Mido, a brand founded in 1918 and based in the Swiss Jura, has gained a substantial following in Latin America for its mostly very affordable Swiss-made watches, many with chronometer-certified movements. Owned by the Swatch Group, it has been largely under the radar in the U.S., overshadowed by sister brands in a similar price category such as Rado, Hamilton, and Longines. This year, however, Mido embraces the U.S. market in a big way, doubling down on its identity as a brand with design codes influenced by contemporary architecture, with the launch of the new Inspired by Architecture Limited Edition ? a timepiece that channels the look of one of America’s most iconic buildings, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
The watch ? which was introduced, appropriately enough, at a gala launch event at the Guggenheim last night ? can also be considered crowd-sourced. It is the result of Mido’s #BeInspiredbyArchitecture campaign, a 12-week around-the-world trip in which 12 cities and 60 iconic monuments were visited and considered as the inspiration for a new watch. More than 100,000 participants worldwide voted in the campaign, and the clear winner was Frank Lloyd Wright’s groundbreaking modern art temple on New York’s Upper East Side, a landmark of 20th-century architecture that opened in 1959. Wright, who passed away shortly after designing the building, once referred to it as a “temple of spirit” that offered visitors an entir...