The Brief History of Mido

Many brands, specifically Swiss brands, have a long and beautiful history in watchmaking that is often the head of their marketing campaigns to prove to collectors and enthusiasts the experience of creating luxury timepieces. However, many brands focus more on their future and moving forward instead of looking into the past, and that brand is Mido. With a vast array of beautiful watches through their Multiffort collection, including dive watches via the Ocean Star collection, Mido has proven itself to be a fantastic watchmaker. Today, we start at the beginning and look at Mido's history. 

The vision of what we know as Mido started with the thoughts of Mr. Georges Scharen, an experienced and brilliant Swiss watchmaker, on November 11th, 1918. Many often question where the Mido name came from; it came from the Spanish term “Yo mido” (“I measure” in English) and would lead the brand to become known for technical innovation and gorgeous, timeless designs. 

In 1920, Mido would become a brand known for its intrinsic and fascinating designs through women’s enamelled shaped and vibrant coloured cases with modern straps and stunning timepieces created for men. However, Mido would later find itself in the automotive market with watches shaped like the grill of Buick, Bugatti, Fiat, Ford and many other brands to let enthusiasts express their love for automotive off the road. 

In 1930, Mido created a technology that would become a crucial component of any watch, even in modern and contemporary watchmaking today. Mido was fixated on creating a water-tight crown, adding to the overall water resistance of their watches, leading to the creation of the cork-crown sealing system, later known as the Aquadura. Four years later, Mido released the Multifort collection, one of the first antimagnetic watches to feature a self-winding movement, shock and water resistance. The Multifort would be the best-selling timepiece from the 1930s to the 1950s. 

Fast forward to 1959, and we see the beginning of one of the great watches in the Mido catalogue: the creation of the Mido Ocean Star. The Ocean Star introduced the single shell case, which would eliminate any water resistance issues from the back of the case and create a more water-tight seal. The single shell case paired with the Aquadura crown system made the Ocean Star collection as rugged and reliable as possible. 

The illustrious Multifort and Ocean Star are still collections produced by Mido and are at the brand's forefront (or flagships) as their most popular collections. Do you have any questions or want to check them out for yourself? The Mido Multifort and Ocean Star collections are available through Canada Watch House, so feel free to look!