Zeno-Watch Basel

The roots of Zeno-Watch Basel go back to 1868, when Jules Godat founded a silver pocket watch manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Godat & Co. In 1920 the factory was acquired by A. Eigeldinger & Fils, which began producing wristwatches — in steel, silver, gold and platinum — also intended for military use. It was the son, André-Charles Eigeldinger, who registered the "Zeno" brand in 1922: a name of Greek origin, chosen in reference to the Stoic philosopher Zeno of Citium and sometimes described as meaning "gift of Zeus".

After its first appearance at the Basel watch fair in 1949, the brand changed hands in 1966, when the rights were acquired by Peter Atteslander and Eric Enggist. It was in these years that Felix W. Huber joined the company, and in 1969 he was behind two launches that became emblematic — the "Spacemen" model and the "Compressor" dive watch, water-resistant to 300 metres and adopted by the Swiss Army's combat divers — before acquiring the entire company in 1973 and moving its headquarters permanently to Basel.

Since then Zeno-Watch Basel has remained an independent, family-run manufacture, now registered as Zeno-Watch Patrik-Philipp Huber SA and still wholly controlled by the Huber family. In 1999 the brand expanded its range of pilot's watches with new oversized models and COSC-certified chronometers, consolidating a catalogue that combines its original aviation and instrument vocation with a solid diving tradition.