Curious Enicar

Discussion in 'Wrist Watches' started by Larry Jones 98326, Feb 15, 2001.

  1. Mike,

    Enicar is Racine spelled backwards. What was the relation, if any, between the two tradenames? Are they from same maker? My sense is that Enicar was a higher grade, but maybe not?


    [This message has been edited by Larry Jones 98326 (edited 02-15-2001).]
  2. Cary

    Cary Guest

    I have never understood why a company didnt put its name on the dial... As far as the mvmt goes, do you think during a repair, a generic part was ordered and then engraved.. I have seen this before and often wondered.. As far as no names go, Here is a Minerva cal 49 I had, I sold it right after the Minerva sale, couldnt resist a little profit taking.. No name on the dial, but movement was marked and beautiful.. I can only think that it was an attempt to restore the watch by replacing a bad dial, but I know Minerva made this in a copper dial.. They all have a story, sometimes they just wont tell us!!
  3. Dave Haynes

    Dave Haynes Registered User

    Sep 12, 2000
    I have seen many watches with the company name rather poorly engraved on the movement.
    They were all from the late '40's or early 50's, rarely a good brand like Enicar.
    My thought on these guys is that they were
    war watches, probably assembled here with
    generic parts sent here. There were 8 million men under arms and most came in off the farm from poor families. They all needed timepieces and couldn't afford the good brands. I once saw an issued watch from a B-24 pilot and it was some off-brand like
    "Timor" or something like that, with no Ordnance marks or anything. So they may have just grabbed anything that would keep time and issued it. I could be way off base, but all of them are of that period.
  4. Mike Kearney

    Mike Kearney Guest

    Cary and Dave, thanks for your info. If these darn things could only talk. Wartime production accounted for a lot of odd things.

    Larry, you're right about Racine! Not only is it Enicar spelled backwards, but according to Kathy Pritchard's excellent 'Swiss Timepiece Makers 1775-1975', the Enicar company started in 1917 as Ariste Racine. Enicar wasn't listed as a company until 1925. I just never noticed the spelling of the two names.



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