Although not as well known as known as the heavyweights like Omega or Rolex, Eterna is among the very important contributors to the evolution of horology and its legacy is very evident to this day. Founded in 1856 in Grenchen, Switzerland, Eterna was well known in the industry for their specialty, producing the Ebauche ETA range of generic movements which were widely used by many other manufacturers. The Eterna brand did not however use Ebauche movements but modified variations which where used exclusively by the Eterna brand.

In 1948, Eterna advanced self-winding watch technology with the development of the Eterna-matic automatic movement. The use of five strategically placed ball bearings made the movement very efficient and significantly reduced friction and resistance on the oscillating weight that wound the mainspring. The ball bearings represented by 5 dots in a circle became the corporate logo and can be seen in this example on the dial, the crown and in the centre of the glass.

This example, from 1969 is a typical quality all-rounder. It is very elegant yet robust and water resistant. It is signed five tines including the crown and the watermark in the center of the glass.

The movement is the in-house 1489K, based on the ETA 24** series with some notable variations including; ball bearing rotor (as do all Eterna-Matics) and date display which can be quickset by pulling out the crown to the second position. Most of the components are interchangeable with its ETA counterpart that Eterna also produced.