Dugena was originally founded as the German Watchmaking Cooperative Alpina in 1917, as a result of Union Horlogère expanding beyond Switzerland. The headquarters were relocated to Berlin in 1927. The brand was renamed as Dugena in 1942, which was short for “Deutsche Uhrmacher-Genossenschaft Alpina”.
Dugena became part of the EganaGoldpfeil group in 1993 until around 2007. The brand was acquired in June of 2009, and is now under Nova Tempora Uhren und Schmuck GmbH.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Some form of partnership existed between Dugena and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, likely during his time driving for Williams and Jordan between 1997 and 2001. A number of timepieces were produced, which have since been referred to as “HHF Editions” on the secondary market. Many feature HHF branding on the case back and were Monza models, a product line that appears to have existed as early as the 1970s.
Various paperwork and packaging appear to have depicted Frentzen as a Williams and Jordan driver, suggesting that his association with the brand spanned his time spent with the two teams.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen driving for Jordan Grand Prix in 2000. (Photo: ozz13x, licensed under CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, sharpened)
Related Pages
References
https://www.dugena.de/de/historie
https://picclick.de/DUGENA-MONZA-wie-HHF-rot-1Hand-original-Verpackung-166776763141.html
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/295209100107
https://uhrforum.de/threads/dugena-monza-heinz-harald-frentzen.252282/
https://uhrerbe.com/unt/1329-dugena_uhr_hhf_chronograph_monza_formel_1_quartz_heinz_harald_frentzen.html
https://www.etsy.com/listing/4391869903/dugena-monza-automatic-ref-vintage-mens?gao=1&gpla=1
https://www.chrono24.com/dugena/dugena-monza-chronograph-1970s–id34498345.htm?noDesc=true