STOWA. Timeline.
1927 - 2021.
The STOWA history.
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STOWA foundingIn 1927, STOWA is founded in Hornberg, Black Forest by Walter Storz.
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STOWA moves to Pforzheim1935, eight years after the companies founding, STOWA moves to Pforzheim.
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Antea. Inspired from the German Bauhaus.Since 1937, STOWA produces watches in the style of Bauhaus. The small number of watches existing from that period prove that not many companies realized this, by the standards of the time, new design. However, this plain and timeless design is well established today.
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Bauhaus styleMore interesting watches from that period can be seen at the STOWA museum in Engelsbrand. May it be a small, solid gold watch for women with Roman numbers or a rectangular gold watch with Arabic ones. Collectors’ hearts leap for joy regarding the two watches depicted above. The rectangular watch is made of a so called desk case (Pultgehäuse), which means the watch case is thicker at 12 o’clock than at 6 o’clock – to better meet the eye of the beholder. The round shaped watch features a rare color combination: a Roman dial made of copper in a chromed watch case. -
Bauhaus-style. Rectangular.Gold plated rectangular Bauhaus-style watch. Arabic numbers. Rectangular movement with STOWA engraving.
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STOWA moves to its new buildingSTOWA is building a company building in the Bismarckstraße 54 in Pforzheim, to handle the constant growth.
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The Original.
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Precision movementA very precise movement is ticking inside the STOWA Marine pocketwatch. -
STOWA Marine watch. Alignment on the oceans.Without B-Uhr (Marine watch) no alignment on the oceans. The beginnings of these watches, also called B-Uhren, Marine watches or Captains watches, go back to the british marines. To locate the exact position of their many ships on the oceans, they needed instruments to determine the time exactly. The famous, british watchmaker John Harrison constructed the first sea chronometers in the early 18th century. -
Fliegeruhren (Pilot watches)The most famous STOWA watches are the big Pilot watches with the Baumuster "A" dial (see below, since 1940) and the Baumuster "B". The big cases (55mm) enabled carrying the watch above the leather jacket. From 1942 onwards there was the second version. The so-called Baumuster "B" dial. A big external minute scale and a small internal hour scale marked this design. -
PrecisionThe movement of the large pilotwatch was very precise. It has to pass the elaborate tests of the chronometer checkpoint.
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The STOWA building is destroyedOn 23 February 1945, the building in the Bismarckstraße is completely destroyed while Pforzheim is being bombed. The watch production is relocated to Rheinfelden in the same year.
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STOWA soccer teamSTOWAs' soccer team.
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New buildingA new building in Rheinfelden is build in 1951, which is extended in 1954 and 1966. At the same time, the head office in Pforzheim is also being rebuilt.
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The RUFA (Rheinfelder Uhrteilefabrik) is foundedThe RUFA (Rheinfelder Uhrteilefabrik) was founded to produce impact protection systems for PUW and Durowe movements. -
STOWA building in PforzheimBuilt in 1938 and destroyed in 1945, the STOWA building was rebuilt in the 1950s.
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Ludwig Erhard visits STOWAHannover fair in 1956. Ludwig Erhard visits the STOWA booth and Walter Storz shows him the collection. From 1949 to 1963, Ludwig Erhard was Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and was regarded as the father of the "German economic miracle" and the social market economy, which still determines the economic system in Germany. From 1963 to 1966 he was the second Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1957 he published the book "Prosperity for All".
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Werner Storz joined the companyIn 1960 the son of the founder, Werner Storz, joined the company. He managed it very successfully until 1996, before selling it to Jörg Schauer (for lack of a successor).
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Name STOWA Seatime copyright reservedIn 1963, the name of the product STOWA Seatime, a precursor of today's Seatime series, is copyright reserved.
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Jörg Schauer acquires STOWAIn 1996, Jörg Schauer acquires STOWA from Werner Storz and hence all trademark rights.
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STOWAs' launch of the new Pilots watchSTOWA presents the new Flieger watch (Pilots watch). In a 40 mm stainless steel case and with hand winding movement Unitas 6300 N. Only 70 pieces have been built. We still produce this watch since 1997 without big changes.
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Model Kleine Schauer wins the Goldene Unruh 2000.
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Edition 9 Schauer Chronograph wins the Goldene Unruh 2002.
