When studying the history of Zodiac, WWII stands out as quite the gap - we (or at least I) know next to nothing about how the brand handled the very difficult situation Swiss watchmaking was in, being surrounded by Axis powers, yet still trading with both sides in the conflict.
It stands out even more so, when you put together the fragmented facts available regarding the periods before and after the war.
Before 1940: According to interviews with Zodiacs CEO, René Calame, Zodiac like many competitors suffered badly through the worldwide financial crisis in the 1930ies (triggered by the Wall Street crash in 1929) - they lost the then all important Japanese market and sales dropped in all markets. René and his father Ariste had to personally travel Switzerland and France, suitcase with watches in hand trying to sell to watchmakers. Mr. Calame reported that unfortunately they were not always able to pay workers in their factory on time. Very unswiss and a telltale sign of the trouble they were in.
After 1945: Zodiac comes out "all guns blazing", expanding and needing to take in Renés brother as Head of Sales to free up René Calame to a more overall role and launching a series of new watches, designs - and technical innovation. The 1949 launch of the worlds first power reserve gauge in collaboration with LeCoultre and A. Schild generated a LOT of attention in the watch world.
So what happened that enabled this growth and the investments needed for it? What did Zodiac produce during the war years to go from deep crisis to a financial situation allowing this?
Well, we know that Zodiac was the official purveyor to the federal Swiss railways and this may have been the case since 1943 some sources indicate. So that explains the turnaround a bit, I guess.
We also know that the industry in general transitioned into delivering weapons or parts for weapons - the very first watchmakers around Le Locle may in fact have been gunsmiths, so not a long stretch.
Another well known fact is that competitors manufactured watches for the warring armies of the world, the "Dirty Dozen" being the perhaps most famous. Breitling - as another example - manufactured flight instruments for the Royal Airforce, that they literally smuggled out.
But there seems to be little knowledge about Zodiacs approach.
Unless... you visit the major sales platform often referenced to on this site. Suddenly military watches start to appear. And even models allegedly produced for the German army. Socalled Wehrmacht watches, some even with ingravings indicating this.
They question is: Have any of you ever come across such watches - and would you consider them real or fake? Can you cast any light on this topic?
I actually own a small 1930ies Felsa driven Zodiac that both the seller and I feel could be a military watch - even if no engravings are visible.
So great hive-mind of the vintage Zodiac community - can you shed ANY light on this? DID Zodiac manufacture military watches in WWII?
I wish they did as I love both Zodiacs and military watches but I have seen no concrete evidence of it unfortunately. Much of what you see for sale on the online sites has been altered for profit. I have had several original Zodiac watches that were made around WW2 and they had a "military look" to them but I think it was just the style of the time. Most of the watch companies did the same thing as it was a popular style. It is still possible that someone could have purchased one and wore it during their service but a true military watch needs to have been issued/manufactured specifically for a soldier and I have never seen any proof of that in regards to Zodiac.
FWIW, in all my years I have heard nothing of a Zodiac military watch. I do have a collection from the 1940's though and I agree with BWG. The smaller Hermetics seemed to be the style of the day back then.
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