Memotime

Memotime was a nautical brand associated with Corum from 1988 through 2000.

Overview

Memotime was founded in St. Blasie near Neuchâtel in 1988 as a sub-brand for Corum. The company focused on nautical watches, specifically regatta timers, dive timers, and chronographs, with movements produced by MTM and designed with Conseilray. These hybrid movements were highly unusual in that they combined a basic quartz or automatic movement with an independent complication module with its own battery. Thus, the complications were entirely separate from the timekeeping function.

Laurent Blum became head of Memotime in 1991 and moved the company closer to Corum, both physically and in terms of product. They relocated to La Chaux-de-Fonds and focused the company on ecology with the "Save the Sea" model as well as emphasizing the parent company with "Design by Corum." These watches resembled those from Corum, especially the Corum Admiral's Cup, but were positioned for younger buyers and were much less expensive. Most were also simple time-only or time-and-date.

In 1999, faced by the Asian Financial Crisis and mounting costs, Corum shut down Memotime. It was sold in 2001 to LNC of La Chaux-de-Fonds and re-launched in 2003 with a focus on re-editions of the complicated models produced around 1990, including the Memosail regatta timer and Memodive dive watch. The company is again defunct after 2016