AMIDA is a Swiss brand and movement manufacturer founded in 1925 in Granges. At its peak, AMIDA employed just over 300 people. At Baselworld in March 1976, in the midst of the quartz revolution and the advent of LCD electronic watches, AMIDA introduced a mechanical model with a digital display: the Digitrend. A singular watch, combining two patents: one for its jumping-hour movement, the other for its refraction display using a prism. Also known as the "drivers watch", this watch was a direct inspiration for several independent brands in the 2010s.
The new founders of Amida Watches have been passionate since 2015 about what this iconic model represents, namely the retro-futuristic, space-age universe, automotive design and architecture from the 1950s to the 1970s. They are now devoted to redesigning the AMIDA brand with the idea of continuing its history through this fantasized vision of the past, where the future was synonymous with a better world.
Naturally, they started to redesign an authentic version of the Digitrend, seeking to improve every detail while preserving the very essence of the product. First of all, they called on Johann Terretaz, a Swiss graphic designer and typographer. Then their friend and partner, Bruno Herbet, to design a new additional module for the jumping-hour display, compatible with a Soprod Newton automatic movement. Thanks to his background and previous experience as a watch engineer, he was able to find the equation that calculates the exact reflection for an optimal 90-degree display.
As for the rest of the design, Matthieu Allègre redesigned the whole piece; from the typography (based on the original), to the redesign of the case shape and finishes, the Alcantara strap, the steel bracelet, the case back graphics for this limited edition "Take Off" which is a nod to the very first AMIDA logo of 1925, to the imagination of a new packaging that will act as a display and decorative object inspired by the space and retrofuturist universe.
DIGITREND BLACK EDITION, BLACK METAL BRACELET
FUNCTIONS
- Jumping Hours and Sweeping Minutes
- Automatic winding
MOVEMENT
- Caliber : Soprod NEWTON P092, Swiss automatic mechanical winding
- Auxiliary Module : Jumping hour disc developed in-house module with 9 mechanical components and 6 screws
- Jewels : 23 rubies
- Frequency : 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
- Power reserve : 44 hours
- Movement Thickness : 4.6mm
- Auxiliary module: 2mm
- Finishes : Côtes de Genève, sandblasted, circular-grained skeletonized oscillating weight rhodium-plated finishes
- Indications : Dual discs, for hours and minutes (LRD – Light Reflective Display)
CASE
- Material : 316L stainless steel, satin-brushed and polished with black DLC coating
- Dimensions : Width 39.6 mm / Length 39 mm / Height 15.6 mm
- Crystal Sapphire : crystal reflective prism
- Water resistance : 5 ATM (50 meters)
BRACELET
- Stainless Steel Black PVD bracelet
- Lug width: 22mm
- Stainless steel buckle, 18mm
- Weight : 110 grams