On an evening of many awards, it was the Vacheron Constantin Historiques America 1921 upon which was eventually bestowed the night’s highest honour amid competition from Corum’s Ti-Bridge which claimed second prize and the Montblanc for its “Nicolas Rieussec Chronographe Monopoussoir” which merited third prize.

The Vacheron Constantin Historiques American 1921 itself is one of those wonderfully liberated designs in an 18Kt pink gold cushion case and with a dial so offset that twelve o’clock actually resides where one would expect to find the two – on any other timepiece!

The Vacheron Constantin Historiques American 1921

As with many less conventional designs, there is a good story behind this particular layout. The legend claiming that in 1921 a watch with this curious characteristic was specifically ordered from the manufacture by a man of the cloth who, on every holy day, would hold his flock in thrall while he fulfilled his role as their moral and spiritual guardian as he remonstrated and educated from his pulpit. Although to his congregation, whose eyes dared not look away from their shepherd, he was seemingly blissfully oblivious to the passing of time, he cunningly had his skewed wristwatch which he could glimpse without any discernable break in his rythym as his sermon rung out to his people!

The Vacheron Consantin Historiqes American 1921 houses the Calibre 4400 AS within its 40mm x 40mm case.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Ebel watch history.

At The Watch Press we often feature some lesser-known brands (although this by no means implies lesser quality – quite often the opposite in fact) among the brands whose fortunes (and foresight) have afforded them the luxury of high-profile international marketing campaigns and instant recognition worldwide. However, no matter how great the name is today, most share very similar origins in humble beginnings, the luminaries almost always time-served apprentices at the watchmakers bench.

Our attention turns this time to the Architects of Time – Ebel – and to their origins in the early years of the 1900s.

The Ebel story begins in 1911, although this year only marked the formal establishment of the marque, and the main players are the husband and wife Eugène Blum and Alice Lévy, from whose initials emerged the Ebel name, first registered as the trademark of Fabrique Blum & Cie. in the watchmaking centre of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, on July 15^th of that year.

Having already spent many years in the industry, they were both accomplished and respected locally and the seemingly natural progression from mender and successful watchmaker, in the case of Eugène, complimented by his wife Alice’s eye for detail and design combined with trend-spotting business acumen and efficiency, brought about the birth of the Ebel watch company.

In only their second year, Fabrique Blum & Cie unveiled their first Ebel timepieces. For the lady the emphasis was on delightful design and the use of precious metals and jewels for the Haute Joaillerie models, while for the menfolk more attention was paid to the aura of sophistication and elegance.

While Eugène oversaw the production of the movements, ensuring that his own uncompromising standards of precision, reliability and quality were ingrained into the manufacturing process, Alice maintained a steady hand at the helm of the business as well as overseeing the design of the timepieces. Her eye for aesthetic elegance and innovative design meant that the first Ebel watches – one of which, the Ebel Ring watch, picked up a gold medal at the 1914 Swiss National Exhibition in Bern – were immediately ‘en vogue’ and brought the company early success.

As a result of the award Ebel was introduced to a wider audience, and following on from the success of the award it began to receive orders for complete watches from other brands, for resale under their own names. This activity alone would become a significant aspect of the Ebel output for decades to come, and helped secure a prosperous future for the young company.

In 1925 Ebel enjoyed the honour of winning the Grand Prix at the prestigious Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoraties et Industries Modernes in Paris for their High Jewellery Art Déco wristwatches.

Eugène then began to embark on sales tours abroad, encompassing the world and winning orders in the major centres, although the demand which was needed to bring the brand to international prominence eluded him.

Charles- Eugène Blum, the son of the founders, joined the company in 1929 and his arrival along with that of Marcel Reuche, a brilliantly skilled watchmaker, soon afterwards heralded the introduction of a new refined system of production which resulted in ever more precise and reliable movements, to such an extent that even the grandee watch houses such as Vacheron Constantine came calling on Ebel for providing movements.

At this time the majority of the orders which filled the sales books were coming from lucrative private label contracts with other large watch houses, Ebel’s own designs although central to the identity of the brand were less a priority for the company at the time, although their own Paul Breguette brand was selected for another campaign in the US in the 1930s. Of course Ebel still created svelte stylish pieces in their own name, just not in the same volumes as the supply demanded by their illustrious contemporaries.

The ability to provide large numbers of pieces to contract was no bad thing however, and Ebel got a chance to supply their own watches in volume when they won the contract to supply the Royal Air Force from 1939 and through the war years.

Following the war, the brand continued its supply to its larger clients, with its own creations coasting along, but not much more than that. Apart from occasional flashes of the old spirit, the art of design for which Ebel had won its early recognition and plaudits seemed to have been replaced by a period of uninspiring, although technically superb, wristwatches.

1961 marked the 50^th anniversary of the Ebel marque and Charles- Eugène premiered the President model to commemorate this milestone. Other pieces contested and won awards through the 1960s, but creative momentum still remained somewhat stagnant.

The son of Charles- Eugène had been on course to do as his father had done and was expected to join the family company and assume some of the responsibilities of directing such an institution, but Pierre-Alain Blum had other ideas and, as a headstrong young man, had dropped out of his education and instead took up at technical college to study engineering before disappearing off to the US to find his calling. In fact, he did rather well for himself after some time, but still resisted his father’s attempts at having him return and joining the company.

Somewhat ironically, it would be Pierre-Alain who would see in the changes upon which the fortunes of the Ebel marque would swing dramatically in a positive direction.  Threatened with the sale of the company by his father, Pierre-Alain reluctantly returned to his homeland and despite his abject misery at having to do so under virtual duress, his influence on the procedures of the company began to work through to every department within it.

A charismatic and intelligent leader with a similar eye for stylish design and vision as his grandmother Alice sixty years before, Pierre-Alain masterminded the introduction of new attractive designs for men and women for the new era for Ebel and it’s new brand identity as The Architects of Time.

1977 saw the unveiling of the Ebel Sport Classic range of models, featuring the ‘wave’ bracelet which brought the brand critical acclaim and more importantly, substantial worldwide success. Under the watchful eye of Pierre-Alain, Ebel and it’s new models reclaimed the reputation once almost forgotten for being a world-class maker of desirable and affordable watches for the younger, sporty fashion-conscious clientele it now had it’s sights on.

The new sporty image was bolstered by the association of the Ebel watch as title sponsor of many prestigious golf and tennis tournaments around the world. Success built on success, and by the time Ebel was marking it’s 75th year in 1986, it had moved it’s offices into the magnificent and architecturally important Villa Turqe in La Chaux-de-Fonds, originally designed by the iconic architect Le Corbusier in 1927 – a fitting home indeed for The Architects of Time.

Villa Turqe by Le Corbusier

The following years would see production increase and the brand appeal widened as a succession of new additions to the Ebel range of models were unveiled. Collections to be introduced during this remarkable period of growth included the Beluga, Sport Wave, E-Type and 1911 models, all of which featured distinctive Ebel styling.  This bloodline remains at the heart of the marque today, and the ranges of models are still a major element of the Ebel portfolio to this day.

As the Ebel brand hit never-before seen heights and profits soared, so a new holding company was established. Ebel Finance began to invest in non-watch related pursuits such as property, the acquisition of ski equipment manufacturers Authier and Look ski bindings (which had been inaccurately overvalued – grossly) and even a foray into the movies.

Unfortunately, these diversifications proved to be a drain on the resources which had financed them in the beginning and by 1992 Ebel admitted that it was looking for a buyer or investor. And so it was that sadly, the Architect of Growth, Pierre-Alain Blum, was forced to resign from his company in 1994, and Ebel was acquired by Anglo-Arabic InvestCorp even though the company was still selling it’s watches in volume.

Once the visionary and family influence was removed, Ebel began to lose momentum, once again due to stagnation in the design department as well as the fact that InvestCorp represented just that – an investment corporation – something which became obvious a mere five years after the take-over when InvestCorp sold Ebel on at huge profit to the luxury group LVMH in 1999, without having contributed anything to the maintain the lustre of the Ebel brand while in it’s care.

Initially added to the illustrious LVMH catalogue of luxury brands to compliment the already acquired TAG Heuer and Zenith watch brands, Ebel finally seemed to be back among friends and hopes were high for a new resurgence in the brand’s popularity worldwide. However, the Ebel story was to endure yet further difficulties as the marriage inside LVMH failed to rectify the downward slide experienced since the departure of Pierre-Alain Blum. Ebel seemed to operate successfully only under the command of a driven individual and this had been in it’s signature since the company had been founded in 1911.

A driven man with a clear vision for the company stepped up in 2004 in the form of  Ephraim Grinberg, head of the Movado group and a long time admirer of the Ebel brand and it’s philosophy, he jumped when the opportunity presented itself to acquire Ebel from LVMH.

Ephraim Grinberg recognised that Ebel had been generating confusion among customers and it’s retail partners in recent years. There had been no clear corporate direction for some time and he was well aware where the key to unlock the potential of this great company lay; Ebel needed to become Ebel once more and not the wandering behemoth it had been allowed to become of late.

He would oversee the refocusing of his designers on the classic sensuous lines of the Ebel ladies collections and the sophistication of the sporty collections aimed at the aspiring gent.

Ephraim Grinberg also soon got his hands dirty by taking the plinth himself at the Ebel manufacture to address the workforce and break the news that for the company to have any possibility of survival, jobs would have to go. This hands-on attitude with an awareness of the responsibilities of restructuring was exactly what was required at that moment, and the job of turning around Ebel once more was underway.

As Ebel retraced it’s steps to the roots of it’s heyday, ‘The Architects of Time’ legend – unfathomably dropped by the more recent owners – was reintroduced and with the firm objective of having the marque seen as a status symbol, as a luxury and most certainly not as a fashion watch, a targeted campaign to bring in it’s existing customers and retailers commenced. Together with evocative advertising imagery and the enrolment of aspirational brand ambassadors and sporting icons Ebel struck out again to reclaim its place among the recognised luxury watchmakers.

Under the direction of Ephraim Grinberg, the iconic models all received complete reworkings, redefining the watch while simultaneously retaining the instantly recognisable Ebel design cues such as the Ebel ‘Wave’, all of which brought the collections up to date and ready to grace the wrists of a new audience. Ebel was back.

In its newest incarnation and under careful and brand-sympathetic leadership, Ebel has once again established itself as a manufacturer of high quality modern luxury timepieces with sophisticated feminine designs for the ladies in the Classic, Beluga and Brasilia collections and strong, masculine accents on the men’s sports watches such as the 1911 BTR Chronographs and new 1911 Tektron collections.

