Mondaine Watch Ltd. is a Swiss watch brand founded in Pfäffikon, Schwyz by Erwin Bernheim in 1967. Initially, Bernheim exported wristwatches manufactured by different Swiss watchmakers. Subsequently, he started manufacturing lever watches at Remonta AG, a subsidiary of Mondaine in Biberist, Switzerland.[1]
Its line of Mondaine watches are heavily influenced by classical Swiss railway clocks, called the Official Swiss Railways Watch / SBB, with the design licensed from the Swiss Federal Railways in 1986. This design, by Hans Hilfiker, originated in 1944.[1]
The original movement was unlike other watches and unique because by spreading 58 seconds over the 360 degrees (rather than the usual 60 seconds), the second hand comes to a complete stop at the 12 numeral for two seconds, giving the illusion that time has stopped. Then, the minute hand advances one step and the second hand starts a new cycle. However, the company stopped making models with this mechanism around 2001.[2]