watches PRIM St. Wenceslas 36 A 73-921-300-00-1

The idea of producing Czechoslovak wristwatches first appeared immediately after the end of World War II. The effort of the management at that time was to limit the dependence on imports, especially from the western states of Europe. Wristwatches were not produced in Czechoslovakia before

In the fall of 1949, Adolf Martínek was entrusted with the task of building a new plant and preparing the serial production of wristwatches, who, in the unused building of the national committee in Nové Město nad Metují, together with the first 15 colleagues, embarked on a task that at the time was handled by only eight countries in the world.

Those interested bought the first Czechoslovak wristwatch in 1958. However, first it was necessary to choose the brand under which the wristwatch would be manufactured.

The PRIM brand was chosen, which at the time was also used for timepieces produced in other plants of the national company Chronotechna. Initially, an identical logo was used for the alarm clocks and wall clocks called the "loaf". Later, however, the graphic form was simplified to meet the requirements for modern dial design. The designer Josef Žid is the author of the so-called "standing" PRIM logo, which has been used on wristwatches since the 1970s. Until the 1990s, part of the designer's work was also the design of watches, which is why Josef Žid was entrusted with the design of the new brand. In addition, the need for a new graphic representation of the brand was supported by the fact that in 1969 the watch manufacturing plant in Nové Město nad Metují became completely independent and acquired the name it bears to this day - ELTON.

Until the 1990s, the New Town plant produced hundreds of thousands of wristwatches a year. However, after the so-called Velvet Revolution, watches from foreign brands began to flood Czechoslovakia - from luxury to the cheapest Asian ones. Interest in primkeys gradually declined and for a while it seemed that the production of Czech wristwatches no longer had a future.

Fortunately, it was possible to gradually revive interest in domestic products. Therefore, it was decided to convert the factory into small-scale production of the manufactory type. In 2008, the production of new mechanical movements began and ELTON hodinářská joined the ranks of important watch manufactures that rely on handwork, precision and an individual approach to the customer.

Manufacturer information: ELTON hodinářská, a.s., Náchodská 2105, 549 01 Nové Město nad Metují, Czech Republic / info@prim.cz