Still under the ownership of Ephraim Grinberg’s Movado group, Ebel today develops and assembles its movements to the exacting C.O.S.C. chronometer standard and continues to encourage its designers to blend creativity with tradition to acclaim.

This time, for the first time in a long while, the future of Ebel looks to be in good shape. It is a brand which has proven to flourish in a loving environment where there is a sense of history in the name and an understanding of the expectations of its’ evolving marketplace.

It’s fascinating to observe how so many prestigious watchmakers have found their greatest successes have been achieved by remaining true or returning to the ideals of their founders a century or more ago. The history of the Ebel marque is a solid reminder of that fact.

Popularity: 24% [?]

Cuervo Y Sobrinos

The Watch Press are always pleased to feature watchmakers whose watches and history are often somewhat less than conventional, and on this occasion we would like to introduce to readers who might not be familiar, to Cuervo Y Sobrinos.

Our story takes us back to the heat and humidity, the noise, the colour and bustle of late 1800s Cuba and its’ capital city Havana. Just over 125 years ago, the city was a vibrant cosmopolitan melting pot where travellers from the world over found kindred souls as they worked, adventured and explored their way across new lands in search of unfound treasures. It was on Avenida Quinta, in the heart of the city, and close to the station and the port where stood La Casa, the watchmakers shop of the Cuervo family and where our story begins.

La Casa, Avenida Quinta, Habana

As with all cities, there was wealth and poverty living side by side, but Havana had another side to it, an indefinable flavour of life and living which was heightened by the sounds of the jazz culture, the sweet, strong liquors and the odours of the equally robust fine cigars which were to become synonymous with the city ever since. Havana in its heyday was obviously unlike any other city on earth, and because of its many and varied attractions and the philosophy of El Tiempo Liento (or time which passes slowly), there was a continuous stream of international visitors who hungrily soaked up the city’s uniquely Caribbean atmosphere.

The watchmaker Don Ramon Rio Cuervo found ample business among the local and visiting businessmen and his distinctive designs brought many to his doors on a deliberate mission to buy his wares. By 1882, his new store on the prestigious Avenida Quinta had nephew Don Armando Rio Cuervo at the helm and the sign over the door bore the legend Cuervo Y Sobrinos, or Cuervo and nephews.

Sourcing and eventually overseeing production of their watch movements in La Chaux-de-Fonds, meant that Cuervo Y Sobrinos could offer to their customers timepieces which were distinctly Latin in their design, yet which possessed the reassuring Swiss made mechanical movements.

The watches became legend and so the incredible and eclectic list of clients who would become aficionados of this exotic brand began to swell. Among the records in the “Golden Book” of Cuervo Y Sobrinos wearers were to be found names such as Hemmingway, Churchill, Einstein and Caruso along with many other illustrious charcacters in that new and exiting golden era of world travel.

Period Cuervo Y Sobrinos Robusto Advertisement

Benefitting from a tightly-run management Cuervo Y Sobrinos became an important player to the finer watch and clock makers who enjoyed significant sales through the store in the early 1900s, and the business grew in Havana until international demand for the watches heralded time for expansion, and new Cuervo Y Sobrinos shops were opened in Baden Germany, Paris and in La Chaux de Fonds in the heart of Swiss watchmaking country.

The distinctive shapes of the Cuervo Y Sobrinos wristwatch found favour across the more arty Europeans and Americans of the time who cherished the unconventionality of the Cuban brand during a time of growing enthusiasm for fine Swiss watches. Cuervo Y Sobrinos held an edge over their competition in that their watches were quite unlike the offerings from Switzerland and as an added benefit, the family business provided a highly respected sales channel for many of the most revered watchmakers both in their prestigious European shops as well as the US and Latin American clients who continued to ‘escape’ on their vacations to the heady culture of Havana.

Period Cuervo Y Sobrinos Esplendidos Advertisement

It is often true that many of the great watch brands would have had a continued and uninterrupted history were it not for outside influences affecting and changing the course of their businesses – not to mention the course of world history too! So as it was for many fine Swiss, French and German watch houses in the early and mid 1900s, the war years, so the Cuervo Y Sobrinos company eventually encountered their own upheaval when their homeland, and still their base, Cuba fell into the throes of revolution in 1959.

High-society very quickly fell out of favour on Cuba, and the trappings of wealth and luxury lifestyle became symbols of all that the revolution was not about. Cuervo Y Sobrinos were forced from their flagship store and most of the family fled the city in which their name had become part of the fabric.

Bearing in mind that now the business built from 1882 was now in the third family generation, and also considering how many family businesses survive the handing down from generation to generation, the Cuervo Y Sobrinos brand suffered heavily from the unceremonious routing from their homeland, unable to maintain the continuity from their home in exile in Europe, and in the following short years, the once celebrated marque fell into decline and eventual quiet disappearance.

As the years passed, the Cuervo Y Sobrinos name and the wonderful timepieces once so loved by so many of the worlds most sought-after clientele became a footnote in watchmaking history. For four decades the brand simply ceased to be.

And perhaps it might still be a forgotten treasure had it not been for the intervention of Italian businessman and historian Luca Musumeci in 1997, Luca Musumeci recognised the potential of restoring life into the Cuervo Y Sobrinos marque when he purchased the now derelict brand and whatever assets still belonged to it. On visiting La Casa, the original shop on Avenida Quinta, Havana, he found a veritable treasure trove, including old watch designs and drawings, movements and cases which had been stored away in three enormous trunks. Perhaps more than he had expected to find, and it was not until 2001 that he and his partner Mario Villa, an experienced distributor of luxury timepieces, recommenced the production of Cuervo Y Sobrinos timepieces in the new production facility in La Chaux de Fonds and began to develop and stimulate new sales grounds in Europe and further afield.

Taking great care to ensure that the new Cuervo Y Sobrinos models remained true to the spirit of the original watches, the new patron’s attention to the original philosophy meant that once again the distinctive Cuervo Y Sobrinos designs began to appear in the store windows of luxury watch specialists, initially in Italy and Spain before being rolled out to over 25 countries, including Russia and the US.

As the re-emerged Cuervo Y Sobrinos found a small but dedicated following, enthralled both by the colourful history of the company and by the distinctive designs in pink gold and steel as well as the variation of complications offered, so the brand grew in popularity among collectors and watch lovers whose requirement for unusual yet stunning styling was amply catered for.

The policy of using traditional manufacturing methods which had been synonymous with the brand since its early days, such as the remarkable extraction of the case from a single block of either steel or gold, undergoing several steps in the hands of the Cuervo Y Sobrinos craftsmen before being signed off and numbered and fitted with its movement.

The Cuervo Y Sobrinos Esplendido Monopulsante

When the Esplendidos Monopulsante single pusher chronograph was unveiled, it marked another significant milestone for Cuervo Y Sobrinos, for this was the first watch to carry an in-house ‘manufacture’ movement. The CyS Caliber 2450 brought the brand into the rarified air of the legendary watchmakers, and was to show that the reborn marque had serious intention.

The Esplendido flagship range, which, like the other models, dates back to the company’s early days and which includes dualtime, retrograde variations and even a handless model – the Esplendido 1882 – bolstered an existing selection of truly exotic models. Today these include the round cased Torpedo and Robusto models as well as the stunning overlong rectangular Prominente. Although drawing heavily on their heritage with these models, Cuervo Y Sobrinos are keen to propose that they are indeed  their “New Period Watches”.

Cuervo Y Sobrinos Torpedo Pulsometro

One thing which strikes you when looking at the range – as well as the styling – is the use and combinations of luxuriant coppers, bronzes and ivory colours in the dials, which themselves are hand made from enamelled porcelain, and how almost each and every combination compliments the look and feel of the Cuervo Y Sobrinos timepiece.

In the summer of 2009, Cuervo Y Sobrinos re-opened the doors of La Casa on Avenida Quinta as its flagship store and museum. Restored to the splendour of the halcyon days when the flamboyant watchmaker originally entertained the brave and the beautiful. Among the standout features of the new location stands the magnificent double-doored safe which had been brought up from the vaults.

Only ten years after the rebirth of the brand, Cuervo Y Sobrinos has succeeded in establishing itself as a watch maker to take note of. Proudly retaining the manufacturing values of the original Havana family business, it is this which sets the marque apart from many of its more conservative European contemporaries.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Blancpain 500 Fathoms Only Watch Reaches €22,000 at auction

With a starting guide price of €15,000 a unique Blancpain 500 Fathoms No.1/1 fetched €22,000 at the 2009 Only Watch auction held on September 24.

The Only Watch auction which is held each year at the Monaco Boat Show featured 34 timepieces this year, most of the Swiss, all of them unique prototype editions or number 1 of limited edition series. Funds raised at the event go directly to the Monaco Association against Muscular Dystrophy (AMM) charity, created by the parents of children affected by Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

The Blancpain piece which sold at the auction is a unique 1/1 edition of the 500 Fathoms diver’s watch and features an anthracite grey dial with carbon fibre centre panel and a tinted blue sapphire ring providing a transparent view of the date disc rotating beneath with the date window situated at the 6 o’clock position.

The Blancpain 500 Fathoms Only Watch #1/1

Popularity: 4% [?]

This weekend Blancpain choose the sublime location of the “Vieux Port” in Cannes to launch the latest in its collection of diving watches, the all-new 500 Fathoms series at the Cannes International Boat Show.  Termed the “ big sister” of the original Fifty Fathoms, first released in the 1950’s, the 500 Fathoms features a brushed titanium case measuring an impressive 48mm in diameter which contrasts boldly with the new distinctive “sun-ray” dial.  The piece is powered by a self-winding Calibre 1315 movement and unusually for a divers watch this along with its unique boat propeller-shaped oscillating weight is revealed through a specially engineered tough sapphire crystal caseback.  The 500 Fathoms has water-resistance of 1000 metres and the added security of an innovative automatic decompression valve.

Blancpain have been partners of the Cannes International Boat and Yacht Show, Europe’s leading in-water exhibition for five consecutive years and to celebrate this have also unveiled the 500 Fathoms Cannes 2009 edition limited to 50 pieces.  Presented in an impressive and functional water tight box, the watch is fitted with a black rubber-lined sail canvas strap with an additional rubber strap and tools required to secure it also supplied.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Doxa watch

 With the huge selection of watch manufacturers available to choose from these days, it is easy for those who are new to the fascinating world of the watch industry to pass over some outstanding watchmakers and the watches they create.

 The Watch Press spotlight this time turns onto another one of our favourite brands although not one with the highest of profiles – Doxa.

 Today recognised as the creator of some of the very finest professional diving and sports instruments available anywhere, to become familiar with the Doxa brand, we must travel back 120 years to much simpler times and the town of Le Locle in the Swiss watchmaking heartland of the Neuchatel region.

