Mido SA is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

watchmaking A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their part ...

company founded in 1918. It is an entry-level brand of Swatch group.

History

Mido was founded in 1918 by George G. Schaeren in

Biel/Bienne Biel/Bienne (official bilingual wording; , ) is a town and a municipality in the Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Biel/Bienne lies on the language boundary between the French-speaking and German-spea ...

, Switzerland. ''Mido'' comes from the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

phrase ''Yo mido'' meaning ''"I measure"''. In the 1920s, Mido introduced ladies' watches with color-enameled shaped cases and modern straps as well as timepieces for gentlemen in

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

style. Mido found a market in the flourishing automotive market by producing watches in the shape of radiator grills of a wide range of brands such as

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French manufacturer of high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then- German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the Italian-born industrial designer Ettore Bugatti. The ca ...

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

, Ford, Excelsior,

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive–engineering company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and Damian Mateu as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft en ...

, etc. In 1934, Mido launched the Multifort design, the first Mido to use a

self-winding An automatic watch, also known as a self-winding watch or simply an automatic, is a mechanical watch where the natural motion of the wearer provides energy to wind the mainspring, making manual winding unnecessary if worn enough. It is distinguis ...

automatic movement. It was shock-resistant, anti-magnetic and water-resistant. In that same year Mido launched watches with unbreakable

mainspring A mainspring is a spiral torsion spring of metal ribbon—commonly spring steel—used as a power source in mechanical watches, some clocks, and other clockwork mechanisms. ''Winding'' the timepiece, by turning a knob or key, stores energy ...

s. This was also the very first time that any watch manufacturer utilized this type of spring within the marketplace. During this time period, Mido used a Robot as its ambassador as a symbol of progress and robustness. A comic strip from this era featured the Mido Robot and its adventures. The attraction of Mido Watches
History of Mido watches
In 1945, Mido became the first manufacturer to introduce a central-read

chronograph A chronograph is a specific type of watch that is used as a stopwatch combined with a display watch. A basic chronograph has an independent sweep second hand and a minute sub-dial; it can be started, stopped, and returned to zero by successive ...

wherein the stopwatch function had all its hands arranged at the center. In 1954 the firm launched the world's most efficient winding mechanism. Mido released its Commander model in 1959, which utilized a one-piece case design. In 1967 Mido was distinguished as the maker of the world's thinnest ladies watch. In 1970 Mido launched the Aquadura Crown Sealing system, which makes use of an all-natural cork which is handled and formed to insure its water resistant qualities. This technique is utilized to seal the crown, the most susceptible place on a watch to water leakage. During the nineties, the Mido World Timer was launched. This was a practical display that can show the local time anywhere on the planet. The user must bring the desired city to the 12 o’clock position and press the crown to check the local time. Mido is recognized as one of the top 10 producers of certified chronometers. With 61,358 automatic movements produced in 2013, Mido is currently ranked number four in the production of chronometers in the

Swiss watch Swiss made is a label or marking used to indicate that a product was made on the territory of Switzerland. It is also a geographical indication protected under different Swiss and international laws and treaties. According to the Swiss Federal A ...

industry. Today, Mido is a part of the Swatch Group, headquartered in

Le Locle Le Locle (; german: Luggli) is a municipality in the Canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It is situated in the Jura Mountains, a few kilometers from the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. It is the third smallest city in Switzerland (in Switzerland a ...

, Switzerland. It also has a branch office in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, China.Official page
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References

External links

Official website

The Swatch Group

Mido historie
{{Authority control The Swatch Group Watch manufacturing companies of Switzerland Swiss companies established in 1918 Manufacturing companies established in 1918 Swiss watch brands Companies based in the canton of Neuchâtel

History

References

Further reading

External links