Homage watch series: Eterna-Matic Kontiki

WRITTEN BY
LUÍS TINEO DROVE

Today we start in this Blog the series of homage watches, in which we will try to show emblematic and iconic watches that pay tribute to moments of history that for one reason or another deserve to be remembered.

When we talk about homage watches we usually talk about pieces that are made to commemorate surprising, courageous, risky actions that have meant a before and after in our world. This is not the case we are talking about, since the kontiki expedition did not assume any before or after in our society, indeed, it was demonstrated that its theories turned out to be wrong, however the size of the feat, the courage shown by its crew and the risky nature of his expedition makes the Eterna Matic Kontiki today a very popular watch among collectors, not only for its history, but also for its proven quality.

Eterna Matic Kontiki 1958 Advertising (Source: larevuedesmontres.com)

The Eterna-Matic Kontiki watch came out a year after the expedition, it is a watch with a generous 37mm diameter, integrated steel case and with a water resistance of 20 atm, assembles the known caliber 1422-U being an automatic watch Central second hand, which beats at a frequency of 18,000 A / h and has a power reserve of 48 hours. One of the great contributions of Eterna to watchmaking was the incorporation of ball bearings in the steering wheel, thus moving from a manual to an automatic watch, this type of movement is known as Eterna-Matic, differentiating itself from the rest of the collection that is called Eterna, from the moment of the invention of this system the five 0.05mm bearings became the logo of the brand, remaining intact to this day.

Calibre 1422-U (Picture: www.ranfft.de)

To commemorate the brave feat of these six adventurers, the watch not only adopted the name of the expedition, but also an anagram of the kontiki raft was engraved on the back cover, an anagram that has evolved and modified over time, such and as we see in the following evolutions.

History of Eterna
The Eterna company has its origin in the Swiss town of Grenchen, located at the foot of the Jura mountains, where its two founders: Dr. Josef Girard, 53, and school teacher Urs Schild, 28, founded the Dr. factory. Girard & Schild. In its beginnings the company was dedicated to the manufacture of ébauches proper, that is to say the set of plates, bucket and train of gears for other marks. Later on they would dedicate themselves to the manufacture of complete movements.

Grenchen City (Source: Museum Grenchen)

In 1866 Josef Girard retired from the company, remaining in the hands of Schild, and he became known as URS Schild Fabriq d’horlogerie.
It was in the 1870s that the factory took a step forward to manufacture whole watches thanks to the improvement in mechanization techniques, which became a manufacturing industry by right.
After entering the company the children and the woman of Schild on the death of the same, the company underwent several changes until reaching the year 1932 in which the company is divided into two new corporations: Eterna, SA for the production of watches precisión and ETA, SA the well-known manufacturer manufactures a large part of the calibers used today by the watch industry.
Eterna has great watchmaking milestones behind it, among which we can find:
• First wristwatch with alarm manufactured in series of the world in 1914.
• For the first time, ball bearings were used to mount the steering wheel in an automatic rope movement in 1948.
• World’s flattest watch (Eterna-Matic 3000) in 1962.

The adventure of some dreamers that led to a milestone

The exciting adventure of the Kontiki expedition begins to take shape in the head of the Norwegian ethnographer, biologist and geographer Thor Heyerdehl (1914-2002) who due to his knowledge and expertise in anthropology Polynesia dared to refute the existing thesis about the origins of its first settlers.
Thor came to the conclusion that the journey followed by these first inhabitants had its origin in South America, more specifically in Peru, and not from Asia as was believed at that time.

Map taken from the book “The Kon-Tiki Expedition” of Thor heyerdahl

The belief of Thor came from the multiple similarities found between the Andean and Polynesian cultures, reaching its peak in the observation and comparison between the deities Con-Ticci-Viracocha, the representative of the Sun on Earth according to the indigenous legends of Lake Titicaca. And the story of Tiki, name of the son of the Sun according to Polynesian mythology.

To prove its veracity decided to undertake the same trip as according to their theories, and Polynesians did long ago, using only the wind and sea currents (to avoid port traffic were towed the first 50 km). Part of the charm of this adventure was that they would only use the means that the first Polynesians could have used, with the exception of the radio, the occasional navigational element, and the watches used by the crew (the topic that concerns us) for these The choice of those used by its 6 crewmembers fell to Eterna, specifically commissioned for such a feat 10 years before the expedition to the factory itself.

The Raft was named as Kon-Tiki in honor of the aforementioned deities. It was built in the shipyards of the industrial service of the navy of Peru and its financing consisted of private loans and equipment donated by the United States Army.
The construction remained faithful to the indigenous style thanks to the illustrations left by the Spanish conquistadors.

Outline of the Raft taken from the book “The Kon-Tiki Expedition” of Thor heyerdahl (Source: Lapatriaenlinea.com)

The base and main frame of the raft consisted of nine logs of balsa wood chosen personally in the jungles of Ecuador of a measure of 14m aprox, and joined together only with hemp loops, not a single nail was used for its construction . To reinforce these trunks, trunks of half a meter in length were placed transversally at intervals of one meter. The sides of the base were finished with pine planks and the deck and framework of the house was executed in bamboo. This house was subsequently covered with banana leaves. The mast was made with two Mangle trunks in the shape of A, which rose to 9 meters in height and which served as support for the 4.5 x 5.5 m candle that was finally decorated by the figure of the Sun God.

Photograph of the raft taken from the book “The Kon-Tiki Expedition” of Thor heyerdahl

Among the crew of the raft were four compatriots of Heyerdehl and a Swede:
Herman Watzinger: This engineer by profession was chosen as second on board and among his missions he was commissioned the measurements and meteorological and hydrographic records of the voyage.
Erik Hesselberg: Expert sailor and painter, among many other tasks of his was the drawing of the Sun King that adorned the sail of the raft.
Torstein Raaby: Soldier in the Second World War and officer in the navy, he was in charge of the radio transmissions.
Knut Maugland: Soldier awarded by the British in the Second World War expert in radio communications.
Beng Danielsson: This anthropologist by profession and adventurer at heart was responsible for the collection of provisions and acted as interpreted due to his excellent command of the Spanish language.

This expedition was not free of risks and dangers sailed from Callao on April 28, 1947, among the provisions with which they sailed were 1000 liters of water, bananas, sweet potatoes and the aforementioned Eternal watch that each of the sailors wore. Having to subsist on these provisions, they were forced to feed additionally on flying fish and sharks that they themselves fished.
After 101 days and 6980 km, these incredible adventurers ran aground with their raft on an uninhabited islet of Raroia atoll, on the Tuamoto Islands on August 7, 1947, before being towed to Tahiti by the French schooner Tamara.

The expedition showed that the trip could happen and that this milestone could be realized, little matter that years later the genetic engineering showed that the Polynesian origin is actually Asian, because there have been few documentaries, writings or films that have narrated the incredible experience carried out by these six adventurers.

Needless to say, the watches of all the crew arrived in perfect working order without being affected by moisture corrosion or other adverse factors. Keep in mind that watches were subjected not only to inclement weather, but also to an intense use that includes even shark fishing.
On the occasion of the anniversary of this extraordinary Eternal expedition, I bring to market the Eterna-Matic Kontiki, of which successive collections and re-editions have been made over time.