about us

SHOPS - SHOWROOM - SERVICING

The forerunner company of ASTRON Ltd. was established in 1964. Városi Ferenc, who was 18 at that time, started repairing watches brought to him from the village and the neighbourhood in his own modest workshop. He had a lot of work to do, and was more and more busy to repair watches, since wrist watches were a novelty at that time, and although more and more people could afford to have one, they didn't often buy a new watch.

Two years later, in 1966 he taught the trade to his elder brother, who helped him until 1977, then started his own business in a neighbouring town. Meanwhile, he employed two trainees (one in 1969, another in 1973) to help him meet the demands of his growing business.

His two sons were born in 1972. They were still in their teens when they decided to join the dynasty of watchmakers. They were exceptionally talented, so while still at school they started repairing watches as a hobby.

Starting in 1976 Városi Ferenc and his colleagues attended further trainings in foreign countries, which, according to Mr Városi, was a landmark in his business. At that time people didn't often go abroad, but he went to Switzerland and France where he could learn a lot from his foreign colleagues who had a more developed background.

Later on the company started to distribute watches, first mechanical ones, then battery driven wrist watches and wall clocks. Business went surprisingly well for a company located in the countryside.

From 1989 they employed more and more people with commercial experience, who were able to increase sales, and they also continued training watch repairers and watchmakers.

In 1994 the company expanded its profile with retail distribution of jewellery, and later on with repairing jewellery, thus widening its field of activity. It was in the same year that they made an important decision: to create their own brand of watches, Astron.

In 1999 the company changed its name to Astron Ltd. after its own brand, and by launching wholesale trade a dynamic development has begun.

"Contrary to what people say, the logo of Astron does not have anything to do with Eiffel tower. At the top of the spire you can see the star of Bethlehem, which led the wise men of the east to the birth of Jesus Christ, a decisive event in world history. Thus our logo represents foundation and tradition from which something new and unique develops - these are the values I am committed to in business and in private life." /Ferenc Városi/

In the end of the 1990s Astron Ltd. created two new brands.

MERION, is a brand second to Astron in terms of price and quality. The Merion collection includes nearly 200 designs: jewellery, sports, fashion and children's watches, as well as a wide selection of wall clocks and alarm clocks.

CARDY is the third in the rank of our brands. It is important to note that even this low-price brand features reliable clockwork and a simmering case, which proves the expertise of watchmakers who are aware of minimum quality requirements when designing and manufacturing watches which belong to this low-price category.

In summer 2003 the company had to make another important decision. They had the opportunity to open a wholesale office in Budapest. The managers decided to make a step forward and in October 2003 the first Astron wholesale store was opened.

In March 2005 the store moved to another building nearby which had its own entrance. This building was more spacious, thus it was possible to establish a self-service system, which soon became popular among customers.

By 2004 it had become obvious that there was a shortage of good quality watches with Swiss clockwork which are still available at a reasonable price, so the company decided to make development in this field of the market. First of all, they divided Astron into two sub-brands: Astron Standard and Astron Premium.

The colour of Premium brand is wine-red. This collection includes high category timepieces featuring Swiss clockwork, sapphire glass, and ceramic or tungsten parts. So these are watches with extra features and, of course, of a higher price.

In 2005 we obtained monopoly of distributing Seiko batteries in Eastern Europe. Therefore we could offer lower prices than other battery distributors, and guarantee high quality.

Meanwhile we extended our selection of spare parts and tools.

In 2006 we put special emphasis on distributing timepieces made of precious metals. We added silver wrist and pocket watches to our collections, together with golden wrist watches. Sales did not grow too quickly, but introducing these models was successful in strengthening the trust of our customers in the brand of Astron.

In the same year we started manufacturing premium wooden cabinet clocks, which is unique in that the whole process of production takes place in Hungary. The cabinets are manually carved in a carpenter workshop. It is only the clockwork that is not made in Hungary. These clocks feature Hermle clockwork, a market leading Swiss brand.

Later the workshop began to manufacture antique style wooden wall clocks. Although these timepieces are more expensive than the ones produced on assembly lines in the Far East, they have gained popularity among customers in Hungary.

2007 was also a decisive year for Astron Ltd.

Tiko Time a company of long tradition, announced that it was going to withdraw from Hungary and offered us to buy the company, the brand name and the whole Tiko Time collection.

The managers of Astron Ltd. knew that it would involve more responsibility and further investment, but they realized that it was an opportunity they should not miss.

Since December 2007 Tiko Time has belonged to the Astron collection of brands.