The origin of the term opal comes from the Sanskrit word upala meaning “precious stone”, which is the origin of the Greek opallion and the Latin opalus, in many minds a stone related to the sky and the deities through its strong colors. A stone which forms the dial of this ESKA in new stock condition, with its 20 micron gold-plated metal case and its faceted golden Dauphine hands. To liven it up, a solid and beautiful Peseux 7001 caliber.
ESKA ST-MORITZ OPAL
Manual-winding Peseux 7001 caliber, signed ESKA - Circa 1985
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Let’s inaugurate our new series of JOSEPH BONNIE “Flash” selections with a brand that we told you about not long ago at the re-release of the Amphibian: ESKA. We had the chance, through a close Swiss friend, to get our hands on a batch of ESKA watches, in NOS condition, with a particularity of ornamental stone dials. Fantastic pieces, in remarkable condition and with solid mechanical hand-wound movements.
This ESKA presents a magnificent dial in Opal marquetry.
LET'S TALK WATCHES
WHAT YOU WON'T LEARN FROM BOOKS ...
PRETTY LITTLE DETAILS
TECHNICAL DETAILS
| Brand: | ESKA |
|---|---|
| Model: | St-Moritz |
| Dial: | Opal marquetry |
| Caliber: | Peseux 7001, signed ESKA |
| Year: | Circa 1985 |
| Size: | 33 mm |
| Case: | 20 micron gold-plated metal |
| Strap: | Joseph Bonnie lizard strap |
| Warranty: | 1 year |
| Box/Papers: | No |
OTHER ESKA WATCHES OF THE SELECTION
ESKA
THE STORY BEHIND THE BRAND
Eska is a watch brand created in 1918 by Silvain Kocher (initials S & K, hence the name ESKA), then at the end of his career as a watchmaker, and his son Erwin Kocher, in Selzach in German-speaking Switzerland. The brand would settle a little later in Granges (Grenchen) after their success in producing superior quality ladies’ watches with movements of 6 and a half lines up to baguettes of two lines 3/4 . The great strength of ESKA, and what would make it successful for several decades, was the choice to export and develop numerous international markets.
Indeed, Silvain Kocher would see great development in the United States and Latin America from the opening of two subsidiaries in Sao Paulo and New York in 1929, respectively, with his sons Edgar Kocher and Walter Kocher. At ESKA, family counts!
The brand would not only produce women’s timepieces, as we can read in a 1938 advertisement, but also “Waterproof chronographs, Simple chronographs, Sports watches of all types”.
After the war, there was still talk about a factory with 100 watchmakers. It was with his second son Silvain Junior that the business continued after the war, and even developed even more internationally with the importation of wristwatches into Burma, Singapore and Malaysia.
Despite these developments, in 1955 we found the brand at the famous Basel fair with Solvil, Enicar and Juvenia as neighbors. Speaking of another important brand, ROYCE will soon come under the ESKA fold. ROYCE manufactures inexpensive watches, ESKA reserving the more high-end ones.
Silvain Kocher died in 1968, and he was then president of the Swiss Watch Foundation. His sons would continue to manage the family business, as they always have. Unlike many well-known Swiss brands, ESKA will suffer little from the quartz crisis, for a painful but understandable reason, that of the shelving of mechanical watches, to concentrate solely on the booming quartz watches. At the same time, it developed its presence in France and it was at this time that we would see Mireille Darc as the face of the brand.
The St. Moritz collection at Eska represented the quintessence of the 1970s watch, combining gold plating, a very thin case, with its bracelet integrated or not, in colors that were sometimes a little bold. The St Moritz collection was not only made up of watches with ornamental stone dials, but in the mid-1970s we would see these fantastic watches appear.
Today we are proud to offer you seven gold-plated ESKA watches, equipped with 7 different stone dials: Nephrite Jade, Coral, Turquoise, Red Jasper, opal marquetry, bloodstone, aventurine.
