1969

The legendary automatic chronograph movement 'El Primero' by Zenith

On 10 January Zenith presents the first self-winding chronograph movement “El Primero”.
On 3 March, the manufacturers Breitling, Heuer-Leonidas, Hamilton/Büren present their competing product in Geneva, New York , Hong Kong and Beirut under the name of Calibre 11 “Chronomatic”.
On 20 August, Longines introduces the Ultra-Quartz, the first quartz wristwatch to be announced for production.
On 21 July 1969 Buzz Aldrin, with the Omega Speedmaster Professional on his wrist, enters the moon's surface.
On 25 December, Seiko releases the Astron for sale in Japan, the first commercial electronic quartz model.
Jaeger-LeCoultre introduces the "Speedbeat" Memovox with Cal. 916. This was one of the company's most successful models for the next decade.
The Favre family purchases SAPHIR, bringing Jaeger-LeCoultre and Favre-Leuba together.
Zenith and Movado combine, then add Mondia later in the year to become Movado-Zenith-Mondia.

← 1968 | 1970 →