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STOWAs' first AwardSTOWA wins the award for the best watches of the world in 2005 for the first time, an audience prize presented by watchtime.net, UHREN-MAGAZIN, Focus and Focus Online. The winning model: Antea creme automatic with sapphire caseback.
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New building with museumIn 2008 and 2009, STOWAs' company building is newly constructed and the STOWA museum is established. -
MuseumThe modern STOWA museum houses many well-preserved STOWA watches. A great source of inspiration and evidence of a long and unbroken corporate history. -
Partitio. Fine dial scalingA remake of another historic STOWA watch is created in 2008. The special feature of this model from the 1930s is the fine dial scaling. The model name Partitio (lat.: division) has been derived from that. The original features luminous hands and numbers and a mechanical handwinding movement. Although we have modernized the casing of the watch, the dial and the hands remained true to the original.
Partitio. Historical and remakeThe historical Partitio next to the current black dial version.2013-
TESTAF. New standard for pilot watchesTESTAF (technical standard for pilot watches), the standard for pilot watches since 2012. Developed by the FH Aachen. For the first time, a clear technical and functional requirement catalog is presented, which determines what requirements pilot wristwatches must meet today. In the picture you see the current STOWA TESTAF TO1 which got the certification in 2013.
STOWA TESTAF TO1 wins the Japanese Watch Grand Prix in the category "Military"2014-
Rana. The future of watch designInspiration: Physically, almost all watches look like they did decades ago. Styling watches are only modified visually. Experiments with mechanical gadgets are now the way of differentiation. When it comes to dials, they are graphically overloaded – to the user’s confusion. The reading of the time seems secondary. Conceptually, the STOWA Rana and Antea 390 Dynadot are watches in accordance with Bauhaus: technically intelligent, culturally inspiring and simple.
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Hartmut EsslingerEsslinger about symbolism: “The symbolism of innovative products is usually very historical: my first iPad proposal for Steve Jobs, from 1982, was inspired by a slate block, my Trinitron design for Akio Morita and Norio Ogha (Sony) was a picture frame and already planned switching to flat screens in 1978.”
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Munich: STOWA Flieger GMT wins the Munichtime vote.Once a year, mechanic watch lovers meet in Munich on the Munichtime. In different categories, visitors choose their favorite watch. Our model Flieger GMT reached the first place in the category up to 3.000.- Euro!
2015-
TypographyThe font of the Antea back to bauhaus has its roots from the Bauhaus era (1919-1933). Herbert Bayer, a teacher at Bauhaus, has designed this font between 1925 - 1928. In 1975, Ed Benguiat and Victor Caruso have evolved the font in different cuts. It thus creates a new original and could have decorated the model Antea back then. Therefore, we called it back to bauhaus.
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Antea. back to bauhausSTOWAs' desire for a modernization of the classic bauhaus watch inspired the designer Hartmut Esslinger to take a look back at the history of Bauhaus. He himself says about the Antea back to bauhaus design: “It had to be a cool interpretation of both the original design of Lange & Söhne (1937) and also the Antea by STOWA (1937). I kept the stainless steel case of the Antea Classic. The dial with the modern Bauhaus STD type from Ed Benguiat and Victor Caruso, creates a historical original with its sensitive aesthetics. The colors offered by STOWA are a tribute to Josef Albers and Johannes Itten, because Bauhaus should not only be seen as black or white.”
STOWA TO2 wins again the Japanese Watch Grand Prix in the category "Military Pilot Watch"
Munich: STOWA Flieger Klassik Sport wins the Munichtime vote.Once again, mechanic lovers met in Munich on the Munichtime. In 5 categories the visitors chose their favorite watch. Our model Flieger Klassik Sport reached the first place in the category up to 2,500 Euro!2016-
Flieger Professional DINSince Friday June 24th it is certain: STOWAs' Flieger DIN Professional will be in no way affected by any physical stresses and strains in air traffic. Our new Flieger watch passed all tests straight away! STOWA was actively involved in developing this new standard with the work group Flieger DIN.
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Form Follows EmotionThe new Flieger watch was designed by Hartmut Esslinger, the founder of frog design. Besides others he worked successfully for Wega, Apple, Sony and many more. In the picture you see Hartmut Esslinger discussing a detail with Jörg Schauer.