 Almost ten years prior to founding his Doxa company, the 12-year old Georges Ducommun set out on the road to his calling as a watchmakers apprentice, earning a few pennies to take home to his family (of 12 brothers and sisters!), but also closely observing the techniques of his employer.

 Aged only 20 years, Ducommun opened for business as a repairer of watches while at the same time beginning to craft his own works which he would then deliver by hand after trudging, even through the alpine winters, the ten kilometres to the larger town of La Chaux de Fonds.

 Doxa was officially founded in 1889 (although the name was only registered as a trademark in 1910) when Georges Ducommun was still only 21, and within a short few years, the combination of his work ethic and the quality of his pocket watches saw the company make considerable progress. Based on the philosophy of creating high quality timepieces at an affordable price, the Doxa name began to earn the respect its’ founder strived for.

 During the formative years, Georges Ducommun oversaw the production of a number of fine pocket watches, some featuring hand-painted dials, as well as recognizing the new emerging trend for wristwatches.

 Such were the high standards of the Doxa watch that soon the marque began to pick up awards at prestigious watch fairs outside the immediate catchment of the manufacture, and with acclaim came an increase in demand for Doxa watches internationally.

 The popularity of his Doxa watch brand brought to Ducommun some of the trappings of success – a long way from his impoverished childhood, including his residence, the now famed Chateau des Monts – home today of the Le Locle Musée d’Horologie – as well as the ability to indulge himself with the latest of the accessories of the well-heeled, the motor car.

 Already deeply passionate about motor cars, Georges Ducommun saw them as another potential avenue to pursue a new area of opportunity for his Doxa company, and patented an instrument, using one of his existing watch movements, but purpose-built for mounting on the dashboards of the new motor cars as well as for another pastime then growing in popularity, aviation. For these, his larger piece with an eight-day reserve offered the motorist and aviator a dash-mounted timepiece providing greater ease of reading.

 This association with the aero and automotive industries saw Doxa entering the new sports instruments sector, and when Ettore Bugatti went looking for a supplier of high-quality panel-mounted instruments for his own legendary marque, Georges Ducommun was there to meet the requirement. Thus the Doxa name became intrinsically connected to one of the mightiest names ever in the history of motoring.

 Through his connection with the motoring industry, Ducommun’s instruments were soon in demand and as a result, the Doxa 8-Day reserve was to be found in automobiles from many manufacturers, but none so enduring as the Type 35 Bugatti – one of the most famous of all motor cars.

 The visionary that was Georges Ducommun passed away in 1936 and it was left to his son-in-law Jacques Nardin, grandson of another luminary Ulysse Nardin, to pick up the baton of the Doxa legacy. Under his direction, Doxa continued to expand, and new wristwatch models were introduced for men and ladies.

 Astutely, Jacques Nardin gained some endearing publicity for his brand when, in 1954, he presented every member of the victorious German World Cup soccer squad with a gold Doxa watch.

 With its’ tradition steeped in the manufacture of elegant timepieces and auto and aviator horological instruments, Nardin set about rewriting the company history when, in 1967 his Head of Operations, Urs Eschle submitted his patent application for ‘Diver’s Watch’.

 Previously a pursuit generally undertaken by naval military experts, diving was fast becoming a pastime which was accessible to more and more people, both professional and leisure enthusiasts. The team at Doxa got together with Jacques Cousteau’s US Divers Company, and in particular diver Claude Wesly, to work on delivering a watch which covered all the requirements which would make the resultant watch virtually indispensible to the serious diver.

 The Doxa Sub300t was released to great acclaim in 1967, and it was like no other watch which preceded it. Exhaustive research with the Cousteau team proved that an orange dial could be read more clearly than any other colour, and so that’s what it had. Another ingenious device which would come to be a standard feature on any divers watch was the unidirectional rotating bezel featured on the Sub300t, which gave the wearer an accurate no-decompression limit indicator for time elapsed underwater and therefore an invaluable asset for the diver.

 To protect the watch from the harmful effects of ascending from depth – similar to the diver’s great fear – the bends, Doxa also worked closely with Rolex in developing the Helium Release Valve (Rolex for use on their Submariner Sea Dweller), the patent of which both manufactures agreed to share, and which is today an integral feature of any professional divers watch.

 One other feature – an expandable steel clasp mechanism meant that the watch also had an appeal to the wearer when out of the water – or even if the wearer never got his feet wet – as the same watch could easily fit over the wetsuit or the bare wrist. The Doxa Sub diver’s watch truly tore up the rulebook for the gent’s sports watch and it remains the pillar of the Doxa brand today, some 40 years after it’s inception.

 With the Sub’s popularity surprising the hierarchy in Doxa, the orders extended even to the US Navy as well as the French, British and Polish naval forces. An enormous success which would establish the brand as one of the most important manufacturers of professional divers watches.

 Following on the success of the Sub models, Doxa appeared to be in a commanding position within their niche, but they, along with many other manufacturers were looking over their shoulders, at first sceptically, at the new competition coming in from Japan, in the form of the quartz watch.

 No-one could have foreseen the tsunami-like sweep across the traditional watchmaking industry these inexpensive, but highly accurate quartz watches would have, but soon after their popularity began to gather pace, the Swiss were finding life in the melée to be unsustainable and many manufacturers found that the heat of competing with the Japanese invasion to be too much, and the axe fell upon several long-established Swiss watch manufactures.

 Doxa were no exception, particularly because of the Japanese producer’s ability to identify growth trends, such as the dive niche, and develop high-quality, fully capable watches but at a fraction of the price due to the capacity for producing in huge numbers. Doxa found themselves struggling in their own waters!

 By 1978 Doxa was put on the market and one of the first things that new owners Aubry & Frères S.A. did was to make cutbacks everywhere, pulling out of the previously buoyant US market and restricting the company catchment to the easier to service European market.

 These draconian measures may have helped to preserve the Doxa name, but creatively, the company stagnated. One group of people to notice this decline was the Jenny family whose company manufactured and supplied watchcases to Doxa. When the opportunity to acquire the Doxa company came about in 1997, the family seized on the chance.

 Under the direction of Romeo F. Jenny, Doxa underwent a period of restructuring, emerging healthier and with the intention of reclaiming the status of it’s previous glory days.

 Recognizing the potential of the Sub models, Doxa concentrated on the range, adding variations with different coloured dials and features, resistance to greater depths – up to the incredible Sub5000t Professional ‘SeaConqueror’.

 In 2002, to commemorate 35 years of the Doxa Sub, a reissue of the 1967 Sub300t, was released to the exact specifications of the original.

 The fervour with which it was received served as the prompt for the company to concentrate on the model and rebuild their client base internationally, adding in 2009 the Doxa Ultraspeed Limited Edition and a special classically-styled ‘Chateau des Monts’ Limited Edition, both watches to celebrate 120 years of Doxa watchmaking history and the commemorating the home of it’s founder Georges Ducommun all those years ago in Le Locle.

 Today, Romeo F. Jenny oversees a healthy and vibrant family-owned watch manufacture in their headquarters at Biel-Bienne, in the Jura Valley.

 Georges Ducommun would no doubt be satisfied that his philosophy of delivering high grade watches at affordable prices is being preserved and that his Doxa brand is still under family ownership (if not his own), and growing from strength to strength with each passing year. 

Creators of many fine watches and automotive timepieces, Doxa today is a cult status manufacture.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Daniel Roth watch maker. 

As well as being part of our objective on The Watch Press to deliver quality articles on companies and individuals in the world of horology, sometimes we permit ourselves a little self indulgence when writing about some of the industry’s lesser-known – yet often key – players and bringing their stories to a slightly wider audience. 

Which brings us to a small watchmakers workshop in the city of Nice, on the French Riviera, where a boy is passing his summer playing and watching his grandfather at work repairing and assembling watches for his clients. 

It was against this unusual backdrop that one Daniel Roth realised his vocation. His grandfather had relocated to the most agreeable Mediterranean climate from his birthplace in La Chaux des Fonds, where he too had learned the craft of the watchmaker from his own father as a young man. 

Once old enough, Daniel Roth attended a watchmaking class in Nice and three years later, emerged with qualifications in hand but in a town of few opportunities for an ambitious young watchmaker. 

And so Daniel Roth set out to advance his education and develop his abilities, gaining experience by working in a number of small watchmakers studios in and around the Swiss watchmaking region of La Vallée de Joux before landing a cherished position with the famous Audemars Piguet manufacture.

There in La Brassus, the young Roth was able to build on his skills until, some seven years later, he noticed a somewhat unusual job position being advertised. Daniel Roth submitted his credentials and soon after received an invitation to attend a meeting with the Frėres Chaumet, Jacques and Pierre, long established Parisian jewelers who had recently acquired the historic, but now almost derelict Breguet name.

The position called for an individual who possessed the ability to immerse himself into the very ideology of the ancient Breguet name. The Chaumet brothers not only wanted to breathe new life into the marque, they wanted to restore Breguet to its’ previous glory, and that would require someone who could study the history and philosophy of the name, and who could faithfully create complex complication timepieces worthy of the great Breguet name. 

Interviewing their new prospect, the Chaumet brothers were won over by the obvious talent, honesty and the clarity of vision displayed by Daniel Roth. Feeling that although he was the man for the position, he still needed to further his knowledge of the classic complications, he proposed that he return to study the art for another year. The Chaumet brothers agreed to this and within the year, while still at college in Le Sentier, Roth presented them with a perpetual calendar in classic Breguet pocket watch form to which they put the Breguet name – the first new Breguet in over thirty years. 

On completion of his studies, Daniel Roth began his task of creating timepieces which were absolutely true to the centuries old tradition of the Breguet name. Recreating his perpetual calendar pocket watch and reintroducing the mystical tourbillon timepiece in the wristwatch form, he maintained the spirit of the brand with technical innovation and classic Breguet styling.

From 1970 onwards the Breguet name began to reclaim its’ place at the pinacle of haute horology and the genius of Daniel Roth played a pivotal role in the restoration of the brand. Under his tutelage the grande marque gently eased its way back into the affections and, more importantly, onto the wrists of connoisseurs the world over.

So content in his role was Daniel Roth, that he might still be there today, were it not for the Breguet name once more encountering choppy waters when the brothers Chaumet fell on financial and other troubles, which ultimately resulted in their disposal of their crown jewel to an investment company, Investcorp, in 1987.

No longer answerable to the brothers and finding that dealing with a board of directors was much less than personable, Daniel Roth was also soon on his way, leaving behind him a legacy in which were the signatures which would define his work – the perfection of the finished article.

