Adriatica

For the WWII refugee camp in Northern Italy, see Adriatica (camp). For the housing settlement in Texas, see Adriatica McKinney, Texas.

Adria and Adriatica are parent Swiss watch brands manufacturing for Eastern European markets.

Origin

The name originates from the Etruscan city of Atria or (Adria) that also gave its name at a much earlier period to the Adriatic Sea. It is believed that the name dates from 1931 or earlier.

History

The history of Adria and Adriatica as watch trademarks is closely associated with the Belle Époque period through the Montilier Watch Co, established in 1852 in Montilier, close to Morat/Murten, at the foot of the Watch Valley, Switzerland. The brands were dormant from the start of World War II until 1949.

From 1962 two associated watch companies, established in Biel/Bienne and Basel, took over the manufacturing and marketing of Adria and Adriatica watches in partnership, designing mainly classical round pink gold-plated ladies’ and some gents' models, and a special model called "Adriatica World Champion".

Both brands, especially Adriatica, flourished in the Scandinavian countries, and also, especially, in Finland. Adriatica watches started being increasingly imported discreetly into Poland by seafaring people and distributed there and in many of the other than Communist countries, becoming established in the Eastern part of Europe.

In 1989, foreseeing the opening of trade, a family—who owned the company as of 2013—took over the brands and developed them as manufacturers and distributors.

Adriatica watches have always been Swiss made. Since 1998 they were manufactured by their own company, PR & A Watch Sagl, in Dongio, in the watch-making area of Ticino, the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland.

Adriatica is a full member of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.