Design & Technology
For more than 100 years the Swiss Federal Railways have been famous for punctuality and precision. Historically the train station manager used a special red Paddle to announce to passengers and train conductors that the train is about to depart. This red Paddle with its special shape is also the second hand of the Official Swiss Railways Clock.
Mondaine’s original and authentic watch and clock collection captures this pristine and punctual look.
SBB stop2go
The Magic Moment of the Mondaine stop2go
Why does the second hand stop after each minute for two seconds?
A unique feature of the Swiss Railway (SBB) Clock to ensure smooth and absolutely precise departures of Swiss trains on the full minute for the last 70 years. An ingenious design by a Swiss engineer employed by SBB, that ensured train punctuality would become a visible concept across the globe.
A timepiece that ticks off the minute at 58 seconds continues to charm and intrigue; Swiss watchmaker Mondaine has incorporated this unique motion within its Mondaine - SBB/Official Swiss Railway Watch.
The fascinating execution of “stop2go”, like on the original clock, features the famous red second hand that turns full circle in 58 seconds and then waits at 12 o’clock for the black minute hand to move on, before jumping one marker forwards, starting its next rotation. Two seconds which sometimes can change our life?
Mondaine asked designer Martin Drechsel, to come up with a design for the new watch. As a tribute to its industrial background he framed the stainless steel case with two matt-brushed stainless steel braces, fading to the horns to fit the strap. The crown has been built as a functional switch for easy time setting of the new and unique movement, which was developed by Mondaine, to ensure clear visibility of the 12 o’clock second stop and iconic dial. The crystal is made from scratch resistant anti-reflective coated sapphire glass.
A true statement for the wrist with a diameter of 41 mm and striking case design, the soft black strap made from natural leather completes this Swiss Made timepiece.
Special development and construction
A regular quartz watch runs with one motor to gear the hour, minute and seconds hand. The Mondaine SBB stop2go movement needs 2 motors: one to turn the seconds hand and the 2nd motor drives the hour hand and inducts the minutes hand jump. An important hallmark of the Swiss station clock is the smooth drive of the red seconds hand; to convert this to quartz watch a special trick was needed. Instead of moving each second one step forward the seconds hand moves in 4 little paces every second. This makes the impression of a continuous gliding like seen on the Original on each Swiss
Backlight
Motto: life doesn’t stop at night
The product
Mondaine Backlight Technology allows good visibility of the hands at night, without any disturbing visual effect of the design.
Material
Mondaine uses a thin foil coated with Swiss-made, extra strong Superluminova material that is used frequently in the watch industry, allowing long visibility at night.
How it works
As iconic as the Official Swiss Railways design has become, with its characteristic hands and the highly visible bold hour and minute markers creating a distinctive, strong picture that is perceived worldwide as a timeless Swiss classic, Mondaine is proud to announce a new dimension to its formative design codes.
Noticing that in the dark, the time of the distinctive dial could not be read, Mondaine began to seek a solution and as ever with Mondaine, the one it found was brilliant in its simplicity; to add luminous paint to the back side of the watch hands.
During daytime, the white dial reflects the light and charges the luminous foil attached to the back side of the hands. During the night, the luminous foil releases the light again, (the longevity of this light is dependent on how well the luminous paint is charged in daylight). The light is then reflected by the dial, releasing a shadow around the hands to make time easy to read.
The outcome is that of a continual charge: the light, which the coated luminous (Superluminova) back side of the hands releases in the dark, is reflected onto the white dial, the light from the dial is reflected back to the luminous foil on the back side of the hands, continuously recharging the luminous material, creating a kind of perpetual glow.
Essence
MONDAINE BRINGS YOU ESSENCE.
A TRULY NATURAL DESIGN CLASSIC – BETTER IS BETTER.
Once again, Mondaine has proved it is a pioneer with the launch of its latest design wonder, born from nature; essence.
essence from Mondaine marks a new era for the brand, built with sustainable materials, it is as eco-conscious as it is stylish.
Developed using eco-friendly sources, its renewable materials including Rizinus (castor oil) for its case; natural rubber for the strap and recycled PET bottles for its multi-purpose pouch, make these modern creations not only clean and simple in design but considerate to the world we live in.
With these new timepieces, Mondaine resonates with the spirit of our times, targeting not only those fascinated by design, but also to whom caring for the environment is essential. Be it through their diet or buying habits, Mondaine is now directly addressing this collective, joining their desire to impact positively upon world change, with an innovative timepiece like essence, to illustrate its support.
Mondaine’s essence series makes a commendable statement; that even a product as stylish and technically demanding as a Mondaine watch can be made from thoughtful and innovative materials and for a price that is accessible to all.
Retaining the key markers of the Mondaine brand DNA, essence blends classic Swiss craftsmanship with the evolution of production and enterprise to offer a future-perfect collection with an eco-consciousness.
