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Eastsun, another Rado sister-brand
Hi!
Everybody here or at least most of the members know Exacto and itｴs history.
It surely had been the most famous sister-brand of Rado, though itｴs history
ended in the late 1950s.
But there must have been more, less well known sister-brands.
The Swiss Watch Directory, a "who-is-who" of the Swiss watch industry, lists in itｴs
42nd Edition from 1955 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.
We know Exacto, we know that Conway and Cornell became Rado model names later.
I own a Cornell branded watch from the 1950s, which surely is made by Schlup & Co,
but have seen others probably being made by other makers.
Though researching about the other brands from time to time, I couldnｴt find anything
Now it comes to Eastsan, Eastson, Eastsum.
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.
Eastsan (1953), Eastson (1953) and Eastsum (already 1951) also had been registered
by Schlup & Co/Rado, but no watches could be found.
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, that other watch companies establish a
brand, which could be confused with Eastsun. Nothing unusual at that time and still today.
All of the very few Eastsun watches I found come from China. This, and the fact that the Eastsun
Timepiece Company was registered/located in Hongkong, lead to the assumption, that Eastsun had
been a brand to market Schlup & Co watches in China.
All of the Eastsun watches I found are well known friends, follow ups of the WW II-Rado watches, sold
under diverse labels, with handwound AS 1187 movements - and so relatives of the post-war models with
chrome- or goldplated cases.
So here a few pics from what Iｴve found:
1 
2
3 
4
1:
AS 1430, marked Eastsun
2:
(No movement pic for that one)
3:
AS 1187, marked Eastsun Watch Co(mpany)
4:
AS 1187, unmarked
The no. 4 arrived a few weeks ago and is part of my collection now.
Remarkable is the Exacto reference number on the back(GR 9025), so they obviously used cases
being meant for Exacto originally.
The additional Enicar-logo(Saturn) and the additional "ultrasonic" is of course "creative dial design",
when the dial was restored. But that can be removed.
It came with a serviced movement, runs fine and very exactly and costed just a very few Euros..
All of them show the typical Rado/Exacto case- and dial design of that time and the used high quality
finish of the movements with additional (gold-)chatons, as far as I can see all of them without shock protection.
No. 2 and 3 seem to have original dials, No. 1 and 4 are refinished.
So finally there is some info about another empty space in the Schlup & Co/Rado history.
I will add this info to my HP inner the next time.
If s.o. here gets any info about the other brandnames listed in the 1955 Swiss Watch Advisory or stumbles
upon a watch with one of these names, please share or let me know!
Everybody here or at least most of the members know Exacto and itｴs history.
It surely had been the most famous sister-brand of Rado, though itｴs history
ended in the late 1950s.
But there must have been more, less well known sister-brands.
The Swiss Watch Directory, a "who-is-who" of the Swiss watch industry, lists in itｴs
42nd Edition from 1955 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.
We know Exacto, we know that Conway and Cornell became Rado model names later.
I own a Cornell branded watch from the 1950s, which surely is made by Schlup & Co,
but have seen others probably being made by other makers.
Though researching about the other brands from time to time, I couldnｴt find anything
Now it comes to Eastsan, Eastson, Eastsum.
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.
Eastsan (1953), Eastson (1953) and Eastsum (already 1951) also had been registered
by Schlup & Co/Rado, but no watches could be found.
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, that other watch companies establish a
brand, which could be confused with Eastsun. Nothing unusual at that time and still today.
All of the very few Eastsun watches I found come from China. This, and the fact that the Eastsun
Timepiece Company was registered/located in Hongkong, lead to the assumption, that Eastsun had
been a brand to market Schlup & Co watches in China.
All of the Eastsun watches I found are well known friends, follow ups of the WW II-Rado watches, sold
under diverse labels, with handwound AS 1187 movements - and so relatives of the post-war models with
chrome- or goldplated cases.
So here a few pics from what Iｴve found:
1 23 41:
AS 1430, marked Eastsun
2:
(No movement pic for that one)
3:
AS 1187, marked Eastsun Watch Co(mpany)
4:
AS 1187, unmarked
The no. 4 arrived a few weeks ago and is part of my collection now.
Remarkable is the Exacto reference number on the back(GR 9025), so they obviously used cases
being meant for Exacto originally.
The additional Enicar-logo(Saturn) and the additional "ultrasonic" is of course "creative dial design",
when the dial was restored. But that can be removed.
It came with a serviced movement, runs fine and very exactly and costed just a very few Euros..
All of them show the typical Rado/Exacto case- and dial design of that time and the used high quality
finish of the movements with additional (gold-)chatons, as far as I can see all of them without shock protection.
No. 2 and 3 seem to have original dials, No. 1 and 4 are refinished.
So finally there is some info about another empty space in the Schlup & Co/Rado history.
I will add this info to my HP inner the next time.
If s.o. here gets any info about the other brandnames listed in the 1955 Swiss Watch Advisory or stumbles
upon a watch with one of these names, please share or let me know!
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