Eternamatic Kontiki Chronometer Diver's Watch Men's Wristwatch Automatic 200m 1970

Eterna SA
Legal form	stock corporation
Founding	1856
seat	Grenchen , Switzerland
Line	Robert Dreyfuss ( CEO )

The Swiss watch manufacturer Eterna was founded in 1856 by physician Josef Girard and schoolteacher Urs Schild as the movement manufacturer Girard & Schild in Grenchen , Solothurn . It is thus the oldest industrial company in Grenchen and also the nucleus of the largest Swiss watch movement manufacturer, ETA SA .

• On January 7, 1851, Josef Girard and Anton Schild obtained a municipal council resolution to establish a watchmaking business in Grenchen . On August 16, the municipal council commissioned these individuals to organize the training of watchmaking apprentices.
• In 1852, the teacher Urs Schild became a part-time bookkeeper and clerk at the newly founded Girard Frères & Kunz factory. ^{[ 1 ]}
• On November 7, 1856, physician Josef Girard and 27-year-old schoolteacher Urs Schild founded the "Dr. Girard & Schild" movement factory in Grenchen , acquiring the aforementioned factory, which had gone bankrupt. Eight years later, the company established a written agreement regulating the mutual rights and obligations of employers and employees. ^{[ 1 ]}
• In 1858, the first railway trains also stopped in Grenchen on their way from Solothurn to Biel , which significantly improved the logistical conditions for the company.
• In 1866, Girard left the company and sold his shares to Urs Schild for 35,000 Swiss francs, allowing him to devote himself entirely to his medical profession. As the sole owner, Schild transformed the company into the Precision Watch Factory Gebrüder Schild . ^{[ 2 ]}
• Starting in 1870, the first semi-automated production machines were used, powered by a steam engine instead of the village stream's hydropower. Due to the more precise production of individual parts, Eterna was one of the first manufacturers to offer prefabricated spare parts for repairs, which significantly reduced costs by reducing the need for rework.
• In 1874, around 300 workers were employed, who accepted a wage cut to ensure the company's survival in a sales crisis.
• In 1875, the first Eterna watch manufactured entirely in-house was shipped.
• In 1882, Urs Schild accepted a seat in the Swiss National Council. Six years later, in 1888, at the age of 58, he died. The following year, in 1889, the name Eterna appeared for the first time on the dial of a pocket watch .
• In 1900, the operation was converted and the steam engine drive was replaced by electric ones .
• In 1908, Eterna filed a patent for the world's first wristwatch alarm clock. Six years later, Eterna presented the world's first wristwatch with an alarm clock at the Swiss National Exhibition.
• In 1930, Eterna launched the smallest mass-produced ladies' wristwatch with a baguette movement (form movement).
• In 1947, Eterna equipped Thor Heyerdahl's expedition crew on the Kon-Tiki with robust and waterproof sports watches. The crew sailed from Peru to the East Polynesian islands on a balsa raft.
• In 1948, the most important development in Eterna's history, Eterna-Matic, was introduced: the ball-bearing rotor for automatic winding . Even today, the company logo features five balls, a reference to this invention, which remains the predominant rotor bearing to this day.
• In 1958, the Golden Heart ladies' wristwatch, the smallest automatic movement at the time, was installed. To ensure sufficient moment of inertia for reliable winding despite the small radius, a solid gold rotor was used.
• In 1962, two particularly flat automatic movements called Eterna-Matic 3000 were presented.
• In 1980, Eterna introduced the thinnest quartz wristwatch at 0.98 mm.
• In 1993, a line of sports watches designed by automobile designer Pininfarina was introduced.
• In 1995, FA Porsche Beteiligungen took over Eterna SA.
• The new Porsche Design watch line was introduced in 1998. FA Porsche had allowed its contracts with IWC to expire at the end of 1997. Some of the new Porsche Design watches also feature titanium cases and bracelets; some special models are coated in matte black, like older Porsche Design models.
• In 2001, Eterna built the quartz clock in the Hamburger Sport Verein stadium, which has indicated the club's membership in the 1. Bundesliga since the league's founding in August 2001. When the clock stopped striking in November 2012, it was replaced by a new one manufactured by Eterna in April 2013.
• In 2004, Eterna reflected on its manufacturing past and created the caliber 6036.
• In 2006, to mark the 150th anniversary, the Manufacture Automatic 3030 followed, in 2007 the Caliber 6037 and half a century after the Eterna-Matic, the “Spherodrive” in 2009 underlined the importance of tiny ball bearings in mechanical watchmaking.
• In 2011, Eterna was acquired by the Chinese company China Haidian