I've been having a bit of love affair with Eterna for a while now and I am the proud owner of a Kontiki Sports Chronometer,i couldn't be happier with that watch, its rare (only 250 made per year and now discontinued), classy looking and very versitile (looks great with a suit, shorts, jeans etc). As I have been impressed with this watch I've always had an eye on offerings from Eterna, they are a fairly low key brand without the marketing hype and therefore the cost of some of their rivals, they have a great deal of history and the build quality is up there with Omega IMHO. I've started to look for a watch that is less of a sports watch than my current collection and in the last couple of weeks, I've been looking through some searches on the web including Eterna. What I've found is pretty interesting and thought I would share a couple of real possible future purchases, why not let me know your opinion, I think the two watches below are extremely indervidual and classy. So as Eterna don't seem to know how to market themselves out of a paper bag I thought I would start a thread that might provoke some interest, thoughts and opinions on the brand. And I would be interested to know if there are many Eterna owners out there????
[attachment=1:e1aax9os]eternasolar-thumb[1].jpg[/attachment:e1aax9os]
[attachment=0:e1aax9os]BASELWORLD 2009 - ETERNA - KONTIKI 2[1].jpg[/attachment:e1aax9os]
Looking forward to thoughts and have a great day.
Cheers,
John
I have two Eterna watches; an Airforce III and Porche Design Chrono. The build standard and finish are as good as any of the more renowned names but the prices are more reasonable. I think Eterna's claim to fame was the invention of the bearing for the kinetc winder on automatic watches, hence the five dot logo.
...and they're using Sellita now. Weird, isn't it?
I'm not as think as you drunk I am.
Liking that KonTiki date.
I used to own a, Eterna KonTiki Four-Hands, and I was very fond of it - a good size, very slim, great lume, and covered with nice little details that added real depth to the watch. (Textures to the dial, crown with the five dots, domed A/R crystal, etc.) It went out onto the forum, and I think it's still out there somewhere. Nice watches - quite and individual choice.
Edit - here you go..
market forces I guess re the use of Sellita movements, but I have read its a reliable and robust movement.......but as you say strange that Etena who were basically ETA are using them. :?
I have a 4 hands model just like Qatar Wol's!! I bought it from this forum from Scott Aka Rousey :D Great guy to deal with by the way. The watch is a real beauty. No regrets and definitely no disappointments. I was in Greece on Holiday during the summer and stayed in a rather nice hotel/resort.....they had a watch boutique inside....much to my wife's chagrin!! Russian mobsters were checking out Vacheron's and Pateks. I was checking out the Eternas....The diver and the anniversary gold edition. Do you know it comes in a huge carved Tiki idol box!! Amazing!! Sadly they were charging a real premium due to being in a hotel, etc. Wife was'nt please I kept making detours to plant my face on the windows!! :D Shop owner was wearing TW Steel....... :shock:
Eterna make some great watches, I also had one (Walter's cast off!) ..
/vince ..
I have had several and have been very impressed with build quality. I have a 1935 dress watch at the moment that is stunningly beautiful (to my eye) but a bit too small for me if I'm honest. I will soon have an Airforce 11 as well, courtesy of the SC. :)
Any opportunity for a pic:
One of the great underrated brands - and I agree a lot of it may be due to their inability to market their way out of a paper bag. Well put, BTW. :D
Here's my vintage Eterna, I bought the parts NOS and fitted an Accurist ETA movement:
Originally Posted by VinceR
Eterna make some great watches, I also had one (Walter's cast off!) ..
Vince, am I right in thinking that model has blue lume?? You don't have a lume shot do you, its a seriously nice watch BTW.
Cheers,
John
I'm sure it did have blue lume, but it's (sadly) long gone now & I've no lume shot of it, sorry ..
/vince ..
Here's mine
Loving it. :)
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
I like this one: :shock:
Also has a new in-house movement... I was amazed that Eterna has developed so many in-house calibres, and not boring ones either! Haven't been able to find an image of the 3030, but the 3500 has interesting work on the mainspring barrel, an interesting balance bridge, and nice finishing throughout with chamfered bridges.
I remember seeing (some 20 years ago !) a stunning Eterna in a Swiss hotel lobby display -
( at the time too much 'mullah' to consider, as this was pre TZ-UK :wink: ) in a dark blue 'burnt metal' finish - a hommage to some nautical event - beutiful - never seen anything like it since and cannot rememeber the model name !
Eterna now owned by Porsche AG I think ?
