Vittorio Necchi started his swing machine business in the early 1920’s, and as the story goes, it was because his wife wanted a new sewing machine. Rather than buy one from the Americans or Europeans, he founded a new sewing company.
Initially, Necchi’s first machine was a very close copy of a Singer 15 but by the late 1940’s and early 1950’s Necchi had become one of the most successful and innovative companies, which held 40% of Italian sales and through savvy marketing, was making a decent dent in the North American and global markets.
Necchi enjoyed their greatest success in the 1950’s, bringing out award winning machines, dominating their home market, and selling more and more machines abroad.
The most coveted of all Necchi machines is surely the Supernova, which came out in 1952 and offered a nearly infinite range of stitches and was described to be without any flaws. The Supernova Ultra came out in 1958 and added a convertible free arm function, and is perhaps the most desirable Necchi ever made.
We recently acquired this Necchi Nora NA “Automatic” which we believe was made in 1957 and I am just gobsmacked at how beautifully designed, and how well this machine runs. We have had, and do have other Necchis from this era that are also wonderfully designed straight stitch machines but these higher end Necchis are a rare find here in Canada.
In looking this machine over she looks almost new as their is nary a mark in her finish, her plates are shiny, and her feet have no wear… she did get a new extra long power cord at some point which makes me think that the wall outlets were few and far between as one sees in older homes.