Zodiac watches offer beautiful presentation and precision at the highest level and are well-known and respected watches in the industry. Zodiac clocks date back to 1882, making them some of the oldest clocks still around today. Ariste Calame first set up his workshop in 1882, and his goal at that time was to specialize in watches that would offer something useful and unique to the industry. These Swiss made watches will do so much more than that. They soon became known as the Zodiac Watches.
In the time frame between 1908 and 1930, Ariste Calame would patent his trademark Zodiac. But during this time frame, wristwatches themselves were not created. Instead, the work was used to manufacture the calibers and movements. Those items where then used to produce pocket watches. The first pocket watch of the Zodiac collection was introduced in 1924, and had a caliber 1617 movement inside. It was an extra-flat pocket watch, and it became famous for it. In 1930, the Zodiac watch company patented a shock-resistant method that used an A-Z-style spring-loaded buckle that fit over the escapement. And this year, its first Swiss-made automatic watch was launched.
In 1932, Zodiac Watches launched another watch, this time the first analog Swiss quartz watch. It will include the popular beta 21 caliber in it. Five years later, Zodiac introduced a new watch innovation. That was the 10.5 Ligne and 8 Days wristwatch movement. The Basel Watch Show, a highly prestigious event that all watchmakers are proud of, was the launch venue for the Zodiac’s Astrograhic watch, in 1949. This was a self-winding watch and had the ability to hold an hour’s measure of power. The Zodiac model was one of two models with the ability to book a group like this at the time.
In 1953, the company looked for other ways to develop and follow (if not define) trends. This year, they released the Sea Wolf, which was the first diver’s watch to deliver serious results. It was the first diver’s watch to be made for the general public as well. The Super Sea Wolf will be a later version of this watch and will be able to handle water pressure at 750 metres.
In the 1960s, the Zodiac line of watches added a 24-hour GMT hand to the Sea World watch and also introduced their newest line of fashionable and functional watches: the Space. The Aerospace Jet was introduced in 1962 and was very unique: it had 24 hands that traversed the dial only once every 24 hours. The company also produced the first Swiss electronic watch called the Dynotron in 1968. In 1970, the first Swiss quartz watch was launched by the Zodiac called the Beta 21 Caliber, which would become a popular watch line for years to come.
In the 70’s and 80’s Zodiac watches continued to amaze. The company introduced the first LCD watches and received chronometer certification. Later, in 2004, the vintage-inspired watches were relaunched, including the Sea Dragon and V World which were more classic in style, but added modern touches to them. Today, the Zodiac watch collection continues to introduce new and interesting innovations with each watch collection release.