Eterna supports research to fight muscular dystrophy

A unique Eterna watch will be auctioned off at the Monaco Yacht Show on 22 September. The proceeds from this auction will support research in the fight against muscular dystrophy.

Muscular dystrophy is a disease characterized by a progressive wasting of the muscles. The most common form of this hereditary disease begins in children at a young age. Many youngsters are already bound to a wheelchair by age seven. Most patients require around-the-clock care by age eighteen and die when they are around 25.
Only Watch 05 is a cooperative effort among Association Monégasque contre les Myopathies, the United Parent Projects Muscular Dystrophy and 34 of the world’s most important watch manufacturers. The objective is to raise money for the fight against muscular dystrophy by auctioning off unique luxury watches. The auction will take place during the Monaco Yacht Show on 22 September 2005 in Monte Carlo. Only Watch 05 is under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco.
The most renowned makers of luxury watches have created one-off timepieces for this effort or have contributed the first of a watch model series. For Only Watch 05, Eterna has made a unique version of its new model in the legendary KonTiki series. The Eterna KonTiki GMT Only Watch 05 in red gold is the only one of its kind. With the KonTiki GMT, Eterna presented a watch at this year’s Baselworld, the world's leading watch and jewellery show, to continue a nearly fifty-year tradition of the KonTiki collection of sports watches.





The KonTiki watch collection had an adventurous beginning. In 1947, the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl set sails on his balsawood raft in Peru. He swam counter to all of the scientific theories of the day. Heyerdahl wanted to demonstrate that the Polynesian islands in the South Pacific had not been settled
from Asia, as was commonly assumed, but rather from South America. Thor Heyerdahl named the raft that he built for this dangerous ocean journey along the Humboldt Current across the Pacific after the sun god of Peru’s Indian tribes, KonTiki. It would take him and his team almost 8,000 kilometers in exactly 101 days through raging storms and ripping currents to just within reach of his objective before it was torn apart on the reefs of the Raroia Islands near Tahiti. But Heyerdahl had done it. With the KonTiki Expedition, he proved that it was possible to sail from Peru to Polynesia with the handcraft skills of the Peruvian native population. During this journey, he wore an Eterna watch, which performed admirably and reliably under the extreme conditions of this expedition. This was reason enough for Eterna to put together a collection of its sport watches under the name KonTiki.
Since 1856, Eterna has stood for the manufacture of high-quality, mechanical watches. In its long history, Eterna has introduced many important industry developments as one of the pioneers of the art of watchmaking. Among the revolutions to come out of Eterna are the ball-bearing mounted rotor for hand-wound movements and the chronograph with mechanical digital stopwatch indicator. This traditional brand today belongs to Ferdinand A. Porsche and is thus one of the last major manufacturers anywhere in the world that is still not part of a major group. Eterna is also the manufacturer of the highly successful Porsche Design watch collection under license from Porsche Design.

Auction:
22 September 2005, Monaco Yacht Show, Monte Carlo

Worldwide Exhibit:
17–18 August - Porto Cervo - Tempi d’Oro
1–2 September - Geneva - ING Private Banking
6–7 September - Bangkok - Conrad Hotel Bangkok
9 September - Hong Kong - Conrad Hotel Hong Kong
13 September - Tokyo - Meguro Gajoen
16–17 September - New York - Tourneau Time Machine
21–22September - Monte Carlo - Monaco Yacht Show


Source : Eterna

www.eterna.ch

Contact: a.tobler@eterna.ch
(Please credit europastar.com)