In 1881, 19-year-old Achilles Ditesheim started a small watch-making workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. By 1905, Ditescheim had changed his company’s name to Movado—a word that translates as “always in motion” in Esperanto, an international auxiliary language popular at the time. Since its founding, Movado has acquired 100 time-keeping technology patents and won 200 international awards for watch design.

In 1947, American designer Nathan George Horwitt created Movado’s iconic Museum watch featuring a modernist design with a black dial and silver dot at the 12 o’clock position. Movado’s most popular design, the Museum watch became the first watch added to the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection in 1960.

The North American Watch Corp. acquired Movado in 1983, establishing the company as the Movado Group. The Movado Group has grown steadily in recent years, acquiring the Olivia Burton brand in 2017 and MVMT in 2018.