Halda Watch Company is a Swedish manufacturer of high-end watches. It was founded in 1887 by

Henning Hammarlund Henning is a surname, also used as a given name, with origins in East Prussia (now part of Germany). Henning may also refer to: People with Henning as a surname * A. J. Henning (born 2002), American football player * Andrew Henning (1863–1 ...

Svängsta Svängsta is a locality situated in Karlshamn Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 1,682 inhabitants in 2010. It is around 12 km north-west of Karlshamn. Svängsta has a local football club Svängsta IF Svängsta IF is a Swedish foot ...

History

Halda was founded in 1887 by the factory owner

(1857-1922) in order to primarily produce

pocket watch A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a watch, wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wr ...

es. Its name is formed by a contraction of the founder's surname -Hammarlund( a). The first pocket watches, called ''Haldauren,'' were sold in 1889. In 1893, they were rewarded two medals at the World Exhibition in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In 1890, Halda also began to produce

typewriter A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...

s and taximeters. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Hammarlund developed new techniques for the manufacturing of typewriters and taxi meters due to the decrease in demand for pocket watches. After financial problems, the pocket watch production was closed in 1917. From opening until closing, about 8,000 pocket watches were manufactured. In 1920 the company was split into AB Halda Fabriker, which manufactured the typewriters, and Fabriks AB Halda taximeter, which manufactured the meters for London cabs. Fabriks AB Halda is now called Haldex AB. Using their knowledge of taximeters the company created a series of trip computers for use in rallying. The Halda Speedpilot was called "a considerable advance upon anything of the kind previously marketed, as regards usefulness, compactness, mechanical simplicity (and hence reliability), simplicity of operation and price" by Autosport in 1956.Autosport: A Most Accurate Average Speed Computer
March 9, 1956 Production of pocket watches moved under the watchmaker Carl Borgström's housing, an employee of the Halda Fickursfabrik since 1904. He founded the company ''AB'' Urfabriken (ABU), and produced pocket watches until 1926 and then added in fishing equipment. ABU, now ABU-Garcia AB, is located in Svängsta. In 2009, Halda Watch Company was restarted by the watch entrepreneur and engineer

Mikael Sandström Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

who developed a new watch with an innovative concept of a time-platform and two interchangeable time-modules. Halda now produces around 300 watches per year. The first modern Halda Watch was developed with the Swedish astronaut

Christer Fuglesang Arne Christer Fuglesang (born 18 March 1957) is a Swedish physicist and an ESA astronaut. He was first launched aboard the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission on 10 December 2006, making him the first Swedish citizen in space. Married with three child ...

who tested the watch on his space mission, STS-128.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.haldasweden.com/ Manufacturing companies of Sweden Watch manufacturing companies Manufacturing companies established in 1887 Typewriters Swedish brands Watch brands Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1993 Re-established companies Manufacturing companies established in 2009 2009 establishments in Sweden Swedish companies established in 1887 Swedish companies disestablished in 1993 Swedish companies established in 2009