Eterna watches

Eterna traces its origins to 1856, when Josef Girard and Urs Schild set up an ébauche (movement blank) factory in Grenchen that later became Eterna. Its movement-making branch became ETA, while Eterna continued to make complete watches. The company is still based in Grenchen.

In 1948 Eterna introduced a ball-bearing-mounted rotor for self-winding movements, used in the Eterna-Matic; five bearing balls later became the brand's logo. On Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 Kon-Tiki raft expedition from Callao, Peru, the crew carried Eterna watches, and the Kon-Tiki model followed in 1958. Current collections include Kontiki, Eternity and Heritage.