MAISON TELLUS
OUR HISTORY
the Pentagram
Its constant quest for excellence naturally led to the development of its own in-house quality labels, such as "Tellus Extra", "Tellus Chronometer" or "UOT" for "Uhr ohne Tadel" meaning "flawless watches". Strengthened by this technological recognition of quality and reliability, Tellus also adopted avant-garde marketing strategies. True to their initial desire to create a brand that would be known and recognized by all, the company's directors decided to give it its own visual identity, a logo that would be instantly recognizable: the Tellus pentagram.
The choice of the Pentagram was no accident. It was intended to represent the five points of the usual representation of a star. By placing the Tellus mark inside, the message was to link the Earth to the Stars. Tellus was thus both terrestrial and celestial. In any case, that's what the legend says... which we believe in and which continues to guide us to this day.
So, in 1931, barely 5 years after its creation, Tellus was selected to equip all the Romanian border guards, delivering over 6. 000 chronometers stamped on the cover with the words "Corpul Granicelor 1931 Apartine Granicerului" (Border Guard 1931 - belongs to the Border Guard). In 1933, it was the turn of the Romanian Railways to select Tellus, and in 1938 that of the Ministry of Air and Navy to order Tellus chronometers for military aviation surveillance.
The great and the good of the world were also interested in Tellus, since in 1936 Tellus was appointed to make the pocket watch commemorating the royal coronation of King Faruq 1st of Egypt. Alas, the outbreak of the Second World War brought the Tellus brand's expansion to a pause.
In 1942, Cortébert alone took over the Tellus brand and continued its development. However, without the visionary marketing genius of Wilhelm Ulrich, the commercial impetus was lost, even though Tellus watches continued to be distributed worldwide for another 2 decades, from Eastern Europe to the USA and the Caribbean.