Alpina Watches International is a Swiss manufacturer of wrist watches based in Geneva, Switzerland. Alpina began in 1883 when Gottlieb Hauser, a Swiss watchmaker, founded the Swiss Wa tchmakers Corporation ("Corporation d'Horlogers Suisse"), a unique horological cooperative that combined an innovative blend of watchmakers, manufacturers, and retailers for producing their own calibres. By 1901, Alpina was a registered trademark, and by 1912 the company had released its first chronometer.
In 1933, a little over a decade later, they presented their first sports watch, the "Blockuhr" in steel. During this time, Alpina patented also a new type of crown (Brevet 1464).
In 1945, the first Alpina automatic movement was realized, the 582 calibre. The automatic winding system worked with a mechanism with two springs where in between the oscillating mass moved back and forth. This large and accurate movement (12 _ lines) was equipped with a Nivarox spiral, had 18 000 alternances and the Incabloc system. Its power reserve was 40 hours.
In 1957, the Alpina "President" was introduced and quickly became known as a reliable automatic sport-watch (calibre 584c with date).
In 1963, Alpina realized an automatic movement for women; the smallest and strongest ever made yet, the calibre 362 (6 _ lines). It worked with a rotor system, turning in both ways. Those are few of the most known models. The Alpina collection at its height consisted of many hundreds of models, there were 1000 models exhibited at the 1958's Congress. Retrospectively, one can say that the sports-line was the main focus of the Alpina collection. Since 1933, Alpina improved the performance of its sports-watches continuously and followed with these watches an evolution where people engaged in more spare-time activities.
Alpina was highly successful until an influx of electronics watches flooded the market in the 1970's which Alpina was unable to counter. Alpina was acquired by Frederique Constant and relaunched in 2002.
Today Alpina's strong lines and originality are married to high-level sports function and elegance. From the sports style of the Avalanche Collection to the complications of the Avalanche Extreme Collection, you'll find character, aesthetic balance, and quality construction in every timepiece. Following the success of its "Avalanche Extreme Regulator" Collection, and to celebrate the brand's 125th Anniversary in 2008, Alpina presented a brand new "Manufacture Calibre", fully designed and developed in-house.
Author's Note: Alpina is involved in plenty of sports events, but in my opinion, one of the significant events for Alpina was when the Geneva Diving Police (Gendarmerie de Geneve) has purchased 20 AL-525LBB5AEV6 Alpina Extreme Diver watches. Alpina was chosen to be supplier of Diving Watches for this Elite Team.
Website: http://www.alpina-watches.com/