Enicar is a historic Swiss watch brand founded in October 1913 in La Chaux-de-Fonds by Ariste Racine and his wife Emma Blatt. Because the Racine name was already registered as a watch trademark, Emma Blatt proposed reversing it, and “Enicar” was registered on 6 January 1914. The company moved to a factory in Lengnau in 1919, became the joint-stock company Enicar SA in 1932 and built a reputation for reliable, well-priced mechanical watches, including its own movements. Its fame peaked when Enicar equipped the 1956 Swiss expedition to Mount Everest and Lhotse. Like many Swiss manufacturers, the original Enicar SA was hit hard by the quartz crisis and closed in the late 1980s; the name was later acquired by Hong Kong’s Wah Ming Hong Ltd. Today, vintage Enicar watches are highly sought after by collectors for their tool-watch character.
The brand’s catalog is defined by several key collections and models:
– Sherpa: the flagship tool-watch line, launched in the 1950s and expanded through the 1960s with divers, chronographs and travel watches.
– Sherpa Super Dive and Super Divette: compressor-style dive watches, among the most collected vintage Enicars.
– Sherpa Graph: 1960s chronographs prized by vintage collectors.
– Ultrasonic: models named after the brand’s ultrasonic cleaning process for its movements.