Another watch brand arose Phoenix-like from the past at Basel this year, its name - Alpina. Purchased last year from a German company that was doing little or nothing with it, Peter Stas, the Managing Director of Frederique Constant, had been looking for a second brand for some time. With his well-established 'classical' collection now running at more than 40,000 pieces a year, Stas felt the time was right to take a sports watch brand into his stable. The one he settled for has quite a history behind it.

Alpina's origins
The origins of Alpina date back to an association of watchmakers calling themselves the Alpinists. The watchmakers joined forces to purchase components, develop their own calibres and expand their distribution network.

With factories in Geneva, Biel, Besançon, a branch was set up in Glashütte, Germany in 1909 to compete with such companies as Lange & Söhne. However, two World Wars did little to help Alpina's development as a Swiss company in Germany and by the end of World War II the Alpina name had been dropped and the German-based association changed its name to Deutsche Uhremacher-Genossenschaft Alpina or Dugena, which became the brand's new trademark.

Today ...
“Many people still remember the Alpina mechanical watches from the 1950s and 60s,” Peter Stas declares. “The brand has a rich heritage and so far I've had a very positive reaction to its re-launch. It seems people are eager to work with the re-emerg-ence of an old brand. I already have distributors in the USA, South America, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia. Nevertheless, I intend to start slowly with the brand, perhaps 1,500 pieces in the first year growing to 8,000 to 10,000 watches in ten years.”

The collections
“We now have two families of watches in the Alpina collection,” Stas explains, “the Heritage and the Startimer, but we are already working on a third for next year. Most of the watches have an ETA movement base with added modules, ad-ditional hands and complications for measuring and calculating, day/night readings and sometimes one or two rotating internal bezels.”

The Alpina watches are mostly in stainless steel and range from 1,200 to 3,500 euros, however, Peter Stas has already issued an 18 carat gold Limited Edition of 99 pieces of an Alpina model from the 1930s - more than half of which have already been sold.

The emergence of the Alpina brand name from its half-forgotten past is a challenge, but as Peter Stas explains, it is all about recapturing that 'Alpinist Spirit' whereby the company recreates a classical association of manufacturer, distributor and retailer. From what Alpina has achieved since its recent re-launch, the ascent of that first challenging peak appears to have been successful.