Movado Brand History
The company was initially called LAI Ditescheim & Freres SA, which was founded in 1881 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. It was in 1905 that the name was changed to Movado. In 1983 it was acquired by American company North American Watch Corp.
The Movado Group is one of today’s premier watchmakers, manufacturing and distributing watches for the following companies: Movado, Ebel, Concord, Olivia Burton, Coach, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, Scuderia Ferrari, Rebecca Minkoff, and Uri Minkoff.
Movado has both luxury Swiss watches and what the brand refers to as “accessible fashion watches.”
Movado Models
The watch model that Movado is widely known for is the iconic Museum Watch. Designed by American designer Nathan George Horwitt in 1947, the Bauhaus art movement influenced the timepiece. This elegant and unique watch continues to be famous to this day.
The design is one gold dot placed at 12 o’clock, which symbolizes the sun during high noon. Horwitt is quoted on the Movado website as saying: “We do not know time as a number sequence…but by the position of the sun as the earth rotates”.
This watch has become so iconic that it was selected to be part of the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection in 1960. This first watch was ever given such distinction. It’s already the reason why it’s called a Museum Watch.
Today, these watches have different versions of the Museum Classic: 28mm or 40mm with varying types of bracelets (stainless steel, mesh, crocodile-grained leather, and PVD-finished link bracelets), and different dials (black, blue, white mother of pearl). Some also have diamond markers, like the 28mm Women’s Museum Classic and the Men’s Museum Classic, with 11 markers.
Movado Women’s Watches
Movado has many models of bangle-style watches for women.
The Aleena, Amorosa, and Rondiro are excellent for women looking for bangle-style bracelets. These are excellent for dressy occasions—the Amorosa, in particular, has stunning 18 diamonds on the bracelet.
There’s also the simple yet elegant 25mm Bela, which is what Movado refers to as a “fashionably slender bangle-style watch.” This watch has a PVD stainless steel case with a sleek rose gold dot and hands. The Kora has the mother of pearl dial and has different models—one has a yellow and gold PVD-finished case, and another has 11 diamond markers.
The collections that have Horwitt’s single dot design are the Modern Classic and the Museum Classic, both of which have a wide array of designs and sizes to choose from. Suppose you’re looking for Movado Museum style with an updated look. In that case, there’s the Moderna, a men’s watch with an iconic face but a unique, extended cube-shaped lug. This is available in two designs: stainless steel or gold-plated stainless steel.
Some collections pay homage to the company’s rich history. One is the Movado 1881 Automatic, which is the company’s tribute to its founding. The watches in this collection have the classic Museum dot at 12 o’clock but have stamped hour markers and minute index.
