Like other typewriter manufacturers, the Switzerland headquartered Hermes Precisa cut its electronic teeth on the development of a single element “golf-ball” electric typewriter, the Hermes 808, before developing a series of Swiss-made, heavy-duty (even its daisy wheels were made of steel) office electronic typewriters.
Production included two “Top-tronic” models (41 and 42) released in October and November 1981, and sold under the company’s Hermes and Japy brands.
Later Top-tronic models were sourced from the Japanese (Nakajima and Towa Sankiden), and then from Olivetti’s Singapore plant, after the latter acquired Hermes Precisa in 1984.
German-made (TA Triumph-Adler) portable electronic typewriters were also sold under the Hermes brand in the years following Olivetti’s acquisition of TA in 1986.
E.T.ZONE 