The Stelux Group, founded HK 1963, manufacturer of watch components

Travis Ling: My uncle bought a brand new Tissot watch in 1969 before he left Hong Kong for college (and for good) in the States.

The watch still has its original stainless steel band, marked “Kreisler Stelux Stainless Steel Made in Hong Kong” on the clasp , as shown below.

Courtesy: Travis

I researched “Kreisler Stelux”and found that it was a popular brand of watch band used by a number of Swiss watches in the 60s-70s; including Bulova, Zodiac and Tissot. Kreisler Stelux also sell watch bands under it’s brand as accessories. Kreisler, which at one time claimed to be the world’s largest maker of watch bands, is owned by Jacques Kreisler Manufacturing Corporation.

The Stelux company website says: “Established in Hong Kong in 1963, the Stelux Group started business initially as a watch component manufacturer exporting stainless steel watch components overseas. Nearly a decade later in 1972, Stelux was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Stock Code: 84).

The name “STELUX” has its origins in the words “steel” and “luxury”, as in the early 1960’s, the stainless steel components manufactured by the Group were considered luxury products.

Since then, Stelux has transformed itself, and is now widely recognised as a leading player in the watch and optical retail and wholesale sectors. The brands operated by the Group, including, City Chain, Optical 88 and Seiko are instantly recognisable and well entrenched in the countries and territories where we operate.

In 1985, Stelux established City Chain in Hong Kong creating a totally innovative watch retailing culture… Since then, City Chain has grown from strength to strength, and now commands a regional presence with nearly 400 stores in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Mainland China.” (1)