Amida: Reviving the Digitrend

It was at the 1976 Baselworld that Amida revealed its famous Digitrend driver’s watch. A Swiss watch with futuristic lines inspired by the sports car designs of the era – and a hybrid that combined a mechanical movement with a LED-style display – Digitrend was the inspiration for numerous watchmakers in the years that followed. This year, at Watches & Wonders, two young watchmakers are reviving the brand with a renewed icon. We speak to Matthieu Allègre, Artistic Director, and Clément Meynier, Managing Director, of Amida

Can you first tell us why you chose to revive the brand Amida?
I heard about the brand Amida almost 10 years ago, when a friend of mine found a box of 30 pieces of new-old stock and was selling them to people around me. I saw him and a lot of people very enthusiastic about the concept and some were intrigued by the design. I saw this watch, which had a really interesting shape with a concept that is also really nice. This is how I got interested about this brand but at that point, I was not expecting to own it one day.

How did you manage to get rights to the name Amida?
It is a long story, and obviously there are some parts that we cannot talk about, but the rights were spread across a few owners; one had the trademark in Switzerland. Through another one, we acquired  the trademarks for the US and UK. Then we met the guy who owned the most rights internationally and I managed to meet him and negotiate the price to get the name.

After you acquired the brand, how did the company evolve?
It was really quick because it took us around one year of negotiations between the first meeting when we made an offer until the time when we finalised the contract and got all the rights, which was in September 2023. So yeah, it was really quick at this stage because by then we had opened the company and made all the required registrations. The design of the watch was already finalised, and we had developed the prototypes. A graphic designer from Geneva Johann Terrettaz has designed our new logo. He’s the guy behind the logo of Akrivia and Urwerk. He has also done some work for De Bethune So yeah, it was pretty quick progress from September 2023 till today.

You are relaunching the brand with their most iconic watch, but with subtle fine-tuning; what was the refinement process?
As a designer, I had already done this exercise for other brands. I did take some risks because sometimes a renewal can be a hard process. The original was very popular, and people really liked it, so we had to make it in a similar design. We worked on the shape because it was more of a square on the original. The new one is a bit more shaped. We also used an automatic movement; it originally had a mechanical movement with one jewel, which was a bit cheap, so we upgraded – all kind of details to make it more refined than the original.

The bracelet is completely new, though it looks the same as the old one. The construction is quite different, and it is something that you would have found on brands such as Jaeger-LeCoultre and Cartier in the 1970s – really solid and very comfortable on the wrist. There is a spring in each link and that’s why it feels very solid and seamless. It’s a really sleek design and that’s why we changed it to upgrade the product. We also decided to risk making a new logo because we would like to emphasise the renewal of the brand.

Have people accepted the idea? Did you get any comments about the brand?
Yes, so far, there is a lot of enthusiasm from the original owner of Amida and we often meet people who owned the original watch. They love it; they liked all the improvements we have made while yet retaining the vibe of the original piece and the fact that we are reviving the brand. In the future, of course, some of them are also expecting us to create something new. Though Amida was famous for the iconic shape of the Digitrend, it also had many other watches.

The watch retails for about CHF 3,000?
Yes, the Take-Off Edition is priced at CHF 2,900 and comes with both straps – the metal bracelet and the Alcantara strap. We decided to release it at that price point as we wanted to keep it affordable. We have redesigned the module with the right components and have done a really good job but still kept it affordable. We are able to offer it at that price point as the base movement is a Newton Soprod – a very good, heavy-duty movement. And then the in-house module was developed by us, and it is quite simple and reliable. The movement is also well finished; even though this will not be visible, it was really important for us to adhere to watchmaking standards for this piece.