The company was founded in 1902 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. The manufacture’s motto was Festina Lente (Latin for ‘Hasten slowly’). In 1984, entrepreneur Miguel Rodríguez, already owner of Lotus watches, bought Festina and created the group Festina Lotus S.A.. Since this takeover, the company headquarters have been located in Barcelona, Spain. Their watches are exclusively assembled on Citizen Watch Company Japanese movements, in their most popular watches, while its high-end watches are designed and crafted entirely from its factories in China called Heschen. Festina owns now Candino Watch Company in Bienne, Switzerland, the seat of their Swiss distribution.
