Gruen Genève Calatrava

"A Calatrava in every respect"

1950s

The Gruen Watch Company was formerly one of the largest watch manufacturers in the United States. It was in business from about 1894 to 1958 and was based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1908 by German-born watchmaker Dietrich Grün, who changed the spelling of his name to "Gruen" because the letter ü does not exist in English. In 1900 the corporate name became D. Gruen, Sons & Co. The new company became partially a Swiss company. The movements were no longer made in Glashütte, Germany, but in Switzerland again. 1903, a subsidiary was formed, “The Gruen Watch Manufacturing Company”, located in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. In 1922 a consolidation took place where the D. Gruen, Sons & Co, Cincinnati, The Gruen Watch Manufacturing Co, Biel/Bienne and the Gruen National Watch Case Co, were merged into “The Gruen Watch Company”. 1923 the company moved into a new facility, in Biel/Bienne. In marketing and advertising, the Gruen Watch Company used 1876, and later, 1874, as its official founding date. The 1876 date is actually the founding date of the Columbus Watch Company, and the 1874 date is actually the year that Dietrich Gruen's first patent was issued. By the mid-twenties, Gruen’s sales had reached over five million dollars. In total sales, it had become the largest watch company in the U.S., as well as first in the average watch price. In 1930 Gruen introduced the Baguette watches. After the start of the Depression, 1930 an arrangement was made with Alpina, with the production of a dual branded Alpina/Gruen watch. In 1935, Gruen introduced the first Curvex wristwatches for men, the company's most famous design. Expanding on the then-current fashion for long, rectangular wristwatch shapes, these models were curved to wrap around the wearer's wrist. The biggest innovation of the design was the ability to produce a movement which followed the shape of the case, allowing the watch to be thinner and more curved. This, in turn, allowed the movement to be larger, more durable and more accurate than would have been possible if a smaller, flat movement was used. A year later, the company introduced Curvex models for women. During World War II, the Time Hill factory stopped making watches and instead worked exclusively for the U.S. military, manufacturing gauges and instruments for aircraft, ships and submarines. The company also made precision gauges used for delicate surgical instruments and for radios and other electronic equipment. During World War II, some watches were still manufactured at the Precision Factory in Switzerland and imported. It was during and shortly after World War II that many American watch companies began to lose market share to Swiss imports. Many American watch companies began to move manufacturing to Switzerland in the 1940s and 1950s, while Gruen, who had always manufactured watch movements in Germany or Switzerland, launched the '21' series of wristwatches (named for their 21-jewel movements) which were entirely made in the United States. The Gruen family sold their interest in the company in 1953, and the firm was broken up and sold in 1958. The watch manufacturing business moved to New York under new ownership, and manufacturing was done exclusively in Switzerland. The operation in Biel/Bienne closed its doors in 1977; their building was bought by their former supplier, J. Aegler and is now used in Rolex manufacturing.