Peter
I have had a thing about Eterna since the mid 60's! I remember seeing this very expensive steel watch in a small jewellers in Blackburn. It was an Eterna and I wondered who would want to pay £45 for a watch. I was about 13 when I first saw it and it was in the window for years. It was about 20 years ago that I found out it must have been a Kontiki. The latest 4 hand model has a similiar dial.
I now have 3 Kontiki 1958s and one is a Chronometer ( limited edition).Beautiful with well made solid bracelets.I have recently sold an Airforce 11. I did get an NOS Eterna a few years ago and I now regret swoping for a La Salle quartz and a Parker pen.
When I qualify for the sales corner I will looking out for a 4 hand Kontiki. The problem is they are either 40 or 44 mm and i prefer no bigger that 38 mm.
Eterna used to concentrate on the ETA movement and complete watches were a side line for the company even in the 50s and 60s. I understand that they were conscious of not competing to hard with other manufacturers who used their ETA movements.After the company split from ETA they do seem to have fallen behind. Porche Design now own them and hopefully they will not neglect the brand to much. They have limited presence in
Europe and no importer to the UK at present. The HQ is not too helpful either. I emailed them about getting an additional bracelet link and did not get a reply.
Will try and work out how to add photos soon.
Helmbarrie
If I remember, the 3,6,9,12 triangles are blue lume to start with, then they fade to a uniform green, like the hands.
Damn it - where's my Four Hands?! Who's got it now?! :?:
I really like Eterna and it's great history. Well-known ETA was a division of Eterna until the 1930's
This is my KonTiki Chronograph:
Right now I'm in search of a nice "oyster" bracelet.
I´m a fan of Eterna too, having a four hands Kontiki, a Kontiki 1958 Chronometer and a Kontiki 60. They are really nice watches and in my opinion pure understatement.
Had my Monterey since 2005. Love it!
I had the Eterna Cambridge chronograph until about Easter when I sold it. Lovely watch but unfortunately quality issues (more to do with the dealer than the manufacturer) put me of it so it was flipped. The build was very good and the crystal had a gorgeous blue tint to it. When I got it the chrono second hand didn't reset to 12, I think it had been on display for a long time.
It went back to the dealer who used their own watchmaker who fixed the reset but scratched the minute hand! It went back again and was returned with lint under the crystal!! By this time I had owned the watch for 5 months and it had spent 3 of those away being repaired. It was all sorted in the end but by then the whole thing had been spoiled for me. Its a shame because I had wanted one for a long time and it had taken a lot of research to track one down but once the bubble had been burst I just couldn't look at it in the same light. :cry:
I've wanted an Eterna Airforce III chrono for a while. A local s/h dealer had one in his shop for months for not a lot of money, I tried it on, procrastinated, and eventually somebody else grabbed it. I've been kicking myself ever since as they're hard to find. Next time I see a good one I'll be like a seagull on a hot chip
Vintage for me. A 1946 civilian market version but military-styled watch.
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
I bought my Eternamatic secondhand around 1996 but a couple of years ago, the winder snapped off :(
I took it to http://www.antiquewatchcouk.com in Clerkenwell and they managed to find an original Eterna winder and carried out a service as well (about £120 I think). When I bought the watch, it came on a basic leather strap, so when I got it repaired, I searched for an original Eterna strap/buckle. I tracked one down in a small watch shop in the Strand - Alsal Watches I think - which cost around £100.
I believe my watch dates to around the mid-80's and although I don't wear it very often (as it has a non-mineral crystal and scratches easily), I do really like it... it's actually a really nice dress watch.
I apologise for the quality of the picture (I went a bit extreme in my attempts to keep the image small!) but it's the pale faced watch on the end...
...BTW, love your Eterna...
Derry
Eterna Kontiki Super, mid 60's, 1498K eterna-matic caliber inside
Noticed the gilt dial, specific to Kontiki Super only...
I love it :drunken:
Bonus pic: vintage ads
rgds
Gotta love those vintage ads. The way they linked the watches to practical use is not seen often still.
They really look the business.
Krikey, they are selling the Vaughan with the in-house 3030 calibre on Amazon.com in the US, $7500 for steel and $15000 for gold. That's more than you'd pay for a Master Control with a JLC 899 >.< Don't think the 3030 even has a free sprung balance...
I love it too...Eterna Kontiki Super, mid 60's, 1498K eterna-matic caliber inside
Noticed the gilt dial, specific to Kontiki Super only...
I love it :drunken:
Mine´s a 1948 I bought here in SC, pic from previous owner (thanks John)
Great little watch, I always found very elegant this shape of lugs.
Lovely watches and the build quality is impressive to this day. I've one from the 1940's a and it's of impressive quality, imho.
Love the Kon Tiki designs and practicality, too.
