Movado has always been at its best when it treats design as more than decoration.
For its 145th anniversary, the Swiss watchmaker is looking back to the archive with two new references that show different sides of its personality. One is a modern automatic chronograph with an integrated bracelet, while the other brings back one of the brand’s most elegant mid-century names.
The result is a timely reminder that Movado’s history stretches well beyond the famous Museum dial.
At a glance
- Movado is celebrating 145 years with a heritage-led campaign anchored by the Alta Centurion and Heritage Kingmatic.
- The Alta Centurion introduces an octagonal automatic chronograph with Caliber 95A, a 904L Durasteel case and integrated bracelet.
- The Heritage Kingmatic revives a 1962 cushion-case design from one of Movado’s longest-running dress watch families.
A Swiss name built on motion
Movado began in 1881, when 19-year-old Achille Ditesheim set up a workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds with six watchmakers.
The name came from Esperanto and means “in motion,” a fitting choice for a brand born in one of Switzerland’s most important watchmaking regions.
That phrase still carries weight 145 years later, particularly for a company whose most enduring work has often been about restraint, proportion and instantly readable ideas.
The anniversary campaign draws from ateliers, design drawings and prototype cases, presenting Movado not just as a maker of watches but as a house with a long visual memory.
Head Designer Eric Bonnet has framed the brand’s Swiss Made identity as both a quality marker and a design obligation, with the past used as a foundation rather than a costume.
The Alta Centurion brings the modern edge
The Alta Centurion is the contemporary statement of the anniversary releases.
It arrives as an octagonal automatic chronograph, pairing a more assertive case profile with an integrated bracelet and a Caliber 95A movement.
The case is made from 904L Durasteel, a material choice that places emphasis on durability and a crisp finish, while the dial uses azuré-finished subdials for texture and contrast.
An optional solid 18K gold bezel adds a more precious-metal expression without changing the core shape of the watch.
Movado is presenting the Alta Centurion in three variations, giving the design room to move between sporty, architectural and more elevated interpretations.
It’s the watch in the anniversary pairing that speaks most directly to current tastes for integrated silhouettes and geometric cases.
The Kingmatic returns with its 1962 shape
The more emotionally resonant release is the Heritage Kingmatic.
The original Kingmatic appeared in 1956, a period when Swiss brands were racing to make automatic watches slimmer, cleaner and easier to wear with formal clothing.
That context matters because the Kingmatic was not trying to be flamboyant.
It was a watch built for the tailored world of postwar travel, business and polished daily dressing, where technical sophistication had to sit quietly under a cuff.
Movado kept the Kingmatic in production for nearly three decades, which says plenty about how well the formula worked.
For the new Heritage Kingmatic, Movado has revived the cushion-shaped case variant from 1962.
The shape softens the geometry of a squared case, giving the watch a presence that feels vintage without becoming theatrical.
The curved sunray dial is one of the key details, catching light across the surface rather than sitting flat and inert.
Convex applied markers add another layer of depth, giving the dial the kind of dimensional quality that often separates a convincing heritage watch from a simple archival exercise.
This is where the Kingmatic revival feels particularly measured.
It doesn’t lean too hard on nostalgia, and it doesn’t try to turn a dress watch into something it was never meant to be.
Instead, it brings back the quiet confidence of the original with enough care in the case, dial and markers to make the design feel relevant now.
The Museum Watch still anchors the story
No anniversary reading of Movado is complete without the Museum Watch.
Nathan George Horwitt’s 1947 design, with a single dot at 12 o’clock representing the sun at its meridian, remains the brand’s most recognisable contribution to modern watch design.
Its place in the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art gives Movado a design credential that few watchmakers can match.
The wider anniversary selection also nods to other chapters in the archive.
The Heritage 1917 reaches into Movado’s Art Deco period, when the house explored hundreds of case shapes in a single decade.
The Museum Imperiale connects the clean language of the Museum Watch with the bolder visual identity of the 1980s Imperiale line, extending the dot motif from the dial onto the bezel.
Together, these watches underline the point of the anniversary campaign.
Movado’s most interesting work has often come from reducing an idea until it becomes memorable.
Details & Specifications
| Brand | Movado |
|---|---|
| Anniversary | 145 years |
| Founded | 1881 in La Chaux-de-Fonds |
| Key new references | Alta Centurion and Heritage Kingmatic |
| Alta Centurion case | Octagonal 904L Durasteel case |
| Alta Centurion movement | Caliber 95A automatic chronograph |
| Alta Centurion dial | Azuré-finished subdials |
| Alta Centurion bracelet | Integrated bracelet |
| Alta Centurion bezel | Optional solid 18K gold bezel |
| Alta Centurion variations | Three variations |
| Heritage Kingmatic inspiration | 1962 cushion-shaped Kingmatic case variant |
| Heritage Kingmatic dial | Curved sunray dial with convex applied markers |
Movado’s 145th year works because it doesn’t reduce the brand to a single icon.
The Alta Centurion shows the appetite for a sharper modern sports chronograph, while the Heritage Kingmatic reminds collectors why the brand’s mid-century dress watches still have such quiet authority.
For anyone who values design discipline as much as mechanical tradition, the return of the Kingmatic is the anniversary moment to watch.
