The history of Alpina begins with a house founded in 1883 in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, Switzerland. Its founder, Gottlieb Hauser, founded the Union Horlogière Suisse with other independent watchmakers from the Winterthur region. Initially, production focused on assembling components, but Alpina quickly became a manufacturer, producing movements in-house.
From 1901, the Alpina brand began to appear on high-end watches.
Between 1909 and 1922, Alpina developed its production by opening production sites in Bienne, Geneva, Besançon and Glashutte. It enters into competition with A. Lange Sohne, who feels threatened and strives to prevent Alpina from conquering the German market, under the pretext that too many components are manufactured outside Germany.
During the First Modal War, supplies from Germany were limited, resulting in victory for A. Lange Sohne. In 1917, the “Union Horlogère” company was officially dissolved. After the First World War, Alpina began to conquer the foreign market, with sales points ranging from Lisbon to Copenhagen and Moscow. There were more than 2000 points of sale, an extraordinary number for the time. It thus becomes a leading brand in Europe.
Part of the success came in 1938, when the Alpina 4 debuted.
This number was chosen in homage to the 4 fundamental principles which have made the Brand a quality manufacturer responding to these 4 concepts: anti-magnetism, waterproofing, anti-shock and stainless steel case. The 4 principles of Alpina showed the way to a quality that would be essential until 1970 until the arrival of the “quartz” crisis.
The emergence of low-cost mass products also put Alpina Watch International SA in crisis, which in 1972 saw the arrival of German investors who took over all of its shares.
Despite everything, Alpina managed to reappear in 2002 thanks to the takeover by Frédérique Constant SA. In 2006, thanks to the new production site in Geneva, Alpina successfully resumed production.
In 2016, Alpina and Frédérique Constant entered the Citizen orbit.
Automatic movement signed "Alpina" caliber ETA 2783, 25 jewels.
It works very well.
Stainless steel bottom.
Satin metal case diameter 35.5 mm.
Metal dial signed "Alpina Automatic", central seconds, in superb condition.
Original hands. Date display at 3 o'clock.
New light blue suede bracelet.
Sold with an elegant black leather box.
To see the video of how the watch works, click the link below:
https://youtube.com/shorts/EYTCfUDCvZ0
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