Exacto and further brands:

See below: Eastsun

 

Ad from 1950, Germany  >Details                  Ad from 1951, Germany                                    Hang Tag

 

Ca. end of the 1920s/early 1930s - 1957,  Exacto had been another watch brand of the watch company Schlup & Co. in Lengnau, Switzerland.  From ca. 1958 on, only Rado-models were offered by the Rado Watch Co., once founded in 1937 as subsidiary company in the same house. The Rado Watch Co. probably was used at first just to be able to offer complete watches before WWII, after a time Schlup & Co. had produced and offered ebauches only.

Already some time earlier or at the same time, "Exacto" was used as a second brand probably for the same purpose and min. these two brands existed side by side. Some Rado- and Exacto-models of the 1940s/early 1950s are using the same cases and movements and just have different dials and hands.

Probably, a few more brands have been used - the "Swiss Watch Directory, 42nd Edition from 1955", a "who-is-who" of the Swiss watch industry, lists under "Schlup & Co." as brandnames: Conway, Cornell, Eastermann, Eastsan, Eastson, Eastsum, Emco, Exact, Exacto, Felsser, Fiel, Gladys, Happy, Harco, Oriente, Rado, Radomatic-Toto, Toto, Totowatch and Varsity. Beside Rado, Exacto is surely the best known brand. In min. one Fareast-country, Exactos have been sold with the additional brandname "Golden Lion".

    Swiss Watch Directory, 42nd Edition from 1955

Other brands maybe have been used just as private label for special customers. Later, "Conway" became the name of a well known and often seen Rado model. I´ve seen different watches with the brandname "Cornell", they seem to be sold almost in the USA. If you should own or know a watch with another of the listed brandnames, please contact me and send me a photo.

Problems with the rights of the brandname Exacto and the success of the Rado brand then led to the result to use Rado as exclusive brand.

The problems with the rights on the brandname "Exacto" had been 1. "exacto" is the Spanish(and Galician) word for exact, so can´t be protected as a brandname in Spain and other countries with Spanish as official language, 2. "Exacto" as a brandname for watches had been already protected in the USA for the Harman Watch Co., New York. In Switzerland, the brandname "Exacto" is still today registered for the Swatch Group, the current owner of Rado.

With the end of the "Exacto" brand, the most successful models became Rado models and received new names.

 

Oldest Exacto I´ve seen, a wristwatch with Art Deco-case, probably late 1920s/early 1930s with an AS-movement, probably part of the 612/675-family. Modified with a sweep second, unusual for that time, for medical doctors and nurses as assistance for taking the pulse of their patients, maybe for thr Red Cross.

Further ladies´ models:

 

Art Deco, 1950s                          18kt Gold, 1950s                          GR 9034, 1950s                          with different dial

​This is a gents´ model ("shock proof") with Art Deco-case, probably 1930s with digital subsecond and at that time rarely seen date indicator

 <another example

My oldest Exacto, still with old logo-typing and AS 1287, beginning/middle 1940s, identical in construction with the Rado in the ad from 1950 above

Exacto 1950s #GR 9042 with manual winded "Wehrmachtswerk" AS 1130 with 17 jewels

Exacto #844, dial and hands with luminous material    

 

Exacto #1219 with ETA 1093, ca.1949                                         Similar Rado                                

Exacto #GR 9003 with a 2-tone dial

Very nice gold plated dresswatch with ST/AS 1802

Exacto #3136 2                                                                            Exacto with Arogno 151

   

Exacto Oceanmaster, ca. 1956 with AS 1701 ...                            ... and rare original bracelet

 

Exacto Lever King 22 with AS 1538                                    Exacto with cushion design 

In one or more Fareast-countries, Exactos were sold with an additional "Golden Lion"-branding.

 

After the end of Exacto:

The Exacto Super Automatic becomes a Rado World Travel

The Exacto Monorex becomes a Rado President(Monorex)

The Exacto Oceanmaster becomes a Rado Green Horse

 

Exacto- Chronograph with Landeron 248 and two Rado-equivalents

>Exacto Movements

 

Eastsun:

The "Swiss Watch Directory, 42nd Edition from 1955", as shown on top of this page, lists Eastsan, Eastson, Eastsum as brands used by Schlup & Co.
Meanwhile, a few Eastsun watches popped up in the www.
Obviously forgotten in the listing above, does it seem to be a brandname being actually used by Schlup & Co in the 1940s, 1950s, maybe still in the 1960s.
The name Eastsun had been registered by Schlup & Co/Rado, there even had been an Eastsun Timepiece Company, registered in Hongkong in 1953, probably a subsidiary of Schlup & Co/Rado.

<Copyright Mikrolisk

Eastsan (1953), Eastson (1953) and Eastsum (already 1951) also had been registered by Schlup & Co/Rado, but no watches could be found with one of these labels.
So my assumption is that only Eastsun was used as a brand name and the other, similar sounding names, had been protected just to prevent other watch companies from establishing a brand, which could be confused with Eastsun. Nothing unusual at that time and still today.

Most of the few Eastsun watches I found were located China. This, and the fact that the EastsunTimepiece Company was registered/located in Hongkong, lead to the assumption, that Eastsun had
been a brand to market Schlup & Co watches in China, maybe also in other Fareast-countries.

All of these Eastsun watches(for gentlemen, all of them with 30 mm diameter-cases) are well known friends, follow ups of the WW II-Rado watches(sold with SS-cases under diverse labels) with handwound AS 1187 movements - and so relatives/counterparts of Rado or Exacto post-war models with chrome- or goldplated cases. One of them has an AS 1430(additionally marked on the back) and some have no movement-pics, but probably also contain AS 1187 movements.

The only ladies´ Eastsun I found, one of these little jewel watches from gold, has also matching counterparts from Rado and Exacto. I have no movement-picture for that one, but probably it cotains the same handwound AS 1079 as their Rado/Exacto sisters.

All of these Eastsun watches show the typical Rado/Exacto case- and dial design of that time and the high quality finish of the movements with additional (gold-)chatons, typical for Schlup & Co. at that time. As far as I can see all of them without shock protection - except the one gents´ watch with AS 1430.

Rado/Exacto Ad, 1951, Germany                      Counterparts: Eastsun Gents´ Watch                         Eastsun Ladies´ Watch

Other Gents´ watches, the one at the right has a refinished dial with "creative dial design" - the Saturn-logo and "ultrasonic" belong to an Enicar watch. This one has a back with an Exacto reference-number(#GR 9025), so the case seem to have been intended for an Exacto watch originally. The case, hands and dial design(except the wrong Enicar-additions of course) is exactly the same as on the Rado in the 1951 ad above.

The left one contans an AS 1430 with shock protection

 

>Eastsun movements

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