With the successful if truncated Breguet chapter now behind him, Daniel Roth believed that having been a central figure in the company’s revitalization, the time was right for him to strike out on his own.

Once again, he began to put in place the elements which would be needed to set up a successful watchmaking company. The quality of his work was a given, he also knew that his brand would require a recognizable signature – and the unique ‘Double Ellipse’ elongated case perfectly fitted that requirement, there was simply nothing quite like it. Work began in the peaceful workshop in Le Sentier.

A mere two years after his departure from Breguet, Daniel Roth unveiled his spectacular Tourbillon Double Face which proudly bore his own name. It was a celebration of the man’s innovation and creative skill and the 250 pieces whose every component was intricately hand engraved, were soon in the hands of adoring connoisseurs to whom the name Daniel Roth was already revered.

So began the journey to establish his new brand in the competitive and elitist luxury watch industry, where new brands often foundered or at least failed to achieve the level of respect they had envisaged for themselves.

After the initial flourish propelled by the energy of a new business, the watches were well received and the Daniel Roth brand enjoyed a level of success, particularly in the Asian market, where the quality of Roth’s workmanship was truly appreciated. One after another technical wonder built up the portfolio of models available from the marque.

Specialising in timepieces which offered the client so much more than a means of reading the time, each Daniel Roth watch was a work of art as well as being a demonstration of pure horologic wizardry. 

However, a few years into its’ life, the commercial rigours of developing the brand struck home when his distribution partner demanded a higher slice of the margins and, on failing to achieve the deal they wanted, dropped the Daniel Roth brand.

Help was now urgently needed, and it came from the Singapore luxury watch retailing giant The Hour Glass, who in 1994 took a 51% holding in the Daniel Roth watch company. Although no longer fully in control of his brand, the intervention of The Hour Glass meant that Daniel could get back to doing what he did best – watchmaking, while the more commercial aspect of the business had the added benefit of the retail outlet chain, as well as the trading experience of his Singapore partners.

Again, the Daniel Roth marque continued to make progress as the new marriage proved to be a good one. Yet within a few years, the economic slump in Asia forced The Hour Glass to offload some of its assets as it focussed on its core business.

This time however, the new potential owner being courted by The Hour Glass, was not interested in anything but a 100% holding in the brand and, being a minority shareholder, Daniel Roth saw his brand and family name leaving his control as the Bulgari luxury goods house assumed ownership of the company he had created only a decade before.

It must be noted that Bulgari have kept true to the values instilled by Daniel Roth and the watches which today bear his name are still pieces of exemplary craftsmanship and innovation. 

But Daniel Roth the man, now a little older but a lot wiser following his experiences resolved that never again would he be answerable to, or in the hands of anyone other than himself. 

By this time, he had built up a loyal following of watch lovers around the world, and his disappearance from watchmaking was a loss to many. He had received commissions for timepieces over the years, and now saw this very niche market to be one where he could indulge his passion and skills, patiently hand-manufacturing bespoke pieces while still having an eager customer base for his works. 

And when Daniel Roth unveiled his next masterpiece, it would be fair to say that it was worth the two-year wait.

Bearing the name Jean Daniel Nicolas – bringing the christian names of his son and wife into the fold as the new marque – the round cased Two-Minute Tourbillon was an astonishing feat of horologic accomplishment. Absolutely every aspect of this triumph was finished to a level – possibly never seen before! This was the watch that Daniel Roth wanted to make, in his own time and on his own terms. 

Today, the Jean Daniel Nicolas family manufacture painstakingly collaborate to produce a limited number of treasured timepieces each year. 

A modest genius, Daniel Roth is owed a debt of gratitude from watch connoisseurs the world over, and even those who are in the same profession, for keeping true to the values and philosophy of a centuries-old brand such as Breguet as he maintained and practised the traditional watchmaking skills which are so close to being forgotten with the passing of each generation of master watchmaker.

At the beginning of this feature, we stated that we liked to feature some lesser-known characters in the world of haute horologie. We hope you will agree that Daniel Roth, although not known by all, is truly a giant among his peers.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Carl F. Bucherer watch

At The Watch Press we take great satisfaction from bringing to your attention, some watch brands whose representation, although being available through their network of dealers worldwide, are not so heavily marketed so as to lose most of their exclusivity, mystique and personality. It is an obvious fact to state that almost any product which is mass produced is not going to carry the same exclusivity as one which is produced individually and without a client profile database to reference.

And so we come to the watches produced by the Bucherer family manufacture, which today bears the name of its founder, Carl F Bucherer.

The Bucherer name first appeared over the doorway of Carl F Bucherer, jeweller and watchmaker of distinction, in the centre of the cosmopolitan Swiss city of Lucerne in 1888. Established as a family business along with his wife Luise – herself an astute and focussed business woman, the new business would soon benefit from both the constant stream of international visitors, travellers and tourists who were drawn to the charms of the breathtaking vistas and features of the beautiful city and its’ surrounds, as well as from the quality of the craftsmanship and the level of professionalism which were on offer at the ‘magasin’ Bucherer. An international reputation for fine timepieces and jewellery was establishing its’ first footings.

The cornerstone for the protracted lifeline of the company was to be found in the dynamic husband and wife partnership and the sense of strength in the family business. Building up a network among other successful professionals locally through their enthusiastic involvement in charities, sharing with those less fortunate the benefit of their acumen and drive which would see the establishment of a charity shop in the city, Carl-Friedrich and Luise Bucherer advanced their business at the same time as becoming popular, conscientious and hard-working philanthropic members of Lucerne society.

With continuity and self-governance of the successful business in mind, the couples’ two sons, Carl-Eduard and Ernst, were inducted into the family company. Both men had followed their parents’ passion and, having travelled and worked internationally and learned their respective trades as goldsmith and watchmaker, set about expanding the business which bore their fathers’ name.

Bucherer Company logo c.1900

Following the bleak years of the Great War, with the business operation now consolidated and the footings for continuity in place, the company C. Bucherer was formally established in 1919.

To coincide with the official launch of the company, a collection of ladies wristwatches was unveiled bearing the C. Bucherer name. This was the first Bucherer collection and reflected the changing direction of watch design. Up until this era, most watches had been manufactured as pocket watches, as it was believed that such fine and delicate instruments should be protected from the elements – and envious, unscrupulous eyes! The popularity of the new, modern wristwatch was on the rise as the Bucherer watches were announced.

The new collection represented the Bucherer skills traits of high quality watchmaking and contemporary jewellery design. One element of this lay in the fact that the wristwatch did not possess the same constraints of the pocket watch and the case did not have to be round, which allowed for a much broader design scope.

From the first Bucherer collection

The distinctive styling and attention to detail exhibited in the collection led to a rapid rise in prominence for the new watchmaker and within a year C Bucherer were unveiling another selection of exquisite ladies watches.

As the 1920s roared past, so the style, quality and individuality now associated with the C Bucherer watch helped elevate the status of the family-run watchmaker to the highest levels, and demand for their watches at home in Lucerne and abroad meant that the decade saw Bucherer production at record levels.

The Twenties also saw the innovative spirit of the Patron reach out into the manufacture of timepieces which were specifically designed to cater for the growth of the motor car. A large, dashboard-mounted manual-winding watch with eight-day power reserve proved the versatility of the Bucherer company, and a canny eye for opportunity.

Bucherer Automobile Eight Days

1933 brought sad news in the announcement of the death of the founder Carl Friedrich Bucherer (b.1865). His two sons, by now long since returned to Lucerne to oversee the spectacular growth of their fathers’ business, took exclusive control of the company, becoming a public listed company and calling in their extensive network of contacts abroad to open more branches overseas.

Having created beautiful ladies wristwatches for some years, under the new stewardship of Carl-Eduard and Ernst Bucherer the company also began to manufacture watches for men. Their post-war chronograph and big date watches were an immediate hit with the sporting type, and in true Bucherer form, not only were the watches functional, they also bore the attention to styling which had previously been a signature of the early collections. A Bucherer watch was a very desirable item indeed.

1948 Big Date Chronograph Incabloc

Following the hostilities of war, thousands of returning US servicemen passed through Switzerland and many Bucherer watches found their way across the Atlantic which inadvertently would raise the profile of the brand in the United States.

Some years later, in 1964, Bucherer had a tremendous PR boost when US President Richard Nixon, on a state visit, paid a visit to the Lucerne shop and left as the owner of a new Bucherer Chronometer!

1967 began with the acquisition of the respected Credo manufacture of chronometer movements and by the following year, Bucherer chronometer watches were leaving the production facility at a rate of 15,000 pieces a year, seconded in volume only to Rolex and Omega!

The 1975 Bucherer Chronometer

When the quartz wave crashed over the Swiss mechanical watch industry at the end of the sixties and through the seventies, Bucherer were in a strong position, having joined forces with ten other watchmaking companies as the Centre for Electronic Watchmaking way back in 1962, to develop the famed Beta-21 quartz movement, which would end up powering the watches of no less than 15 different manufacturers!

Bucherer quartz with Beta-21 movement

Armed with the Beta-21, Bucherer continued to produce stylish watches, without losing ground to their larger competitiors and instead of playing catch-up, the marque enjoyed strong growth in this period. Crucially, Bucherer had also continued to produce high quality mechanical watches throughout the era of quartz dominance when other manufactures, large and small, who had turned their backs on the new, cheap upstart quartz watch, suddenly found themselves completely out of touch with the groundswell of demand and embroiled in a battle for survival – in which many would fall from their pedestals and crumble.

The company moved into its’ third generation of family involvement in 1976 with the announcement that Jörg Bucherer would assume the running of the business, which over the following years would evolve into the Bucherer Group. Today he remains the owner.

As the 1990s saw a gradual swing back to the mechanical wristwatch by the growing numbers of enthusiasts, who were prepared to invest in a watch for more than their ability to tell the time, once again Bucherer quickly stepped up to the mark with innovative creations which included multiple complications such as the Archimedes Perpetual Calendar, which uniquely featured the ability to set each function through the single crown.

Bucherer Archimedes Perpetual Calendar

Under the direction of Jörg Bucherer the family marque saw in the new century with a significant company rebrand. For the first time in eighty years, the name of the founder, Carl F Bucherer, would adorn the watches as the company moved into the new millennium.

The rebranding was much more than an exercise in change for changes sake. Carl F Bucherer as a brand was to place an emphasis on the technical innovation and watchmaking ability of the company as a manufacture, the status afforded to those companies who designed and built complicated movements from scratch.

New models were presented at the major watch fairs, such as BaselWorld, to glowing reviews, and little wonder either. The watches produced by the Carl F Bucherer manufacture are distinctive, attractive, functional, complicated and as individual as any watches ever made by the family company.

