Engineering:Ollech & Wajs
Ollech & Wajs (O&W) is a watch company based in Zurich, Switzerland.[1]
History
In the 1950s Albert J. Wajs founded the company as a supplier of stainless steel bracelets. He partnered with Joseph Ollech in 1956 and expanded into the manufacture of wristwatches from retail space in Zurich.[2] Watches were offered by mail order from Switzerland through magazine ads to customers in the United States and UK.
The company specialized in automatic and manual-wind mechanical military and dive watches. They were sold in PX's on US military bases during the 1960s. The company's M 65 military watch was popular with US soldiers.[3] The Vietnam War era marked an all-time high in sales. Breitling Navitimer stock was used to produce Ollech & Wajs chronometer-style watches, called "Aviation".[4] During the first season of the 1970s British television series The Professionals, actors Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins wore what appear to be Ollech & Wajs Caribbean 1000 wristwatches.[5]
O&W finally ended production of OW models in the early 1980s, although business continued with the Aviation chronographs.[6] In the 1990s, the company resumed under the name A.I. Wajs.[7] and subsequently OW. New models were successfully introduced, such as the M4 diving watch and the Mirage Valjoux 7750 chronograph.
In 2006 a collector of OW became the distributor of the brand for the French market, and in 2017, Albert J. Wajs passed the company over to him.[8]
See also
References
- ↑ "Ollech & Wajs relaunches brand with two new Pilot watches" (in en-US). 2019-07-24. https://www.professionalwatches.com/ollech-wajs-relaunches-brand-with-two-new-pilot-watches/.
- ↑ Love, Zen (2019-03-13). "This Obscure Tool Watch Brand Is Back with New Timepieces" (in en-US). http://gearpatrol.com/watches/a555232/ollech-wajs-ow-watches/.
- ↑ http://ow-watch.com/historic.html O&W France, History
- ↑ "Montres Breitling, une légende née dans les cockpits". Capital.fr. http://www.capital.fr/enquetes/dossiers/montres-breitling-une-legende-nee-dans-les-cockpits-1106545. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
- ↑ http://www.mark-1.co.uk/Professionals/hardware.htm The Authorised Guide to The Professionals
- ↑ http://chronotime.ch/ Chronomaster, History of Ollech & Wajs
- ↑ http://www.chronotime.ch/about_us.htm About Ollech & Wajs
- ↑ "History". Ollech & Wajs, precision A.G. http://ow-watch.com/en/ollech-and-wajs#history-section. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
External links
 |
