The year 1958 was a landmark year for Swiss brand Eterna when their extraordinary timepiece, the Eterna Matic Golden Heart was introduced. The watch featured the smallest automatic movement in the world offering an unrivalled mix of technological prowess and beauty. Icons of world cinema including Gina Lollobrigida and Brigitte Bardot embraced the new watch and become the ambassadors of Eterna. To celebrate the brand’s 160th anniversary, the company revives the legend and presents a new vision of the Golden Heart in a limited edition collection of 160 timepieces.
At the end of the 1950s, Eterna developed the smallest automatic movement in the world – 15.33mm in diameter and 5mm in height. It was fitted with a rotor with ball bearings made of solid gold visible on the back of the case made of crystal. Integrated in a charming round case and offered with a wide variety of bracelets, the watch was a tremendous success, winning over the most dazzling and coveted stars of the period.
Before the Eterna Golden Heart is even released to the public, Gina Lollobrigida desires to have this gold watch before everybody else. She will wear it for her thirtieth birthday on July 4th 1957 and will become its ambassador; visual materials from the highly glamorous press of the time available today in the company archives bear witness to this. Another top star of cinema, Brigitte Bardot, is equally thrilled by the watch unique in its kind and she as well will become the muse of the Golden Heart, accompanied by the theme BB has found her love.
Perpetuating the spirit of the original, the company has taken a step further: the rotor is now decorated with a heart of 18-carat 4N gold. Visible from the back through a sapphire base, its beats bring the energy of the watch to life the watch lives up to its name.
The case retains its original spherical volume and gives the impression of a precious container; it is fitted with a circular metal return which encases the sapphire crystal. The mother-of-pearl dial boasts eight round diamonds and four stainless steel appliqués in the form of Roman numerals.
The profile of the case is adorned over its perimeter with a decorative strip. The delicately perforated metal reveals a bluish tinge thanks to a transparency effect. The same blue tone, intense and deep, can be found in the spindle inserted in the crown of the winding mechanism and is a perfect complement to the stainless steel of the case and bracelet.
The bracelet itself recaptures the fastener and cord style typical of the 1930s in a contemporary version. Today it is made of plaited steel based on a Milanese mesh; it retains all the flexibility of the original and lends a redesigned stylish look, in harmony with the body of the watch. Understated, distinguished, gracious and feminine, Golden Heart develops a new set of characteristics while cultivating the original symbols, of extreme 60s glamor.