The Carl F Bucherer Patravi T-Graph

A Carl F Bucherer wristwatch says so much more about its owner than just being a symbol of success or wealth sometimes associated with other larger brands. Owning one of these watches displays personality traits which could be found in the man himself, for he too was not one to follow the herds, his vision not simply to produce and sell. As a true philanthropist who saw the value in giving, he also gave his customers something above the ordinary, something special which also gives back to its’ owner the comforting sense of wearing a watch which combines technical excellence with classic design.

It’s been quite a remarkable journey for a family company, but clearly Carl Friedrich and Luise Bucherer, were remarkable people who were ably represented by their own kin through successive generations.

If you’re not overly familiar with Carl F Bucherer, you really should be finding out more…..

Popularity: 88% [?]

Corum watch

Few watches create such an impact as those which bear the Corum marque. Classic, subdued and understated styling are terms not to be found anywhere within the Corum rulebook.

Formally established in 1955 in the Swiss watchmaking heartland of La Chaux-de-Fonds following the partnership of Gaston Reis, an independent watchmaker himself since 1924, and his nephew René Bannwart, the new firm soon broke away from the previous non-brand family business and established the name ‘Corum’.

Within one year of the company being founded, the first watches from the new Corum watch company arrived on the market and to considerable acclaim too. The Corum Chargé D’Affaires which first announced the arrival of this new company in 1956 was also a revealing insight to the thinking behind the Corum brand. The new model which bore the now-synonymous Key logo, featured a mechanical movement with alarm function in a classy stainless steel case, and was complimented by a 100-piece limited edition with automatic movement.

From the earliest days of the Corum brand, it was evident that instead of opting for the ‘safe’ direction of conventional design, which many watch houses preferred, Corum were daring to be different, and it was this difference which made their watches stand out from their contemporaries of the time.

Following on from the well-received Chargé d’Affaires, Corum embarked on producing a succession of distinctive and eyecatching wristwatches for the lady as well as the gentleman. These would include in 1958 the ladies Chinese Hat with its’ dial surrounded by a broad gold ’brim’, then the Golden Tube ladies watch which was based around the solid gold tube-like case and featured a slim baguette movement. Reputedly it was the Golden Tube which first opened doors for Corum as a watchmaker of quite some influence. International orders began to fill up the pages of the Corum order books.

1960 saw the first incarnation of the Corum Admiral’s Cup watch, a square Carrée-cased piece with faceted caseback whose name derived not from any connection with the great yacht race but rather from the fact that the watch could boast water resistance – which was not easily achieved in a square watch case at the time and so was in fact a bit of a feat!

Being square, the original Corum Admiral’s Cup Carrée bears no resemblance of the revisited Admirals Cup watch which would in time come to symbolize the popular face of Corum watches as well as the marques’ new commercial link to the yacht race. Although all this would come quite some time into the future for the Corum watch company back then in the early ‘60s.

Four years later in 1964 saw the unveiling of what would become another Corum icon – this time the ‘Double Eagle’ $20 Gold Coin watch. Presented as an heirloom timepiece and accompanied by an advertising strapline which suggested that your great-great grandson would be eternally grateful when he took possession of the Coin watch, the watch was an interpretation of an older idea which had a coin as a face for pocket watches with a closing case front. Except, in true Corum fashion, this was presented as a wristwatch. A clever piece of machining had the gold $20 coin split in two and a slim hand-wound mechanical movement sandwiched between the halves, with the ‘face’ protected by a sapphire mineral crystal. Again, Corum notched up another hit when the watch was sold out before even making it as far as The Basel Fair showcase in 1965!

By now, Corum was an established manufacturer of fine watches, albeit with a distinct leftfield curve. Although totally practical, their watches also possessed a quirkiness which you either ‘got’ or you didn’t. But for those who did get it, the marque continued to raise eyebrows with models such as the oversized square Buckingham gents watch, as well as the Romulus which features the roman numerals engraved into the bezel – allegedly because as the first public unveiling approached, the watch was still unfinished, and the only way to beat the deadline was to take a risk and opt to engrave the numerals. Another one of Corum’s “Four Pillars”, the Romulus still holds its’ place among todays’ Corum portfolio!

The hippy-chic 1970s were seemingly made for the daring watch brand, and Corum did not let down their growing number of clients. Can you imagine a watch with a peacock feather for a dial? Corum went one step further than imagining – in 1970 they produced the Feathered Friend, complete with a choice of bird feather dials! There followed The Ingot (in a scaled down but otherwise perfect gold ingot – obviously!), the Rolls Royce, complete with miniaturised Rolls Royce grille and many other more obscure, sometimes outrageous and elaborate one-offs.

However, as the heady ‘70s ended and the more focussed and business-like 1980s came in, Corum, in some respects, ran out of inventive steam, and although they could still devise unthinkable (to others) methods of watch design, the creative output dwindled somewhat.

The ‘80s did see the unveiling of two important models however. The Corum Golden Bridge, which featured a distinctive baguette movement, and the Corum Admiral’s Cup.

Both new models would in time become cornerstones of Corum’s “Four Pillars”. The new Admiral’s Cup was now redesigned and reconceptualised in that it now came in a rounded 12-sided case, the numerals replaced with their equivalent in nautical pennants. The astonishing Admiral’s Cup Marrées (Tides) which featured Corums first in-house Caliber CO 277 movement offered the wearer information such as high and low tides, current strengths and lunar cycle! Combined with a commercial partnership and a participating role in the great ocean yacht race, the Corum Admirals Cup still holds an important place in the Corum portfolio through to this day.

The Corum Admirals Cup has seen many revisions and updates since its’ inception in 1982, but the signature features of the 12-sided case and the nautical pennants have remained intact and look like being in place for many more incarnations to come.

And so the new Millenium neared and, with its’ passing also came about change at Corum. In January of the year 2000, the company announced to the watch world that it was under new ownership.

Enter Mr Severin Wunderman, a watch industry entrepreneur who had worked his way up in the field of marketing since the 1960s in the US, where upon identifying and seizing a true opportunity after a chance conversation with Aldo Gucci, owner of the luxury goods brand which bore his name, Wunderman went on to oversee the manufacture and international marketing of Gucci watches from his own production facility, Severin Montres which he sold at the end of the ‘90s.

Immediately the Wunderman influence became evident, as did the perfect symbiosis between the man and the brand, for in 2000, the year of his arrival, Corum unveiled the iconic Corum Bubble with its ‘submarine hatch’ domed crystal. This was a watch as worthy of the Corum name as any of the marques’ previous models. Oversized, overstated, fun and funky – even outrageous, the Bubble went on to symbolise what the brand was about. It also had the effect of raising the profile of the Corum name and introducing it to a new, young and consumables-hungry client base.

The Corum Bubble also perpetuated itself by appearing as a limited edition each year of its production in a variety of guises which featured a roulette table, poker hand, bats, the Baron Samedi, skull and cross-bones and the dive-bomber editions. These were not watches for the shy and retiring type, but then, Corum never made watches for the shy and retiring!

Sadly the dynamic whirlwind that was Severin Wunderman would not get to see out his first decade as owner of this eccentric yet ‘in-touch’ watch maker, although having survived an incredible life, including lung cancer in the ‘90s, it is the good fortune of the watch world that he made it as far as he did. Passing away aged just 69 years in June 2008, he left behind a legacy which will endure for some time to come.

Well before his passing, Severin had introduced his son, Michael Wunderman and his own longtime friend Antonio Calce into pivotal roles within the hierarchael structure, and under their direction the Corum brand was able to carry the momentum built up over the previous decade. Today the Corum range still steers well clear of convention. The range is based around Corum’s “Four Pillars”, the name given to the marques principal models: the Artisan models with handpainted dials evoking the classics, the Romulus, the Golden Bridge and of course the Corum Admirals Cup.

Current variations include the Golden Tourbillon Panoramique – with a completely transparent sapphire tourbillon movement! Also worthy of a mention, the most recent Ti-Bridge watch which features Corum’s own remarkable Caliber CO 007 in-house 4mm wide baguette movement. These, along with many other twists on watch design, sit alongside Corum classics such as the Double Eagle Gold Coin.

Some folk never took to Corum, never quite ‘got it’, but it might be that those folk didn’t actually realise what they were looking at. Certainly it can be argued by the horologists association at the gentlemens club that Corum was as happy to use a quartz movement as a mechanical movement as a means to an end, that it made watches from which some recoiled in horror at first sight, but surely if that was the effect, then that was the intention?

More please, Corum!

As a sad footnote in the Corum history, it was announced on January 13th 2010 that co-founder René Bannwart had passed away in the company of his close family.

Popularity: 39% [?]

Chronoswiss

Everyone has their favourites, and at The Watch Press, Chronoswiss are one of our own favourite watchmakers.

Unlike many of the ‘Old Masters’ which rightly constitute the majority of today’s most illustrious watchmakers and manufactures, the Chronoswiss history does not go back a hundred years or more. In fact, Chronoswiss are only this year, 2009, celebrating the occasion of their first quarter-century of producing their distinctive timepieces.

The company’s beginnings actually go back a little further to 1981, when its’ charismatic founder Gerd-Rüdiger Lang, having been immersed in the watch industry in many guises since the early 1960s, established his own workshop in Munich where he principally concentrated on various concepts based around the chronograph movement.

Chronoswiss founder; Gerd-Rüdiger Lang

Having spent his formative years at the watchmakers bench as an apprentice, Gerd-R Lang worked his way across the industry. On serving his apprenticeship, he found employment with the Heuer watch company where he served from 1964 working on the famous Heuer sports chronographs and stopwatches. This position had a few perks too, as in 1970 he found himself involved on behalf of Heuer with Steve McQueen in the classic ‘Le Mans’ movie – the iconic actor having a long-standing affair with the company’s Monaco chronograph watch, Gerd also shared McQueen’s passion for motor racing (and to this day competes himself in prestigious classic car events in his beloved Jaguar XK120) – indeed his passion for things mechanical would, in time, become his company slogan: “Faszination der Mechanik”.

Following the death of its’ Patron, the Heuer brand had struggled for some years, and it was this period of instability (ultimately culminating in the takeover by Technologies d’Avant-Garde later in 1984) which triggered G-R Langs’ departure, taking with him in lieu of severance a stock of Heuer chronograph movements.

In 1980, having returned to further study his profession in Würzburg, Gerd-R Lang emerged with his new title of ‘Master Watchmaker’ and immediately commenced setting in place the corner stones for what would, in a few short years, become Chronoswiss.

In the same year, 1980, he would also enjoy the distinction of being Official Timekeeper for Swiss Timekeeping at the Moscow Olympic Games. Quite a coup for a German watchmaker!