2017-
The Prodiver Olymp Bronze wins the watch vote!Again we won the popular online contest at Watchtime! For the fifth time in a row (!) our sports watch Prodiver wins this competition (in the very competitive category up to 2.500.- Euro!). We are not only very delighted about the award but also of the number of votes cast: No other watch (across all categories) has received more individual votes than STOWA: More than 2200 readers have chosen the Prodiver Olymp Bronze!
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90th anniversary2017. STOWA celebrates its 90th anniversary. There are some limited special series. In the picture you see a limited Flieger (Pilots-) watch in the popular "vintage style" -
Customers requestA customer like our Antea from 1938 so much, that he asked us to replicate this watch for him. We have done it since the watch with its double color itself is very nice. In addition, the dial with its fancy small second is very special in its design. Next to the new watch you see the original of 1938. The name of the new watch: Antea 1938 rose.
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Start of the STOWA friendsWould you like to experience a STOWA watch live? STOWA friends make it possible. There are worldwide very loyal STOWA customers/collectors who agreed to show their watch/ watches to you locally. -
The STOWA bookThe STOWA book. 272 pages. Not only the STOWA story is shown, but the book is also devoted to the "face of the watch", the dial. The theme (dial) design is worked up by numerous examples. Interesting and exciting. We will send you the book free of charge or you can also download it from the internet as pdf. -
Handwinding movement availableFrom now on, we have again a handwinding movement for almost all models available: The beautifully finished ETA 2804-2 movement with golden STOWA engraving, Code de Geneve and blued screws. Whether the movement fits into your watch, you always see on the product-specific pages. Here is a small excerpt: Suitable for Flieger Klassik 40, Marine Klassik 40, Partitio, Antea 365 and 390 etc. -
STOWA hikingA great event. Watch collectors and friends of the house hike together and after this we enjoy the day with traditional Black Forest food, chocolate, fine wine and of course: watches!
2018-
Marine Blue Limited wins the Goldene Unruh 2018Again we won the popular contest >Goldene Unruh<, one of the largest watch votes in the world. Our limited and already sold out Marine Blue Limited watch wins this competition (in the very competitive category up to 2.500.- Euro!). We are very happy about the award and want to say thanks to all our fans worldwide!
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Prodiver white wins diverwatches award 2018For the sixth time in a row, a STOWA diver's watch wins the popular vote at watchtime, the leading online portal of the german watch collectors. Readers vote for our new Prodiver by a wide margin - this time with a white dial.
2019-
Flieger Verus Sport wins the Goldene Unruh 2019Since 1998, UHREN MAGAZIN readers have annually chosen the "best watches in the world" with the award of the "Golden Balance". This year already for the 14th time in cooperation with the news magazine "Focus". The closely coordinated cooperation guarantees an ideal combination of competence and reach. The latter is reinforced by the integration of the "Focus online" Internet platform. (Original text watch magazine, 2019)
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Antea 390 dynadotThe new Antea 390 dynadot now combines a unique dialdesign, the so called dynadots, with a well-known STOWA case which already exist for a long time. The sustainable conception of the Antea 390 dynadot - the watch can be easily maintained by the use of a mechanical movement and the simple case shape and special surfaces - makes it usable for generations. This sustainability concept has already been awarded this year for another model, the Verus 40 won the reddot design award 2019 for its new sustainability. With the Antea 390 Dynadot and the Antea 1919, STOWA consistently continues on this path.
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Partitio Red Second is the Watch of the year 2019Simple in design, clearly drawn and of captivating everyday quality - the classic wristwatch should be a companion for life, and it is precisely these criteria that the Stowa Partitio meets in the eyes of readers of ARMBANDUHREN, WELT am SONNTAG and ICON. In addition, there is the modestly calculated sales price of the watch, which is only available through direct sales and does not come to the fore with a "wearable" diameter of 37 millimetres under the shirt cuff. In return, it was the focus of interest in the eyes of the informed electorate and ensured that the brand from the Black Forest, which has always been well-placed for years, was now able to climb the top podium for the first time. (original text wristwatch magazine March 2019)
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Flieger Verus 40 wins the reddot design award 2019Engelsbrand, March 2019. The STOWA watch company has won an award in the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2019. The Flieger Verus 40 received the Red Dot, which the renowned jury only awards to products that feature an outstanding design. The Flieger Verus 40 with their modern design and sustainability concept convinced the jury. Design quality is the common factor for award-winning products “I would like to congratulate the laureates sincerely on their wonderful success. The fact that their products were able to satisfy the strict criteria of the jury bears testimony to their award-winning design quality. The laureates are thus setting key trends in the design industry and are showing where future directions may lead,” said Professor Dr. Peter Zec, founder and CEO of Red Dot, in reference to the winners.
