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Mondaine watches history

Mondaine is a Swiss-based watch manufacturer. In business since 1951, originally with the aim of producing digital watches for export. Since 1986, Mondaine has been known as the company that makes the official Swiss Railways (SBB) Watch, licensed by the SBB. The archetypal Swiss railway clock - on which the design of Mondaine watches is based - was designed in 1944 by a man named Hans Hilfker (1901-1993).
Over the years, the design of the Swiss Railway Clock has become the standard for station and airport clocks worldwide, making a Mondaine watch a familiar sight to anyone who has ever traveled by train or plane.

Today, the Mondaine watch is available in many different shapes and sizes. Fashionable women's watches and men's watches are divided into various lines, each with their own properties, such as the minimalist Evo, the thin Simply Elegant, the vegan Essence and the iconic Stop2Go.
Mondaine also produces an extensive range of wall and desk clocks for your home or office.

Mondaine Stop2Go watches

Hilfker's original clock not only had a unique design, but was also the perfect representation of punctuality. Because timetables do not list departure times to the second, trains always leave the station to the minute. That is why station clocks receive an electrical impulse from a central master clock every full minute, which signals the minute hand to continue. The second hand is driven by an independent electric motor. However, it only takes 58.5 seconds for the pointer to go all the way around. Then the hand pauses briefly at the 12 o'clock position and begins a new rotation as soon as the clock receives the next minute pulse from the master clock. This method of driving the seconds hand has been successfully integrated into a range of Mondaine watches called 'Stop2Go'.

Mondaine is the first CO2-neutral watch manufacturer

“The best thing you can do for our planet is not to buy a watch. The second best thing you can do is buy a Mondaine watch." Says André Bernheim, co-owner and chairman of the Board of Directors of Mondaine. The company has adapted all aspects of its business operations, from transport to materials and energy use, and is thus 98% CO2 neutral. For example, the factory provides its own energy with solar panels, packaging material has been reduced by 50% and Mondaine is increasingly switching to the use of recycled and renewable materials.

All Mondaine watch straps are (becoming) plant-based

Because Mondaine is convinced that the use of renewable materials is the future, all new watches are only offered with a vegan strap made of recycled steel, cork, Castor oil, wool or vegan leather. The company has entered into a partnership with VegeaTM, an Italian company that turns residual products from wine production into an excellent alternative to animal leather. Starting with the Classic collection, all leather Mondaine straps will eventually be replaced by such a plant-based alternative.
You will find these watch straps and more in our Mondaine watch straps collection.