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The company was founded by Achille Ditesheim in 1881 in the watch-making town of La Chaux-de-Fonds. The Ditesheim family, a Jewish watchmaker family, owned several companies in the area.
In 1892, the brothers Leopold, Achille, and Isidore combined their separate businesses to create "L.A. & I. Ditesheim, Fabricants". This was one of the first modern factories in the area following the watchmaking crisis of the 1870s. Having arrived over the course of the century, many Jewish traders, craftsmen and entrepreneurs were less attached to traditional working models, and thus played a major role in innovating the Swiss watch industry.Within 20 years, the company had more than 80 employees and was internationally known for its wide variety of pocket watches. Movado began to produce wristwatches, and the company expanded again in 1905, now employing more than 150 workers. It was at this time that it was renamed Movado, which means "always in motion" in Esperanto.In 1983, the company was purchased by North American Watch Corp, founded by Gedalio Grinberg, a Cuban-born Jew, who fled Fidel Castro's Marxist Revolution in 1960 with his family.
His son, Efraim Grinberg, is the chairman and chief executive officer of Movado Group, Inc. The North American President of Movado is Alan Chinich.
On February 23, 1999, Movado Group, Inc. completed the sale of Piaget business to VLG North America, Inc., for approximately $30 million. In August 2018, Movado acquired watch startup MVMT, which was founded in 2013, for more than $100 million.