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Prodiver Grey Limited wins the diver´s watch election 2019
For the seventh time in a row our diver´s watch Prodiver wins the popular diving watch vote of watchtime.net (the award in the category "1.001 to 2.500 Euro") With the most votes (3,324 out of about 7,000) across all categories, the vote has once again shown that the Prodiver is one of the most popular sports watches in the entire watch market! The Prodiver Grey Limited has as a special feature, a very stable ceramic bezel. Order the limited edition now and quickly choose your desired number!
2020-
Flieger Classic white wins the Goldene Unruh 2020For more than 20 years, UHREN-MAGAZIN readers have been selecting “the best watches in the world” with the “Goldene Unruh” award. In the meantime, the Goldene Unruh has become the world’s largest online poll, which has been expanded to include the readers and users of Watchtime.net, Focus and Focus online. (Original text watch magazine 2020)
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Flieger Classic Sport is the sports watch of the year 2020!Sporty watch of the year 2020 was the STOWA FLIEGER CLASSIC SPORT with a clear lead over the second placed Breitling Aviator 8 B01 "Mosquito" and the Borgward Big Forty-One Chronograph. Rank 4 goes to the Anonimo Nautilo Vintage "Sunray Blue", rank 5 to the Clifton Club Automatic GMT from Baume & Mercier. (original text wristwatch magazine 2020)
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Prodiver Black Green Ceramic wins the diver´s watch election 2020For the eighth time in a row our diver´s watch Prodiver wins the popular diving watch vote of watchtime.net (the award in the category "1.001 to 2.500 Euro"). Once again with the most votes (4,158 out of approx. 8,000) across all categories, the vote has shown that the Prodiver is one of the most popular sports watches in the entire watch market!
2021-
Flieger Bronze Vintage wins the Goldene Unruh 2021During the world's largest online election, the Golden Unruh, UHREN-MAGAZIN readers (expanded to include the readers and users of Watchtime.net, Focus and Focus online.) have been selecting "the best watches in the world" with the "Golden Unruh" award since 1988. This year, 202 candidates competed in five award categories. Only mechanical models were eligible.
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Verus GMT Chronograph wins the reddot design award 2021
Engelsbrand, March 2021. The STOWA watch company has won an award in the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2021. The Verus GMT Chronograph received the Red Dot, which the renowned jury only awards to products that feature an outstanding design. "The modern STOWA Flieger VERUS GMT Chronograph wristwatch is equipped with a second time zone - widely referred to as GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). With the help of the central 24-hour hand, the time difference can be set and displayed via discreetly coloured hands. The white hands and the sans-serif numbers of this simple and elegantly designed wristwatch contrast strongly with the black dial. The fine-matt housing can be easily refurbished to conserve resources. With its modern aesthetics and useful additional function, the pilot’s watch is an accessory that is as perfect in form as it is useful, especially for cosmopolitans." was the reason given by the jury.
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Flieger Classik Silver is the classic watch of the year 2021!
Our Flieger Classic Silver was voted the winner in the category Classic Watch of the Year 2021!
1st place: Stowa Flieger Classic Silber
2nd place: A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Zeitzone
3rd place: Lilienthal Zeitgeist Automatik «Meteorite»
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Prodiver Mauritius wins the diver's watch election 2021
For the ninth time in a row our diver´s watch Prodiver wins the popular diving watch vote of watchtime.net (the award in the category "1.501 to 2.500 Euro"). Once again with the most votes (2,978 out of approx. 7,000) across all categories, the vote has shown that the Prodiver is one of the most popular sports watches in the entire watch market!
A brand should be active!
Please help us.
In order to successfully continue the STOWA history we always need your support as a customer and watch collector. Use the opportunity to get in direct contact with us to send us your criticism and suggestions. Help us also if you have any old STOWA watch of which you might even know when the watch was built. We are collecting everything to constantly improve and complete the STOWA timeline. Thank you so much! Your STOWA team from the Black Forest.
