Hello all,

I just acquiered this Patria trench watch. It it somewhat confusing to me about the relationship between Omega and Patria during this time. Did Omega actualy produce Patria movements under another name or were they just imported by Omega. Can any one elaborate further on this subject? I heard there was a great deal of information on this subject in the "Omega's Saga" book. I hope the attatched photos come out OK. Thanks for imput. Mike

A photo of the movement. Can anyone tell me what the "Q" would mean?

Hello Michael, your watch is an early Omega...
Patria was one of the many names under which they produced. Look at your "Q" from a different angle, what do you see...this...Ω...recognise it?
Regards

Ok, So for a short time period Omega made this brand name "Patria" as well? I think through my research I found someone date these Patrias between 1910 and 1925. Did Patria exsist before Omega or did they coexist? Is there any way to date these Patria movements...as I dought the Omega serial number charts would coinside. M

who was there first...the hen or the egg?
I doubt if patria was there first.
The forerunner of Omega was founded at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland in 1848 by 23-year-old Louis Brandt, who assembled key-wound precision pocket watches from parts supplied by local craftsmen. He sold his watches from Italy to Scandinavia by way of England, his chief market. After Louis Brandt's death in 1879, his two sons Louis-Paul and César, troubled by irregular deliveries of questionable quality, abandoned the unsatisfactory assembly workshop system in favour of in-house manufacturing and total production control.
you have a lot of movements to go through, I´ll help you on your way...look here;
http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/b...?00&ranfft&113&2uswk

There is just about every movement ever made by omega!

I went to the link you sent regarding the Omega movements. The gentleman Roland Ranfft who is the main contact for that site states that there is not much information regarding the Patria watch Co and the company was listed in the early 1900's as Edouard Matthey-Grau, Patria Watch Co in Bienne (same city as Omega) The only connection between Omega and Patria is that the Omega New York subsisiary imported Patria watches to the US between 1919 and 1925.
His translation from German was OK but this tells me that Omega never made watches under the Patria brand name. There is also information that Patria and several other watch brands were all "sister" brands to Omega. What does that mean exactly?

quote:

There is also information that Patria and several other watch brands were all "sister" brands to Omega. What does that mean exactly?

Michael, your guess would be as good as mine, but I´ll ask one of the active writting members of Watch-Wikki, a Mr. Holger Löhr, he´s been able to help me a few times in the past!

Michael, maybe you can find out a bit more about your watch here (one for sale) Omega-Patria
because its a site dealing in old watches

Thank you Werner. It is always nice to find out more. Thanks again for all your replies and imput. Mike

In 1892, Louis Brandt Y Frere registered "Patria" as a brand or model name. It is most likely that Patria would have been intended as a name for pocket watches at that time.

To place the brand name "Patria" in context, it was not until 1894 that the firm registered the brand name, "Omega."

Like most Swiss wrist watches of the teens and twenties, I would rate the Patria as an affordable wrist watch of modest quality. Of course, sellers of vintage watches exploit the Omega connection to boost sales prices. But, I'm of the impression that the Omega brand was reserved for at least slightly higher grade watches than the Patria brand name. To put this in terms which Automobile buyers would understand, it’s like advertising a Chevrolet as a “Cadillac-Chevrolet” because General Motors is the owner of both brand names.

This Patria is now up for sale on eBay. Here is the link of interested. Thanks all.
Patria eBay auction link here