Much of Zodiacs history is shrouded in mystery. There is no archive and no official account. Online you find fragmented pieces of information but often they are contradictory or flawed. Even the best of sources like this site get some things wrong, my own previous articles included.

I thought I knew a lot of details, because I heard my late father, Zodiacs agent to Denmark, mention them - but I was rightly confronted by collectors: "How do you know this?" "I heard when I was 12 years old" is probably not the most accurate historical source.

Thats why I started digging. And when you dig, you find.

I just found this: A sort of birth certificate for the Zodiac logo, the crosshairs circle: Appearing in 1954 in a magazine called La Suisse Horlogere, aimed at watch industry professionals, this printed advertisement explains that the logo was recently introduced to counter imitations by competitors.

Use of the logo is specifically linked to the Glorious model line also recently introduced according to the text and the succesful Autographic series - a particular succes in the US, Zodiac informs us.

Enjoy your #ZodiacSunday.

I remembered this. It took some digging buty I finally found it.

Excellent, nice to have a version in English too.

I've also come across the same type of ad before - but never dated. The ad may have appeared earlier, but other sources mention 1954 as the introduction year of the logo as well without verifying it this specifically. I think we may assume even if only carefully that 1954 is the year.

Very cool piece of the company history puzzle.  I was not sure when the symbol came about and mistakenly assumed they always used it.

The dates on any ads I have came from the magazine's publication date.

I noticed the date, thanks for specifying.

This confirms that this message was communicated over a longer period.

Your ad is from 1955, the Swiss magazine I found was issue 4 out of 4 from 1954. The logo may have been introduces earlier in other words, but probably not a lot earlier. I will tentatively stick with 1954 for now.