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Philips owned a lot of daugther companies, they often bought them because of better technology. The daugther companies I know about are Aristona, Erres, Dux, Hornyphon, S.B.R., Siera and Magnavox.
Most of the companies are or were selling Philips equipment with another nameplate on it, sometimes the design or color was also changed a bit. It was mostly the cheapest Philips equipment they were selling that way. So they become a sort of budget brands, but with good quality equipment.
Aristona was in Holland formerly known as NSF, who in the 1920s was a producer of small series of radio's and transmitting equipment. Philips bought NSF a few years later, and NSF produced the first Philips Radios type 2501 and 2502 in 1927. NSF also continued production under its own brand, the NSF-radios they produced were made from a Philips chassis with another case. In Belgium (were S.B.R. and Siera also came from) and in Germany, NSF sold it's equipment under the name Aristona. Aristona became more popular than NSF. Philips decided in the 1950s to rename it to Aristona.
The company still exists in Holland, you can still buy here Aristona video equipment (they recently stopped with audio). All the NSF factories are renamed to Philips. The TV's, VCR's and DVD's look mostly exact the same as a Philips. But the price is lower.
Erres was a same kind of brand like NSF. They have invented a lot of techniques. That's why Philips bought them. Erres was located in The Hague. The factory existed here untill 1985. They produced Philips computers and telephone equipment, this also happened with NSF. The audio/video were produced at the Philips factories in Eindhoven. And later in other countries.The Erres brand exsisted here untill 1990 in a Aristona-like form.
Hornyphon is a Aristona-like brand from Austria.S.B.R. and Siera are also Aristona-like brands from Belgium, the S.B.R. brand still exists in Belguim. In Holland you could also buy Siera equipment. Sometimes in Holland, you saw a Philips, Aristona, Siera and a Erres TV standing next to each other in a Radio/TV store. That was funny, they looked all the same.
Regards from
Bob van Apeldoorn, The Hague, Holland.
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