What does ETA (Swiss ETA movement) mean?

The history of the ETA group traces back to the late 18th century: a watch factory established in Fontainemelon in 1793. In 1855, another factory dedicated to manufacturing ebauches (blank movements) was opened in Grenchen. It was later named ETA. In 1926, Ebauches SA, a joint-stock company bringing together major Swiss blank movement manufacturers, was founded. When SMH was established in 1983, Ebauches SA was renamed ETA SA Fabriques d'Ebauches.

ETA is the world's largest manufacturer of finished and semi-finished movements

　　Today, ETA employs over 9 staff globally and stands as one of the world's largest watch and movement manufacturers. 1996 annual production reached 1 million units. Manufacturing and assembly plants are located across Switzerland as well as globally, including France, Germany, Thailand, Malaysia, and China.

　　As a cornerstone of the Swatch Group, ETA's main operations are as follows:

　　Guaranteeing technical research for Swiss watches;

　　Developing large-scale production of components, movements, and complete watches at affordable prices;

　　Mastering all technologies relating to watches and production machinery;

　　Batch assembly of movements and watches.

　　To achieve these objectives, ETA maintains its own research and development laboratories, which are also responsible for designing and developing its own production equipment. For instance, one of ETA's most successful products in recent years—the Swatch production line (with over 2 million watches manufactured to date)—was designed, developed, and constructed entirely in-house. Active on the market are 30 different electronic ETA andMechanical watchmovement series, all of which must undergo systematic quality inspections at every stage of production in accordance with quality assurance regulations. ETA operates a global spare parts distribution network and movement inventory for after-sales service. By regularly distributing technical literature and international training courses to all markets, ETA significantly strengthens its influence on professional watchmakers worldwide.