The first indicator of what was to come was also a world’s first from the Lang werk in Munich.

In 1982, a new mechanical chronograph with moonphase which featured a sapphire crystal exhibition caseback was unveiled bearing for the first time the name Chronoswiss. At a time when most pundits were eschewing the mechanical watch as old hat compared to the new high-tech quartz watches, in the same manner they would later discard their vinyl for the CD, here almost unbelievably, was this eccentric whose passion and belief in his beloved profession had driven him to show that the modern world was missing the whole point of the mechanical watch. And how better to demonstrate his views than with this conceptually advanced debut.

The next year, 1983, saw Chronoswiss move into its’ new facility in Munich. The company name was to symbolise the utilisation of the Swiss watchmaking ethic and the components which were exclusively sourced for the watches. The company was then officially registered in 1984 by its’ founder.

When Chronoswiss unveiled the Régulateur in 1987, it simultaneously showcased the design direction which would become the company signature. Here for the first time was the milled bezel, the oversize ‘onion’ crown, the exhibition caseback and soldered lugs which would become synonymous with the brand.

The Régulateur had the distinction of being another ‘world’s first’ in that it was the first presentation of such a timepiece, with hours and minutes displayed separately, in wristwatch form.

The Chronoswiss Régulateur

World’s firsts were to become something of a trademark which would be associated with Gerd R Lang’s brand, as many of the models which would come to make up the Chronoswiss portfolio were inventive interpretations of the wristwatch which pushed the boundaries of design, layout and functionality.

The distinctive design and function of Chronoswiss watches as well as Lang’s philosophical approach to showcasing and marketing his passion served to catapult the new watch brand into a respect among watch enthusiasts reserved normally for much older and illustrious manufactures.

A succession of new models would follow, each one in its’ own way a breakaway from the traditional, while at the same time still honouring the skills of the early master watchmakers in their functionality and complication.

The Chronoswiss Chronoscope

A browse across the Chronoswiss collection reveals a distinctive and comprehensive interpretation of complications, encompassing virtually all of the recognised watchmaking ‘masterpieces’.

As Chronoswiss matured, its’ following grew beyond the small number of enthusiasts who were interested in a quirky and headstrong German watchmaker.

Although not a ‘manufacture’ (the status afforded only to watchmakers where the entire design and construction of complication movements occurs in-house), here were hand assembled watches, with specialist skills such as the ‘skeletonisation’ of base movements outsourced to the very best craftsmen in their fields.

Due to this network of highly specialist watchmakers and decorators built up by G-R Lang in his years in the industry, the Chronoswiss catalogue could boast an impressive range of hand-assembled watches which offered a diverse array of functionality.

The Chronoswiss Digiteur

The Chronoswiss portfolio accommodates a broad selection of styles and functions ranging from Chronographs and Rattrapante, the Chronoscope, the Delphis (featuring retrograde minutes and digital hour display), through remarkable pieces like the Digiteur (above), which combines the analogue movement with a non-analogue display, its’ complete and perpetual calendars and moonphase watches on to the stunning Régulateur Tourbillon and Répétition á quarts timepieces.

In recent times, an important new addition to the portfolio has arrived and this piece, the fabulous Chronoswiss Sauterelle (Grasshopper!) models, complete with that famous quartz movement signature – jumping seconds – even though the movement is wholly mechanical!

The Chronoswiss Sauterelle 71

The new Sauterelle is noteworthy in that for the very first time, Chronoswiss have created this ground-breaking mechanical movement, from scratch, in-house, thereby becoming Chronoswiss’ first creation as a ‘manufacture’.

As well as paying tribute to the technical genius of his predecessors, G-R Langs’ Chronoswiss also worked with materials such as enamel – as seen on the beautiful Orea Handaufzug (or manual-wound) watch.

Ensuring continuity in the same mould as himself, Gerd-Rüdiger Lang proudly announced in 2003 the appointment as Junior President in the person of Natalie Lang, his own daughter, also a time-served and qualified watchmaker with business management skills.

Chronoswiss saw out 2006 with a December move into its’ brand new purpose-built manufacturing facility in Karlsfeld, a town in the suburbs of the Bavarian capitol, Munich.

A comparative newcomer then by industry standards, but a watchmaker whose naked passion for his craft, with a fine eye for distinctive design and layout combined with the essence of tradition has nonetheless elevated the Chronoswiss name to a level of respect across the industry and with aficionados enjoyed only by the highest echelons of the watchmaking world.

Gerd-Rüdiger Langs’ history may not reach back a hundred years or more, but those whose works so influenced him most certainly do!

We say “Thank heaven for people like Gerd-R!” and strongly recommend time spent delving deeper into his wonderful Chronoswiss brand and its’ philosophy.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Chopard

When, in 1860, the young Louis-Ulysse Chopard first established his watchmaking business in the small Swiss town of Sonvilier, it was always going to be different to the many similar-sized watchmakers then active in the Jura region. For Chopard had his eyes quite firmly fixed on a sector which could be permeated only with a combined focus on the quality of the finished product, and accessing the desired marketplace.

Chopard was able to raise his brand to a level above many of his current contemporaries by creating his own exclusive high-precision movements, many of which were manufactured to the demanding Chronometre standard, a rarified sector indeed. Encased in finely-finished pocketwatches, the Chopard manufacture was building its reputation based on innovation and quality.

Once the quality of the product had been established, Chopards’ next coup de grace was to venture further outside the normal catchment area of his time, and by doing so was able to break into the lucrative and enthusiastic new markets which largely consisted of the noble classes in Russia and the Scandinavian countries. By the turn of the century, the Chopard name was familiar to the society circles across wider Europe.

The dark years of war had their inevitable effect on non-essential industry and largely watchmaking naturally fell into irrelevance to the greater population. By the time peace would return to central Europe, the Chopard company would have a new figurehead in the person of Paul-André Chopard, grandson of the founder and who importantly shared his grandfathers vision for the business as well as the energy of youth.

As the Chopard name had by now become recognised as one of the more exclusive Swiss watchmakers, the new Patron made the decision at the end of the hostilities of the Great War to relocate the manufacture and comptoir de vente to Geneve, and in 1920 the new facility opened for business.

Under the banner “Agence de la Fabrique de Montres L.U.C” the Chopard name was one which the well-heeled loved to show off. As the manufacture moved with the times and continued to produce fine wrist and pocketwatches it had become a darling of the fashionista set.

The continuity of the Chopard family involvement however came to an end in 1963 when Paul-André, having been at the helm for over forty years, found that his natural successors – his sons – did not have the dedication nor the desire required to navigate the brand into a new generational era.

Discretely Chopard sought a suitable successor and was delighted to find interest from a kindred spirit who had similarly been immersed in the watchmaking tradition since his early days. Karl Scheufele, a third generation watchmaker and jeweller from the German town of Pforzheim. It is recorded that following a brief meeting, the two men agreed the terms which would quickly see the famous manufacture under new ownership.

Aware of the heritage associated with the name he had acquired, Scheufele was to have a profound impact on Chopard. He saw the potential to incorporate the fine jewellery with which he had a vast experience into the Chopard portfolio, a concept which would work in two ways. Now as well as the manufacture of prestigious timepieces, Chopard began producing a range of distinctive and high quality jewellery which was almost instantly popular with the existing Chopard clientele as well as reaching out to a new market.

Karl Scheufele had successfully raised the profile of the Chopard brand and simultaneously added a lucrative new product line to the business.

Following the successful restructuring of the brand, Scheufele and his family steered Chopard through new territory. Recognising and capitalizing on its’ prominence, new Chopard boutiques were opened in Europe and the Far East, underlining the fact that it had moved on from being a respected but low-profile manufacturer of fine watches and jewellery to becoming, by the late 1980s, an internationally recognised luxury brand too.

A significant ‘miglio-stone’ in 1988 too, when Chopard became a title sponsor to the rebirth of the Mille Miglia, the legendary ‘1000-mile’ open road Italian motor race. A succession of highly popular Mille Miglia motorsport-themed watches have been produced on a yearly basis since this affiliation began which have become one of the cornerstones of Chopards’ watch business.

The Scheufele family continued to consolidate the position of the Chopard brand by returning to the original values of the founder. In 1996 a brand new in-house movement (the first such in many years) was unveiled following three years development in the brand new Fleurier manufacture, back in the Swiss watchmaking heartland of the Val de Travers.

Named in honour of the founder, these new L.U.C movements would go on to win multiple prestigious industry awards, as well as once again bringing the Chopard name back into the exclusive ‘manufacture de haute horologie’ elite.

The Chopard brand now boasts more than 100 boutiques worldwide. Still very much a family business, with Karl Scheufele and his wife Karin having ushered in the second generation of the family to oversee the multinational operations of this prestigious manufacture.

Had he been around, Louis-Ulysse Chopard may have been saddened by the ending of the family involvement in 1964, but he would most likely be proud that, some 150 years after he first created his first works, the family name was in safe hands and still adorned watches of the highest quality and innovation, and were renowned the world over.

That seems to be what he had set out to achieve….

Popularity: 6% [?]

Luxury Watch makers Bell & Ross:

Since the true renaissance of the mechanical watch in the 1990s, there have been many rebirths of old, long-forgotten watch brands as well as a myriad of new arrivals to the scene. Of the latter, one of the most impressive brands in terms of design, function and, perhaps most importantly, marketing is the Bell & Ross name.

At a time when the favoured design direction chosen by many of the traditional manufacturers in the Swiss watch industry leaned towards the classic styles, some with elaborate complication movements, the founders of Bell & Ross noticed a potential gap in the market for what would become the ‘instrument’ timepiece.

The Bell & Ross history is more like a ‘story so far’ read. No humble beginnings two centuries ago in candle-lit woodframe workshops nestled away in the remote Swiss valleys and villages.

No. The Bell & Ross company first saw light in 1992 as a result of the commercial union between French designers Bruno Belamich and Carlos Rosillo, when they gambled on the potential demand for their well designed timing utensil which would be constructed to fulfil the demands of professionals who operated in extreme environments. The new ‘Bell & Ross’ watches would combine three simple but essential values: top-class workmanship, faultless precision and uncompromising reliability.

To create such a timepiece, the two men realised without hesitation that they would require the services of a proven and respected watchmaker to compliment their own design concepts and bring them from the drawing board to the marketplace. And so, the first watches to bear the Bell & Ross name had movements supplied by the Sinn manufacture, who had a strong reputation for producing robust military watches.

Among the earliest models unveiled in 1993 were the Hydro and the Space One – a re-issue of the Sinn 142 which itself had achieved greatness by being the first automatic chronometer worn in space back in 1984 by the German astronaut Reinhard Furrer while on the SpaceLab mission.

