any watch, but a Favre-Leuba watch. This means The task of the managers of Favre-Leuba's overseas branches is to keep up among the people of these countries the desire to buy, not just any watch, but a Favre-Leuba watch. This means that not only a business relationship, but first and foremost an atmosphere of sympathy, has to be created. This has been achieved and the reputation of Favre-Leuba articles has reached beyond the frontiers of India, Pakistan and Burma as far as the Near-East and Africa, where outposts have been in existence for sonic time and tend to develop and multiply. In the Western hemisphere as well, valuable contacts have been established. The manifold activities of the "Compagnie des Montres Favre-Leuba S.A." include the production of popular-priced wrist watches that are characteristic for the traditional types sought after on the Indian market as well as those shown opposite, which arc two out of the models presented at the world-famous Geneva exhibition Montres et Bijoux. Tradition and progress, the two forces that will mould the future! 

Here's an article on the Favre Leuba altimeter watch:

More Favre Leuba watches:

Olma

 By Bruce Shawkey

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

The brand was created by Paul Jeannin Bourquin in 1926 in Fleurier, Switzerland. The Olma brand was registered on January 22, 1926. Olma never made its own movements. But the brand introduced several innovations in the field of sealing its cases. Many models are proudly adorned with the mention “waterproof”. Here are some images of vintage Olma watches:

National

 By Bruce Shawkey

Found this ad ad in the Sept./Oct. 1954 issue of Swiss Horological Journal for National watches. The interesting thing about the watch advertised is that it is a basic, time-only watch. During this time period of the 1950s, watch manufacturers were coming out with watches that had all sorts of complications ... alarms, chronographs, multi-date, etc.

National was founded in 1867 in Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. Almost nothing has been written about the company, which is strange, given its long history.