Stowa

Stowa embodies German watchmaking rigour with an identity rooted in history. Each watch is hand-assembled at the Pforzheim manufactory by watchmakers trained over decades. Design is dictated by function - absolute legibility for the Flieger, nautical precision for the Marine, geometric purity for the Antea Bauhaus. No flashy marketing, no celebrity ambassadors. Stowa sells direct, without traditional distribution networks, allowing manufacture watches at accessible prices. The quality-to-price ratio is the brand's strongest argument.

Walter Storz founds Stowa in 1927 in Hornberg, Black Forest. The name is a portmanteau - STOrz, WAlter. In 1935, the manufacture moves to Pforzheim, historical home of German watchmaking. From 1938, Stowa presents its first Bauhaus watches, ancestors of today's Antea line.

In 1939, the Luftwaffe commissions B-Uhr observation watches. Only five brands are selected - Stowa, A. Lange & Söhne, IWC, Laco and Wempe. Stowa's 55mm Flieger with oversized crown for flight gloves becomes a reference. That same year, Stowa launches the Marine Beobachtungsuhr, a marine chronometer in pocket watch form.

On February 23, 1945, Allied bombing destroys the Pforzheim factory. Stowa restarts in Rheinfelden, near Basel. The 1960s see the birth of the Seatime dive watch. In 1970, Stowa presents the world's smallest travel clock at the Hannover fair. The catalogue then counts a thousand references.

The quartz crisis hits but doesn't kill Stowa, which never stops production. In 1996, Jörg Schauer acquires the brand from Werner Storz and revives the archives. The Antea redesigned by Hartmut Esslinger (Frog Design founder) and the 70th anniversary Flieger mark the renaissance. In 2021, Stowa joins the Tempus Arte group alongside Lang & Heyne and UhrenWerke-Dresden. The manufactory remains in Pforzheim.