Now that Bell & Ross had product to showcase and sell, the company then sought their route to market, which for them was the less-obvious and much less glamorous military and extreme professional operative niche.

This astute marketing concept paid dividends when Bell & Ross secured lucrative commissions from several NATO Airforces and ground forces, diving professionals and even bespoke pieces for use in the challenging work of the bomb disposal expert. All trades which required a no-compromise approach to construction, function, legibility and reliability of their instruments.

The quite rapid success enjoyed by the brand, as well as the enormous potential within their niche markets, allowed for the funding of further development and innovation, ultimately grabbing the headlines in 1997 when the Bell & Ross name broke into the Guinness Book of Records when its’ Hydro Challenger watch raised the bar (or plunged the depths – sorry!) for water resistance by remaining reliable under the incredible pressures experienced at 11,000m depth.

By the end of the 1990s, the still young Bell & Ross company had begun to attract a cult following among the growing number of watch collectors around the world, many of whom wanted a piece of this new classic, not least the luxury brand Chanel Horologie who became stakeholders in 1998.

Only ten years after their founding, Bell & Ross were manufacturing and assembling their watches in their own brand new state-of-the-art facility in La Chaux des Fonds. This milestone also brought to an end the Sinn/Bell & Ross collaboration, which had achieved so much and had strengthened both companies during their time together.

The creative juices flowed from within their new surroundings, and innovation continued with new models arriving, including the analog/digital display of the Function, the Heure Sautante – a complication jump-hour with réserve de marche which was a collaboration with the renowned master watchmaker Vincent Calabrese, as well as updates on the record-breaking Hydromax and Space models.

With many of the new models clearly demonstrating a move in a different direction, Bell & Ross were now adding the contemporary watch buyer to their catchment, while still focussing on the professional who had been so good for them.

Which brings us to 2005 when Bell & Ross would take the covers of their new ‘Instrument BR-01’ series. After years of design and development on this watch, the company were about to achieve a new feat.

Only a very few watches are recognisable at a glance, even fewer from a distance, but the unmistakable flat, square case which housed a large cockpit instrument-inspired dial, complete with highly-legible hands and markers, meant that the Instrument BR-01 series was immediately a design classic. Here was a defining watch which effortlessly transcended the professional and cool style genres.

Bell & Ross Instrument BR01

Available in outsized 46mm (or the more modest 42mm) and in a range of materials, although by far the most popular being the black pvd, the Instrument BR-01 successfully combined the staples of the Bell & Ross philosophy: top-class workmanship, faultless precision and uncompromising reliability, with style and desirability. And the results are visible – the watch is everywhere!

Continuous development, small-number limited editions and of course the relentless marketing of the brand means that the Bell & Ross Instrument BR-01 has become one of the modern cult watches, it appears as website timers, screensavers and even now as an ‘app’ on the new Apple iPhone!

So as a rare exception to the unwritten rule that to be recognised as a brand of high repute among those most demanding of excellence – the watch collector – the watchmaker must have a history going back hundreds of years, Bell & Ross have achieved a status belied by their relatively few years.

Popularity: 19% [?]

In East Germany, and only a matter of kilometers from both the Czech and Polish frontiers, there is a small city near Dresden in the Saxony region, called Glashütte. Something special makes this town, with a population of under 5000, stand out from the hundreds of other industrial towns in the region. You could almost say it has a beating heart, and you wouldn’t be too far from the actual truth! For it is here in Glashütte which is home to a small localized industry whose product is revered by connoisseurs and experts worldwide. Glashütte is seat of the German watchmaking industry.

There are a number of prestigious manufactures in Glashütte. One such manufacture, and indeed the most coveted of all, is the world-renowned A. Lange & Söhne.

Established in 1868 by Richard Lange, son of Ferdinand Adolph Lange who had originally founded A. Lange & Cie (est 1845), this small manufacture began to gain recognition as a watchmaker at least on a par with its’ more illustrious Swiss contemporaries. The meticulous attention to detail beggared belief. Every aspect of these horologic masterpieces was crafted and lavishly decorated by the steady hands of the Lange technicians.

Over the following decades, the quality of the design and build associated with the A. Lange & Söhne name earned a reputation which found it much sought after and cherished by the wealthy industrialists, the noble and indeed monarchs of the time.

An order from Kaiser William ll in 1898 for a magnificent jeweled pocketwatch as a gift to the Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire for a state visit by the German Kaiser was evidence of the esteem in which the Lange timepiece was now held.

Fate would later decree that the fortunes of the A. Lange & Söhne manufacture would not follow those of their Swiss counterparts. Firstly, the coming of war in 1939 and the eventual destruction of their manufacture in the very last day of war would bring an end to production for the A. Lange & Söhne brand for some time.

As the rest of Europe began to struggle to their feet and shake off the dust following the thorough decimation left behind after years of war, further insurmountable difficulties lay in store for the manufacture. For the region was no longer free to recover from the horrors and attempt to tentatively begin to manufacture and commence trading with the rebuilding world as much of the rest of Germany could do. Instead the town of Glashütte was now deep inside Soviet-controlled East Germany, and the manufactory of A. Lange & Söhne became appropriated by the new regime to become a communist collective for the people, seemingly extinguishing forevermore the lifeblood of this creator of masterpieces…

….until the monumental events of late 1989 and 1990, when the iron grip of the party on its subjects began to dissolve, and from the first holes appearing in the wall though to the complete reunification of Germany a year later, made official on October 3 1990, now heralded the opening of an incredible new chapter in the lives of millions of citizens of the now former German Democratic Republic.

A mere six weeks later, on December 7, the sixty-six year-old Walter Lange was registering the revered A. Lange & Söhne brandname, and re-establishing the tooling and properties belonging to the long-defunct production workshops of the great watchmaker began.

And so the A. Lange & Söhne brand was able to commence making up on the fifty years of lost ground (literally and commercially!) to the undisputed and recognized masters of watchmaking – the Swiss.

In 1994, the first creations of the new era A. Lange & Söhne were presented to an expectant watch community, and to the great relief of the informed collectors and of course the manufacture, the new models, the Lange 1, the Saxony, the Arkade and the Tourbillon were received with a wave of enthusiasm. The A. Lange & Söhne name was back!

Since 1994, the brand has enjoyed its re-acceptance into the hierarchy of the watchmaking world, an impressive rate of growth and has passed through a number of milestones. Most notable among these was the acquisition of the brand in 2000 by the luxury Richemont Group.

Remaining true to the Lange tradition, the watches produced are all handcrafted, always in exotic metals such as gold and platinum. Their status as a ‘manufacture’ assures that the movements are entirely created in-house, and even a glance at one of these works of art would catch the breath of even the most cynical eye. Hand-engraved decoration on many of the visible components, the use of precious metals and jewels where others use steel and industrial rubies are a telling indicator of the passion of the watchmakers at A. Lange & Söhne.

On the wrist too, the watches are quite unmistakable. Unique, at least to the Glashutte tradition, in their layout, (the other fabled manufacture Glashütte Original employing a similar concept of face design) featuring individualized function displays, with hours and minutes, the seconds, the date and the gangreserve all enjoying their own island-like display on the dial.

As a manufacture, A. Lange & Söhne, in typical Teutonic ethos, create mythical, mystical, heirloom timepieces. As a brand, they have successfully put behind them decades of enforced exile from the fine watch industry, and to the watch enthusiast a veritable well of craftsmanship, innovation, precision, design and individual singularity.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Certainly one of forerunners in the world of horology, the Blancpain manufacture has its’ beginnings some three centuries ago when in 1735 Jehan-Jacques Blancpain began to produce pocketwatches for the gentry from his workbench in his own house in Villeret, a small town located in the Jura valley in Switzerland.

A pioneer then, whose devotion to perfection led him to establish one of the corner stones upon which the brand (which would carry his name hundreds of years after his time had passed) would become synonymous with – the continuous refinement of the complication movement.

The passing of years and the expanding demand for these magnificent new timepieces had the Patrons’ thoughts turning to the matter of succession. The obvious choice, his son Isaac, although qualified in the craft, was more keen to pursue his teaching career and it fell in turn to his son, David-Louis to pick up the mantle and bring the family business forward to the next generation. With his experience gained while selling his grandfathers’ wares in the larger market towns in neighbouring France and Germany, David-Louis became the first in what would become a long line of successors in the Blancpain family dynasty.

Each generation brought about new vision for the now respected Blancpain manufacture, with emphasis placed on the betterment of the manufacturing process and the refinement of machining and plant. Blancpain was no longer a craft watchmaker, like so many of its’ contemporaries, it was now reaching out in terms of productivity, distribution and ambition.

The completion of a new production facility in the last years of the 1890s, built by the banks of the river Suze, and drawing its’ electric power from the flowing waters, saw Blancpain the manufacture ready to meet the growing demand of the new century, and develop new innovations.

At the helm for this new era was Frédéric-Emile Blancpain, the seventh generation of the Blancpain family manufacture. It was under his direction that the manufacture for the first time produced an automatic wristwatch – the Léon Hatot ‘Rolls’, so named after the revolutionary rolling movement whose mobility within the case provided the winding.

As a family company however, this would be one of the last landmarks overseen by a member of the famous Blancpain name, as Frédéric-Emile met an untimely demise in 1932, and without an heir to assume responsibilities, the continuity of the Blancpain brand was taken over by Betty Fiechter and André Léal, who had been close to the late Frédéric-Emile and following his death had acquired the company assets from his only daughter, Berthe-Nellie. In deference to the great name, the pair picked up production under the new “Rayville Ltd. Successors to Blancpain”.

It was under the Rayville – Blancpain banner that the manufacture moved towards the company we recognise now, with signature pieces such as the Fifty-Fathoms automatic divers watch making their debuts. Indeed the Fifty Fathoms popularity as a military timepiece and the endorsement of legendary underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau in the Palme d’Or-winning ‘World of Silence’ propelled the manufacture through the 1950s and 1960s, although it must be said that sales were quite restricted as production rarely exceeded a few thousand pieces each year.

As the 1960s drew to an end, Rayville – Blancpain sought the added marketing punch which the industry holding company SSIH appeared to be able to provide, and so an alliance with the large organisation was formed.

A further milestone was passed when in 1969 the Blancpain brand was acquired by the Omega watch company.

However, soon after this, in 1971, a silent revolution was starting its inexorable growth, and it was this, the advent of the quartz movement and the space-age digital displays, which would render the traditional craft and image of the mechanical watch as seemingly out of touch, antiquated and mostly ‘uncool’. In these buzzing times of endless technological breakthrough, the products of the old world were quickly passed over in favour of those of the new world.

