ETA Super Zelcomatic

"A myterious product series of the giant ETA"

1970

The Zelcomatic series seems to be a forgotten product line of the movement manufacturer ETA. Unfortunately, we can hardly find any information about this line. However, we know that ETA lent this branding to other companies besides their own production. Whether the Zelcomatic is a special design or just branding is not known.

ETA emerged as a holding company for the majority of Swiss watch movement production in the 20th century. As such, it can trace its roots to some of the earliest factories in Switzerland. In 1793, Isaac and David Benguerel, Julien and Francois Humbert-Droz founded the first factory for ebauche movements, Fabrique d'Horlogerie de Fontainemelon (FHF), in Fontainemelon, Canton of Neuchâtel. FHF began industrial production of watch movements in 1816, and this date is another appropriate beginning point for ETA, since FHF was absorbed into the company in 1982.

The true beginning of ETA is 1856, when Urs Schild and Dr. Joseph Girard founded an ebauche factory in Grenchen. This company would become Eterna, which was split 76 years later to become ETA. Also in Grenchen, in 1896, Adolf Schild founds the ebauche company A. Schild (AS), where the first cylinder and pin lever movements are produced.

On December 27 1926, A. Schild AG (AS or ASSA) and Adolphe Michel SA (AMSA) of Grenchen and Fabrique d' Horlogerie de Fontainemelon (FHF) of Fontainemelon agree to join together to form Ebauches SA. This holding company, registered on December 30 and going into effect on the first day of 1927, is intended to bring order to the chaotic watch movement manufacturing industry, and it expands rapidly. Soon, Ebauches SA is the largest producer of watch movement blanks in Switzerland.