Br,
AP.
I love the new KonTiki design. Does anyone know if it's possible to get them in the UK. My internet serachings have drawn a blank? Failing that, anyone know a dealer in a large city in northern France/Germany/Benelux where they have a good selection to check out in person?
Only Eterna I have is this 18K lump of bling - can never find the right strap for it though.
Is it the width you have trouble with ? How about a notched strap ?
Found this 2 shots of this beauty on another forum:
Pretty cool stuff IMHO!
Nah, its the colour I can't get right, gold watch,gold dial, 1970's style case - nothing I put it on looks right [its 19mm as well].
Regards
Tim
Found this 2 shots of this beauty on another forum:
Pretty cool stuff IMHO!
No.
That photo is from here.
I was the one who stole it.
Feel kinda bad now and I hope the owner doesn't get offended.
/CJ.
You may well know this already, but as it's an Eterna thread I thought I should say that Bonhams have a watch auction on 2nd December in London. The list of sale items includes several nice looking Eterna's.
I have an Eterna long service watch, I love it.
But:
Where can you buy in the UK?
I see a few watches on here and not on the OEM website?
Why does the caged dive watch have a cage, why can you take it out?
Cheers
Scouter
Here are my two Eternas:
HAD to revive this thread! 8)
Cheers, Brane
Eternas rock.
In a perfect world, I would have an IDF Eterna.
In the meantime, i must settle for this Austrian LE version of the Kontiki. It is nice, but not quite an IDF, if you get my drift.
("KonTiki" and "drift" - get it!? BTW I will continue to use that stupid pun, till I get a smiley :lol: )
NO, NO, NO :evil:
Do not bump this thread :lol:
For 12 month or more now I have been searching for a late 90's / early 2000 Eterna Matic super Kontiki diver. I have missed out on two so far on the bay :cry: :cry: :cry:
The last one which was early 2010 went for approx £450 and I ducked out of bidding jsut before this point as I thought it was going to get silly and reach in excess of £600 which was my limit.... can I find a black dialed one anywhere? NO!!!
I have a severe dislike for anyone that owns an Eterna Super Kontiki black dial on bracelet especially if the won't sell it to me :D :lol:
Seriously love the brand and a lot of their watches, the new super kontiki is also on my Grail list along with the GO Sport evolution... one day they will be mine :)
Anyway thanks for rubbing salt in my wounds :wink:
Paul
p.s. and for the record I AM bitter and I will not be happy until someone sells me their super Kontiki :D
I have never really investigated or researched the Eterna range - guys you have just opened my eyes to some gorgeous pieces.... 8)
Nice old bump. :D
At least I get to post a piccy of the Airforce II now.
Rapidly becoming my favourite watch.
Many of the examples here are so beautiful. I have at least 25 vintage - both in form of chronographs and in particular their Eterna 3000 movement, which in 1962 one one of the thinnest automates made + a number of Centenair models.
I did get 3 photos in, and tested in preview .- they were OK after I sized them down, then no 4 5 and 6, but now all 6 were wrong. Took them away one by one, still all too big, even the three that was first OK in preview. Sorry, I need to give up with photos here on TZ, They were all max 750 pix wide, and less in hight so I am cursed
Can just say I love the brand in Vintage time
br
I like KonTiki's too...these are mine:
The new black and orange KonTiki is pretty nice too.
just resurrecting this old Eterna thread simply because Eterna is my favourite series in my personal collection
Definitely worth clicking on Filip's link to see more pictures of his lovely orange vintage KonTiki. Merci Filip !
Anyway here's my three modernish Super KonTiki's:, orange is from the 1997 limited edition series, other two are probably more around early 2000's:
Don't know much about Eterna,but i like that.
Nice old bump. :D
At least I get to post a piccy of the Airforce II now.
Rapidly becoming my favourite watch.
Beautiful and simple.
Thanks.
Here is my KonTiki 1958 which was a present from my wife. I recently removed the wife and also replaced the leather strap with a Staib 17mm mesh bracelet which adds to the attractiveness of the watch
Last edited by Redrabs; 17th July 2014 at 07:47.
I've wanted an Eterna Airforce III chrono for a while. A local s/h dealer had one in his shop for months for not a lot of money, I tried it on, procrastinated, and eventually somebody else grabbed it. I've been kicking myself ever since as they're hard to find. Next time I see a good one I'll be like a seagull on a hot chip
yes, after all these years, I finally have an Airforce III inbound! They say good things are worth waiting for, well, I've certainly waited for this one - 14 years.
Thought it worth resurrecting this thread to let you all know!
Happy days
Top thread resurrection!
My diver says hello...
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