Festina

Festina is a company based in Spain watchmaker. The company was founded in 1902 in Switzerland.

History

The history of the watchmaker Festina goes back to the year 1902. This year the motto " Festina Lente " (Ludo ) was written on the dial of a clock in a Swiss watchmaker in La Chaux -de-Fonds for the first time. This motto was the same time as brand name of the manufacturer.

In 1935, the founding family Festina handed over to the contractor Willy Burkhard von Wilhelm, who led the company until 1975, before it was taken over by George Uhlmann. The Spaniard Miguel Rodríguez, who had previously founded the watch brand Lotus, took over in 1984, the Festina brand. In the following years the Festina Group was founded and took over the luxury brand Jaguar and the Swiss watch brand Candino.

From 1990, the watchmakers went into the professional bike shop and founded the Festina cycling team, which in 1994 won the team of the Tour de France. In 1998, however, came to a head when the cycling team was excluded from the tour due to positive doping tests. In the same year Festina official timekeeper of the Tour de France, the Giro d' Italia and the Vuelta a España. In 2003, the company was represented in 65 countries. According to information Festina 2004 belonged to the ten most popular watches brands in Germany.

In the season 2005/ 06 the watchmaker was the main sponsor of the German football club TSV 1860 Munich.

Festina Group

The Festina Group owns the following brands of watches:

• Festina
• Candino
• Lotus
• Jaguar
• Calypso
• Perrelet