1930-1959

While men’s watches still accounted for the lion’s share of the business, in 1930 Cyma made an early foray into the ladies’ market with the Captive. It quickly became known for its elegance and precision, and was adopted by the legendary French writer, Collette, who was then at the height of her fame. She described the watch in her characteristic style: “It is a captive in the most romantic sense of the word... it is bought and sold. Sensitive and compliant, it yields if you handle it masterfully, revealing its face, divulging all its secrets, and each surrender simply adds to its charms...”

In 1943, Cyma unveiled its first automatic wristwatch, endowed with a 420 calibre featuring a unidirectional rotor. This presaged the ‘Autorotor’ 485 calibre of 1957.

The brand’s reputation was further enhanced with innovative products such as an eight-day mechanical alarm clock with single winding key (1945), the Sonomatic alarm clock (1957), and the gold Time-O-Vox alarm clock watch, which received official chronometer certification in 1956. The latter was the only one with the pleasant timbre of that period to ally a 464 calibre,12 1/2 inch, with a single barrel and small second.