I was looking at Long Island watches on sale and came accross a Mondia that caught my attention. I don’t have a red and blue bezel and liked the 40.5mm size and the case. I don’t really care for the dial, the thought of a mod on the dial crossed my mind.



I saw another one I kind of liked, but not enough to jump on. It’s also a 40.5mm, nice look, but kind of common.


I looked on watchrecon and saw more than a few.
https://www.watchrecon.com/?query=mondia&last_days=0
I was surprised because they are mostly vintage and I don’t recall ever stumbling across Mondia when I’m looking for vintage watches.

So I look for the history and see this at WUS, in an old post.
In 1969, the year the El Primero, 36.000 b/h, was launched was also the year of founding the "Mondia-Zénith -Movado"-holding. Mondia is now owned by Paul Castella (DIXI-Holding), a well known man in the history of Zenith. The DIXI-Holding bought Zenith end of 1978

Here is what LIW says
Mondia was established in1935 In Le Locle, Switzerland. Mr. Paul Wermot, a highly skilled technician with strong business sense, designed a watch, the first in a long string of success. His relentless pursuit for precision, passion for the mechanics, and attention to details, allowed the company to generate a long list of prominent customers in a very short time. Through the continuous updating of models, use of quality materials & commitment to emerging technologies allowed Mondia to attain an important position in the Italian market. This position was maintained and grew stronger right up 1970 when Mondia was acquired by Zenith. Since 2001 the Mondia brand has been distributed worldwide by Mondia Italia as a subsidiary of Sordi Spa, a well established Italian watchmaker headquartered in Milan.


I am having trouble finding info on Mondia though. I’m not sure where the new stuff is made, if it’s legit or a joke like Invicta.
A member from Tz-uk said he is from Italy and the company and factory is in his town. If that’s true, what exactly is it? A building for the name, do they assemble parts from China there or is it a really legit company?
I’m finding more info on vintage than on the new. It looks like the typical story of capitalizing on a history that isn’t theirs, but I’m not 100% sure.
I know the vintage are good and I will begin to look for one I can add to my collection, but does anyone here know anything about the new Mondia watches?

A comment on WUS was that their stuff looked like Zeno and they thought they bought their cases from the same Chinese catalog.

They're ok. $300 seems steep because you can get a nice Seiko 5 for about $200.

Artman wrote:They're ok. $300 seems steep because you can get a nice Seiko 5 for about $200.

Yeah, I’m more interested in the vintage. I like the case on the first one, but not at that price.

I wish I could find out some more info on the company.