Mondaine was founded in 1951 by Erwin Bernheim, who had taken over the watch firm Neuchatel Watch, and is based in Pfäffikon, Switzerland. In 1986 it obtained the commercial licence to the Swiss railway clock face from the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), and watches based on that design became its best-known line. In 2001 the company dropped the 58-second marker design and returned to traditional 60-second markers, and in 2013 it launched the stop2go, a redesigned model. In 2012 the design drew wide attention when Apple signed a licence with SBB after using a similar clock face in iOS 6; Mondaine said it was surprised, as it considered itself the long-term exclusive licensee under its 1986 contract.
Mondaine remains a privately held, family-owned Swiss watchmaker, led by chief executive Niels Møller. Its group also includes Luminox, M-WATCH and Pierre Cardin watches, and it is known worldwide for its watches and clocks based on the official Swiss railway clock design.
