Montres Edox et Vista SA (EDOX) is a Swiss manufacture of

luxury Luxury may refer to: * Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises *Luxury tax, tax on products not considered essential, such as expensive cars **Luxury tax (sports), surcharge pu ...

wristwatches that operates under the ''Era Watch Company''. Christian Ruefli-Flury, a watchmaker originating from

Grenchen Grenchen (french: Granges) is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains between Solothurn and Biel/Bienne, approximately north of Bern. With over 16,000 i ...

, Switzerland, founded the company in 1884 in

Biel/Bienne , french: Biennois(e) , neighboring_municipalities= Brügg, Ipsach, Leubringen/Magglingen (''Evilard/Macolin''), Nidau, Orpund, Orvin, Pieterlen, Port, Safnern, Tüscherz-Alfermée, Vauffelin , twintowns = Iserlohn (Germany) ...

. Edox has remained in continuous production since their foundation.

History

Ruefli-Flury used the ancient Greek word ''Edox'' as a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from othe ...

, and designed the "1900" hourglass to serve as a visual symbol for the company's brand. Robert Kaufman-Hug took over the company when Ruefli-Flury died in 1921. He led the company's transition from pocket watches to become the first wristwatch-exclusive watchmaker. By 1955, the company employed 500 people and moved to a new factory. The ''Delfin'' line of watches launched in 1961, with industry-first double casebacks for high standards of shock protection, water resistance, and ruggedness. The ''Hydrosub'' line was launched in 1963, featuring the first crown system with tension ring, allowing waterproofness of 500 meters. In 1965, Victor Flury-Liechti took over the company from his uncle, and invested in new manufacturing technologies. This led to the 1970 ''Geoscope'' timepiece, the first watch covering all time zones. In 1973, the third-generation ''Delfin'' was released. It used elements from to the

Gerald Genta Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iri ...

-designed

Audemars Piguet Audemars Piguet Holding SA () is a Swiss manufacturer of luxury watches and clocks, headquartered in Le Brassus, Switzerland. The company was founded by Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet in the Vallée de Joux in 1875, acquiring ...

Royal Oak. With the rise of Japaneses watches and the

Quartz Crisis The quartz crisis was the upheaval in the watchmaking industry caused by the advent of quartz watches in the 1970s and early 1980s, that largely replaced mechanical watches around the world.

in the 1970s, the company became an affiliate of the

General Watch Co General Watch Co. (GWC) was the watch companies holding of ASUAG. History ASUAG had been founded in 1931, with the assistance of the Swiss government and the Swiss banks, to combat the severe economic crisis and ensuing unemployment by means of ...

mpany, a sub-holding company of

ASUAG Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie AG (ASUAG; French: ''Société Générale de l'Horlogerie Suisse SA'') was the former biggest Swiss Watch Industry Group that had been created with the assistance of the Swiss Government and the Swiss Banks ...

. As part of the move, Technos and

Certina Certina S.A. is a Swiss watch brand founded in Grenchen in 1888 by Adolf and Alfred Kurth, whereas unrelated Certina Holding AG is a German industrial conglomerate, founded by Hans Wehrmann. It is currently part of the Swatch Group. Hist ...

were transferred to the Biel/Bienne Edox location. At the end of the downturn in the Swiss watch industry in 1983, Edox regained independence when the company was sold to Victor Strambini Montres Vista SA and moved to

Les Genevez Les Genevez is a municipality in the district of Franches-Montagnes in the canton of Jura in Switzerland. History Les Genevez is first mentioned in 1381 as ''Les Geneveys''. Geography Les Genevez has an area of . Of this area, or 53.8% ...

, Jura Mountains. It has since remained a family-owned company. The Edox ''Les Bémonts Ultra Slim'' was released in 1998. With a movement thickness of 1.4 mm, it still holds the record for the slimmest calendar watch. The ''Delfin'' line was restarted in 2013 with a new model based on the 1973 edition. In 2014, the company celebrated their 130th anniversary by releasing updated, limited-edition versions of their ''Geoscope'', ''Les Bémonts'', and ''Hydrosub'' timepieces.

Sponsorship and clientele

The company sponsors the Extreme Sailing Series,

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal ...

(now held in South America) and is sponsor and official timekeeper of the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

. The manufacture also produces

diving watch A diving watch, also commonly referred to as a diver's or dive watch, is a watch designed for underwater diving that features, as a minimum, a water resistance greater than , the equivalent of . The typical diver's watch will have a water resis ...

es for UIM Class 1. Notable wearers of Edox watches include Olympic swimmer

Mireia Belmonte ] Mireia Belmonte García (born 10 November 1990) is a Spanish Olympic, world, and European champion Swimming (sport), swimmer. She is the world record holder in the short course 200-metre butterfly and 400-metre individual medley. Formerl ...

, race car drivers Benito Guerra,

Scott Mclaughlin Scott Thomas McLaughlin (; born 10 June 1993) is a New Zealand racing driver. He currently competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He previously raced in the Supercars Championship, in which he won ...

, and

Petter Solberg Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974) is a Norwegian former professional rally and rallycross driver. Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford factory team in 1999. The following year, Solberg started ...

, as well as U.S. actors

Andrew Garfield Andrew Russell Garfield (born 20 August 1983) is an English and American actor. He has received various accolades, including a Tony Award, a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards. ''Time' ...

and

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...

Distribution and price

The company produces 70,000 to 90,000 watches annually, each retailing at an average price of $1,600 to $2,200 USD.

References

External links

Edox website

Company history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Era Watch Co Limited C. Ruefli-Flury and Co Swiss watch brands Privately held companies of Switzerland Watch manufacturing companies of Switzerland