Continuing with the iconic realisation of the official Swiss Railway’s SBB clock face in watch form, essence is instantly identifiable as Mondaine due to the unmistakable easy-to-read face, distinctive hands and the famous red seconds hand, resulting in world renowned design codes.
Housed in a thoughtfully-crafted soft grey highly tactile pouch, that has other uses beyond a cover for the watch, such as protection for a mobile phone; the eco-packaging made out of recycled PET bottles is the perfect partner to the essence’s eco-conscious craftsmanship.
Available in two colour-ways; the classic with white dial with black markers and the black dial with white minute and hour markers, the essence collection captures the modern and natural spirit of Mondaine which is to combine form, function and invention to create time for now, tomorrow and always. Mondaine essence, natures new classic.
Smartwatch
It is a principle that is woven throughout Mondaine’s core brand philosophy; the continuous innovation of timeless classic Swiss horological design, united with revolutionary conceptual thinking, resulting in strident advances within the timepiece arena. Mondaine has yet again set itself apart as a watch brand which continues to craft beautiful and reliable timepieces for now, tomorrow and for always.
Mondaine Helvetica Regular Smartwatch
Three years since the launch of Mondaine’s first horologically-styled smartwatch in February 2015, Mondaine is once again focusing on its founding principles – the simple unity of eminent timeless Swiss design with innovation, craftsmanship and functionality, with the launch of the new Mondaine Helvetica Regular Smartwatch.
Whilst the design remains faithful to the traditional Swiss watchmaking codes, the technology has advanced even further; using 281 module technology created in collaboration with MMT, the Mondaine Helvetica Regular Smartwatch can easily sync with an iOS or Android phone through the MMT-365 app, ensuring immediate use of the multiple functions.
Furthermore is the ability to receive Call & Email Notifications, to track daily Activity, to monitor sleep; whereby the user can set up Sleep Cycle Alarms in order to ensure waking up during a light sleep phase. Get-Active Alerts are also available, to encourage a more active lifestyle, automatic update of the watch’s time & date according to your mobile time is also guaranteed, alongside health tips via the Dynamic Coaching, and of course all data is backed up by the Cloud, ensuring instant restoration should you lose your phone or watch.
All of the functions are spaced around the dial in the respective; 2, 4, 8 and 10 markers, represented by the letters T, A, S and M, each referring to its operation. Stylistically simple, this is as aesthetically pure as its analogue brothers, retaining the design vestiges of the Helvetica name. Worn with a black leather strap, it is as much a connected and smart timepiece as it is a stylish one.
With the first Helvetica Smartwatch, Mondaine married in 2015 already the Swiss horological history with the latest in 21st century technology and now, thanks to the addition of these new styles, those with a discerning attitude to design and style have more choice in what Mondaine smartwatch to wear. What sets this new Swiss Made Mondaine Helvetica Regular Smart apart from many competitors is the 2 years battery life
Always on-time & date
You never have to set a time and date - traveling across time zones, the Mondaine Helvetica 1 Smart picks up the time from your smartphone and displays the new time automatically, when connected.
Sleep Tracking
Wear your watch at night or put it under your pillow to record your sleep. Sleeptracking provides details on how much time you spent in deep sleep, light sleep, or awake.
Motion Activity tracking
Keep track of daily steps, calories burned, and total distance.
Sleep cycle Alarms
Set a smart sleep alarm that will help you wake up during a light sleep phase if possible (Happy wake up) in your sleep cycle so that you wake up refreshed.
Get active alerts
You never have to set a time and date - traveling across time zones, the Mondaine Helvetica 1 Smart picks up the time from your smartphone and displays the new time automatically, when connected.
World timer
Press the crown button three times to temporarily see the current time in the time zone you have selected.
MONDAINE OFFICIAL SWISS RAILWAYS CONNECTED WALL CLOCK
Employing one of its most influential designs, Mondaine has chosen to update its archetypal Swiss Railway wall clock, by adding Smart technology for modern living.
The software and the application controlling the clock are a Swiss development by MMT. Enabled by this software, the connected Wall Clock is fully integrated with both iOS and Android phones, allowing the user to set the time via an app developed specifically for Mondaine. The connection through Bluetooth will set the clock to the actual time, and will even change between winter and summer time automatically. The clock can even monitor the temperature of the room, transmitting its readings to the smart phone.
The development of this connected Clock also incorporates the famous and unique stop2go function, which was developed exclusively for Mondaine to mirror the original Swiss Railway/SBB Clock that hangs in all Swiss Railway stations. It’s famous red second hand turns a full circle in 58 seconds, then waits at the 12 o’clock position for 2 seconds for the black minute hand to move one minute forward, starting the second hand’s next rotation - the new Smart Wall Clock stays true to its originator whilst uniting with the revolutionary.
