AMIDA is a Swiss brand and movement manufacturer founded in 1925 in Granges, which later moved to Montreux before collapsing in 1979 due to the quartz crisis. At its peak, AMIDA employed just over 300 people. At Baselworld in March 1976, in the midst of the quartz revolution and the advent of LCD electronic watches, AMIDA introduced a mechanical model with a digital display: the Digitrend. A singular watch, combining two patents: one for its jumping-hour movement, the other for its refraction display using a prism. Also known as the "drivers watch", this watch was a direct inspiration for several independent brands in the 2010s.
We have been passionate since 2015 about what this iconic model represents, namely the retro-futuristic, space-age universe, automotive design and architecture from the 1950s to the 1970s. We are now devoted to redesigning the AMIDA brand with the idea of continuing its history through this fantasized vision of the past, where the future was synonymous with a better world.
Naturally, we started to redesign an authentic version of the Digitrend, seeking to improve every detail while preserving the very essence of the product. First of all, we called on Johann Terretaz, a Swiss graphic designer and typographer. Then our friend and partner, Bruno Herbet, to design a new additional module for the jumping-hour display, compatible with a Soprod Newton automatic movement. Thanks to his background and previous experience as a watch engineer, he was able to find the equation that calculates the exact reflection for an optimal 90-degree display.
As for the rest of the design, Matthieu Allègre redesigned the whole piece; from the typography (based on the original), to the redesign of the case shape and finishes, the Alcantara strap, the steel bracelet, the case back graphics for this limited edition "Take Off" which is a nod to the very first AMIDA logo of 1925, to the imagination of a new packaging that will act as a display and decorative object inspired by the space and retrofuturist universe.
The AMIDA Crew
DIGITREND
Back to the future. 2024 marks the great comeback of AMIDA’s Digitrend: reimagined, refined, modernized and perfected through the deep commitment of a team of enthusiasts.
DISRUPTIVE DESIGN
The car body-style case, machined from a block of 316 L stainless steel, has seen its contours refined for sleeker aesthetics and improved finishes, enhancing its fluid profile.
LRD
LIGHT REFLECTING DISPLAY
There is no luminous or electronic display. So what is the secret? AMIDA’s idea is more than ingenious. The readout is actually an optical effect created by a crystal in the shape of a prism.The movement operates horizontally, but the ‘image’ of the hour and minute discs is projected vertically. AMIDA called its system LRD (for Light Reflecting Display), which was patented under No.3,786,626 on April 5, 1973. A remarkable and singular proposition in horology that makes the Digitrend a watch truly extra-ordinary.
UNIQUE REFINEMENTS
Featuring an in-house developed module with a unique dual-disc construction of only 9 components, doubling as both a plate and a casing ring, this modern movement–with the tightest tolerances–incorporates jumping hours for exceptional efficiency and precision. These technical improvements find themselves amplified by aesthetic refinements, like the redesigned minute window and completely redesigned typography–true to the original orange digits emblematic of the 70s.
