Community Stories

Name an old prominent watch company that HASN'T been brought back from the dead

redpcar
Posts
4,396
Likes
10,524
This just popped up in the google window (yes, they are watching me). I stopped to think: Is there an old prominent (or even semi-prominent) watch brand that has NOT been brought back from the dead?

Gotham wasn't that common but it seems someone has bought the name and marketing a product. Railroad dial + toy train = marketing blitz.

upload_2021-6-14_13-51-34.png
 
Tony C.
Posts
8,149
Likes
28,751
Well, Lanco (an abbreviation of Langendorf Watch Company) was "revived" from 1971-80, but has been "dead" again since then.

I believe that Aureole, Cortébert, Perfecta and Sabina are gone for good.

One of the best, in a sense, might be Record Watch Co., which made some superb watches during the first half of the 20th century.

I'm sure that there are others.
Edited:
 
MRC
Posts
3,551
Likes
8,946
Smiths? At the very least Gurgle doesn't present ads for modern ones at the top of the page.....

makes a welcome change 😉
 
size11s
Posts
770
Likes
1,332
MRC MRC
Smiths? At the very least Gurgle doesn't present ads for modern ones at the top of the page.....

makes a welcome change 😉

Pop 'Timefactors watches' into Gurgle....there are one or two Smiffs knocking around. Eddie Platts bought the rights to the name many years ago and does a half decent job with the brand.
 
S.H.
Posts
1,615
Likes
3,861
Moeris

Buren (fully digested by Hamilton if I remember well)

Gruen
 
MRC
Posts
3,551
Likes
8,946
How about an edge case? Heuer as a brand is now TAG-Heuer, although some of the recent production have only Heuer signature on the dial. Not sure if that applies to crowns, movements and buckles tho....
 
WestCoastTime
Posts
347
Likes
1,172
Wyler

PXL_20210511_173800885.MP.jpg


Advertised as highly robust against shock & water intrusion (not sure how much better they really were than any of the competition...).
 
DaveK
Posts
5,076
Likes
15,697
Relide was trademarked in 1937 and made a lot of cool looking watches, mostly, is not entirely with ebauche movements. I’ve seen one double signed with Tiffany’s

My first vintage piece was a thrift shop Relide

151A922A-E140-47A7-9209-A6A375AC6BB3.jpeg


This ad is apparently from 1950, my watch is 1955 or later

3B4E2244-6E2C-4D88-8569-8CE892E3783B.jpeg


I have never seen one from the late 70’s, so I assume they didn’t survive the quartz crisis. Not unexpected, as they named themselves in the past tense
 
redpcar
Posts
4,396
Likes
10,524
I think Wyler came back in the late '90s / early 2000's and is gone again.
 
Stripey
Posts
572
Likes
754
redpcar redpcar
I think you can still buy a Curvex (quartz)

upload_2021-6-14_16-13-27.png
I assume that screenshot means the trademark is owned, not that they’re producing watches. The Curvex quartzes all seem to be ‘80s.
 
Professor
Posts
2,327
Likes
2,542
Haven't seen any recent manufacture Midland watches.
Their asymmetric cased electric watches have collector interest but are scarce on the ground.
Midland-Electric-Landeron-4750-1.jpg
My midland 25 jewel self winder is my favorite, still accurate to around 4 seconds per day after perhaps 60+ years.
 
67 More Posts...
Sign up or log in to reply...