Albini Prassa and Tissot are celebrating 100 years since the founding of CFRNA, the Franco-Romanian company that succeeded before everyone else in connecting Europe through the sky, paying homage to its story by launching the limited edition Tissot Heritage Navigator "Săgeata Orientului".
Albini Prassa, the official distributor of the Tissot brand in Romania, is celebrating 100 years since the founding of the Franco-Romanian Air Navigation Company. Almost a century ago, the company launched the world's first transcontinental airline for the commercial transport of cargo, mail and passengers between Paris and Constantinople, with stops in Strasbourg, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade and Bucharest. In memory of these pioneers of commercial aviation, Albini Prassa is premiering the Tissot Heritage Navigator "Săgeata Orientului", the first watch to include Bucharest on the dial of the 24 time zones.
"The Arrow of the Orient" is a limited edition watch that includes only 444 pieces, each of which is individually numbered from 1 to 444. The number 444 represents the average distance by air between Baneasa and San Stefano - the airport of Istanbul in that period, and also the distance between the Pancevo airport, in Belgrade, and the one in Băneasa. 
The watch has a classic, timeless design and is accompanied by a COSC chronometry certificate. It comes in a special collector's box, which contains, an extra replacement strap, a leather travel pouch, a watchmaker's loupe, a limited edition certificate and a microfibre cloth to care for the watch. 
To complement this limited edition, the watch comes with a special gift: the book "The Arrow of the Orient - Pioneers of the Sky" which presents the history of the Franco-Romanian Air Navigation Company, its fascinating achievements and the brave enterprising spirits behind it this success story.
Through the book, written on the occasion of the centenary of "Săgeata Orientului", the entire epic of the company is brought to light with the support of historian Dumitru Lăcătusu from the Historical Consultancy Center and Ion Schiau, passionate about watchmaking and history.
Historian Dumitru Lăcătusu testifies: "The story of the Franco-Romanian Air Navigation Company (CFRNA) is an extraordinary episode in the history of Romanian and French aviation. It is a story about courage, about daring, about vision, but also about what we can achieve when interests align, cultures collaborate, and French pilots and officials join hands with Romanian businessmen and statesmen. It is a memorable and truly inspirational chapter of the history of Romanian entrepreneurship, often overlooked, and which perhaps for this very reason gave me an extraordinary great pleasure to direct my attention to."
Ion Schiau was born in Romania, but grew up in Switzerland. He is the founder of Albini Prassa and the initiator of the idea of the new Tissot special edition. Albini Prassa is not the first such project with Tissot, launching two years ago, another special edition, Tissot 1918-2018 Romania, an anniversary edition of the Great Union, along with two other special series dedicated to Romanian rugby: The Oaks" and the "Golden Oak". About the current edition, Schiau says that it occupies a special place in his soul: "The Arrow of the Orient is a project very dear to me because it has a special emotional charge. It is a less documented episode in the history of Romanian aviation and entrepreneurship, which I believe even now, or perhaps especially now, 100 years later, inspires through the audacity, courage and vision of those who were behind it."
The Franco-Romanian Air Navigation Company was born on April 23, 1920, from a joint initiative of Aristide Blank, influential Romanian businessman and heir to the Marmorosch-Blank financial empire, Count Pierre Claret de Fleurieu, a young aviator and hero French war chief, the great Romanian diplomat Nicolae Titulescu, and the French general Maurice Duval. The company has achieved some history-making achievements, such as the first domestic and commercial night flight from France and the first international and commercial night flight between Belgrade and Bucharest. It was also the first transcontinental airline in the world, intended for the commercial transport of goods, mail and passengers.
In 1925 the company changed its name to the International Air Navigation Company, and in 1933 it was one of the founding companies of Air France. The Franco-Romanian company influenced the aeronautical industry and history in Romania, starting even with the genesis of the later Romanian commercial airlines (SARTA, LARES, TARS and TAROM).
You can find more details about the story of the Arrow of the Orient on the website created especially for the Centenary of the Franco-Romanian Air Navigation Company: www.sageataorientului.ro.
The limited edition Tissot Heritage Navigator "Săgeata Orientului" watch can be ordered from the Albini Prassa website.
