Movado

A single gold dot at twelve o'clock. No numerals, no indices, nothing else on the dial. That spare design, introduced in the late 1940s as the Museum Watch, is the most recognizable thing Movado has ever made and the reason the brand still gets name-checked in design conversations decades later. The watch entered the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and Movado has built its identity around that association ever since, reissuing the dial in everything from steel to malachite.

The company itself is older than the dot. The Ditisheim family founded it in 1881 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Swiss watchmaking town that also produced some of the industry's most precise movements. The name comes from Esperanto: movado means movement. Early output was pocket watches and then wristwatches, and the brand built a reputation for precision before design became its calling card.

Ownership moved to the United States. Movado Group Inc. now trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker MOV and runs its operations from Paramus, New Jersey. The group owns Movado, Concord, Olivia Burton, and MVMT, and holds licenses for Coach, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, and Calvin Klein watches. That portfolio puts the company in the same competitive arena as the big watch conglomerates, though Movado's own watches sit in the accessible-luxury tier: entry models start around $230 to $300, and premium or limited pieces climb into the low thousands.

Retail reach spans more than 40 countries, through department stores, jewelry retailers, company stores, outlets, and e-commerce channels including Amazon and Walmart. Marketing leans on editorial placements and collaborations. Late 2026 brought a capsule with jewelry designer Stephanie Gottlieb built around wrist stacking, and editors at Who What Wear and Marie Claire flagged the Museum Classic and the newer Museum Velura as holiday-season accessories. The bigger corporate story that year was a divestiture: Movado Group agreed to sell a majority stake in EBEL to F.P. Journe and Chanel for $66.5 million, a deal that recast the group's brand lineup. [edit]