History Of Enicar

1 October 1913, in the Swiss region of Rue du Crêt in La Chaux-de-Fonds was the start of a company to be called Enicar. Enicar is the family name Racine spelled backwards, since the name Racine was already in use since 1870.

They invent various stunts to attract media and consumers. Some watches are attached - for several weeks - to the hull or keel of an ocean steamer to demonstrate how waterproof the watches are. These 'Seapearl' watches - Enicar's version of the Rolex Oyster - are still wanted among divers.

On May 18, 1956 a Swiss expedition reaches the summit of the Lhotse Mountain (8516 meters) in the Himalayas, followed by the summit of the Mount Everest (8848 meters) four days later. All expedition members are wearing an ENICAR Seapearl wrist watch. They all turned out to be very reliable - as the sherpa's were - which led to the brand name ENICAR Sherpa. In 1959 the ENICAR Sherpa-Graph was introduced, featuring the Valjoux 72 movement as the contemporary Rolex Daytona! The ENICAR Sherpa becomes the 'father' of many fashionable watches; over one hundred different designs are leaving the factory.

Swiss made ENICAR watches (1913-1988) were and still are high end wrist watches, that were/are equaling the quality of watches made by Rolex, Omega, IWC and many others. On second hand markets prices are remaining relatively high. Very early AR branded watches and clocks made for the aviation industry have become very rare.