Within a couple of years, the Rayville – Blancpain manufacture was dormant, unable to devise a marketing counter to the quartz invasion and unwilling to conform by joining the revolution, to this day reiterating the adage that “Blancpain has never created a quartz movement, and never will”. For the next decade, this prestigious name, along with many like it, disappeared from the thoughts and minds of most….

……but not all. Thankfully there were still a small number of devotees who, in reaction to the direction this once-proud, centuries old tradition of watchmaking was going, stepped in to halt the spiralling demise of the great names of Blancpain and others.

Step forward Jean-Claude Biver and Jacques Piguet. Two men with a vast combined experience encapsulating all areas of the industry from manufacture (Piguet) to high-profile marketing and international distribution (Biver). Convinced that unless the rot was stopped, then the skills of the traditional watchmaker would soon disappear, and with their numbers now dwindling by the year, the two men took possession of the Blancpain brand from Omega, where Bivet had risen to vice president before departing to breathe life back into the memory of Blancpain.

The first Blancpain timepiece in a generation – featuring day, date, month and moonphase – was released in 1983 from the new (to Blancpain) facility in the village of Le Brassus, and a slow but focussed path back to prominence had begun.

Under the new patronage and true to the founders’ own ethos, Blancpain were never to be distracted by following the fickle trends of fashion, and manufacture was concentrated purely on classic complex complication timepieces. Jean-Claude Biver and Jacques Piguets’ shared vision was to produce pieces whose value would primarily be recognised by the connoisseur, who would appreciate the level of technical accomplishment and artistry of the finish of the mechnical movement within.

One challenge for the new Blancpain was to manufacture a series of movements reflecting each of the highest levels required of the Master Watchmaker. Known as ‘The Six Masterpieces’, these were;

1. The Ultra-Slim movement
2. The Perpetual Calendar movement
3. The Full Calendar with Moon Phase movement
4. The Rattrapante (Split seconds) Chronograph movement
5. The Tourbillon movement
6. The Minute Repeater movement

At a time when most would have found it hard to justify the expenditure required to create such elaborate Masterpiece movements, Blancpain unveiled the six pieces in identical round cases in 1990, underlining the policy of focusing on the watchmakers skills and ability, rather than embellishing an inexpensive outsourced movement with a lavishly bejewelled watchcase.

To cap these achievements Blancpain then presented the most complex complication ever seen. The ‘1735’ (in homage to the year Blancpain himself had begun manufacturing movement components) contained no less a feat than incorporating all six of the Masterpiece complications in one watch! To add to the mystique of this Grande Complication only thirty pieces would be made – at a rate of one per year!

In 1992, Blancpain again found itself in new hands. Having been revived by Jean-Claude Biver and Jacques Piguet over the previous ten years, the famous brand was acquired by Nicolas Hayek, owner of the ever-expanding Swatch group, in whose possession it remains, although now under direction of Marc Hayek.

The Blancpain manufacture has constantly continued in its’ pursuit of horologic excellence, unveiling new movements on a regular basis, each one refining the art to new and previously unheralded levels. Every year marking another ‘first’ in the world of horology.

The people behind the Blancpain manufacture have worked hard at re-establishing the importance of the mechanical complication as central to the Swiss watchmaking industry, employing the traditional skills of the master watchmaker. Only around ten thousand pieces leave the manufacture each year.

Blancpain has never been one of the mass-volume manufactures, and for a very simple reason: it has never wanted to be. Much better to establish a reputation as an artist than a painter.

Universally acknowledged as one of the true forefathers of the industry, Blancpain are a manufacture for the connoisseur, loved for the technical excellence encased within as much as for the enduring aesthetics as it moves majestically through another century.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Today, when young partners embark on a career path, it is often with a steely determination and targeted aims. Some of these partnerships survive through the early years and grow into successful businesses, but the great majority never get past the first excited flushes of the start-up, and quietly dissolve into obscurity.

The two young men who in 1875 joined in their pact to manufacture pocketwatches, which would combine quality of build and complexity of function, could have had no idea that almost a century and a half after they set out, their family names would be synonymous with luxury far beyond the reach of all but the highest achievers in business, sport, entertainment and industry.

Jules Audemars and Edward Piguet had attended the same school in Le Brassus in the lush Valée de Joux, then had both trained in different disciplines of the watchmakers craft And so when the two young men recognised the potential of the combination of their individual talents, they were setting in place the cornerstone of one of the worlds’ most famous and respected luxury brands.

Aged only 23 (Audemars) and 21 (Piguet) at the time they began collaborating, the two did not find instant success. They were after all, very young men entering a centuries-old, tradition-steeped craft and one must imagine that it was no easy task for them to achieve the recognition which would see their brand finding the approval of their peers. Indeed it wasn’t until 1882 that Audemars, Piguet & Cie as a trademark was registered. Another seven years before officially founding their company as a manufacture.

But perhaps these facts do not tell the whole story – for by then, in 1889, the Company had been attracting influential clients, such as the Imperial Court of Iran, for a number of years and had their own ‘comptoirs de vente’ in Geneva, Paris, London and New York. So, if some corporate milestones were a while in the making, their client base and sales and distribution channels were already the envy of other older manufactures in the district.

What was bringing the clients in and filling up the order book were the innovative features and complications, such as chiming repeaters – including the worlds’ first minute repeater in wristwatch form in 1892.

By now a manufacture of quite some repute, Audemars, Piguet & Cie. were able to build on their successes, extending their production workshops in Le Brassus to accommodate over seventy of the finest and inventive watchmakers available and bring the entire production process in-house, ensuring that ideas, concepts and quality control remained under one roof. Indeed Audemars Piguet watches and movements were deemed to be of such high quality that the luxury goods ‘houses’ such as Cartier, Tiffany and Bulgari had become important customers for ‘unsigned’ pieces which were then resold with the vendors signature inscribed on the cases and dials.

The coming of war saw a depression in the watch industry and before the world had returned to thinking about the finer things such as Swiss watches, both partners had passed away, Audemars in 1918, Piguet the following year.

Unsurprisingly, the next generation of both families had long been immersed in the art of haut horologie and following the war, each of the founders had a son capable of ensuring the continuity and growth of the company, something which still carries over today in that there has always been a family involvement at the highest level of Audemars Piguet.

It was as if the manufacture never missed a beat. With Paul-Louis Audemars and Paul-Edward Piguet now overseeing the design, manufacture, finances and distribution, a new era of Audemars, Piguet & Co. was seen in with new art deco themed designs which the fashionistas of the day lapped the new pieces up with vigour. The ‘grande dame’ steamed proudly through the roaring twenties.

When the tidal wave of recession and depression hits, it sweeps away all in its path as we are now all too aware, and among the first to feel the impact are the manufacturers and vendors of luxury goods.

As the aftershock of the Wall St Crash in 1929 was felt around the world and economy after economy tumbled into recession, the strong flow of orders swiftly dropped to a trickle, and if stories like that which suggests that in 1932 the workshops manufactured only two pieces, holds any historical fact then it is fair to say that Audemars Piguet had arrived in grand style at rock bottom, along with the other great names in Swiss complications manufactures.

Recovery was going to require downscaling and new ideas, and Audemars Piguet looked to establish new markets. By the end of the 1930s, the manufacture was offering a range of more broadly accessible ‘simple’ complications to compliment their more complex offerings, thereby stimulating the income-stream which was critical to the fanning of the embers of previous successes.

The gathering momentum of the recovery shuddered to a halt with the onset of war in Europe. Again the industry fell upon hard times (allowing of course for the manufacturers of military and aviator timepieces) and many bleak years would pass before the thoughts of the public would return to the finer things in life.

1949 and the Basel Fair. For the first time, Audemars Piguet were present at the major European showcase and the seeds of yet another era were sown.

The 1950s and ‘60s saw a welcome return to prosperity for the marque, and innovation in design and complications combined with greater international distribution through their increased network of importers led to the Audemars Piguet brand consolidating its position among the hierarchy of the great Swiss watch houses.

1962 also saw the positioning of Georges Golay as Business Manager, from where he would go on to become the MD and Chief Executive of the Company in 1966, presiding over the affairs of the brand until 1987, the year in which he passed away.

It was during his tenure that Audemars Piguet would introduce the watch which would truly revolutionize the luxury watch market. The thought that a stainless steel sports watch could merit a place in the high-end sector, never mind find a customer base which would be interested in such a lowly creation, was met with a certain degree of sceptisism from the horological establishment. After all, the sector had hitherto been the rarified preserve of exotic metals and increasingly complex complications.

However when the distinctive new Royal Oak model with its octagonal bezel and eight hexagonal screws and designed by a young Gerald Génta, was presented as a stainless steel ‘simple’ high-end watch, it confounded its critics by selling out of its tentative first release of 1000 pieces. It could be said that it also confounded some at Audemars Piguet as well, as such a departure into a select sector was not much more than a gamble, and by no means were sales guaranteed.

Thirty-seven years on at the time of writing, and the Royal Oak is Audemars Piguets’ most familiar piece, although the introduction of the much larger Royal Oak Offshore in 1992 marked a new direction as it was this model which was to become the iconic statement of style so cherished now by the stars of film, sport and music.

The Royal Oak Offshore, with its’ bold design and usage of materials like rubber, titanium and more recently forged carbon also served to set in stone the marques’ association with high-profile sports and their most illustrious performers.

Having been under the directorship of Georges-Henri Meylan since the passing of his predecessor Georges Golay in 1987, the Offshore was Meylans’ first high-profile product – although it must be said that Audemars Piguet were still crafting and continue to craft, very important complications across an impressive and highly regarded range of models. The Royal Oak Offshore basically eclipsed the other models manufactured by the brand and this remains true today. The other side of the coin is that one of its models has had such a long life and continues to represent the brand so ably and publicly with new, limited edition releases often marking the Audemars Piguet brand association with a sports star (Rubens Barrichello, Juan Pablo Montoya,Shaquille O’Neal etc..) or other high-visibility sporting or cinematic events.

Delve a little deeper into Audemars Piguet and you will find exotic model ranges such as the Millenary and two other models named after both Jules Audemars and Edward Piguet which feature astonishing feats of horology with complications such as the Deadbeat Seconds, the Perpetual Calendar, the Equation of Time, Minute Repeater, Tourbillon and the signature Grande Complication.

So they’ve come a long way those two young men. Long after their own time, their legacy employs over eight hundred people in three manufactures in Le Brassus, Le Locle and Meyrin as well as the brand new Manufacture des Forges facility. Holding true to the earliest tradition, the family-owned Audemars Piguet still oversees the entire manufacturing process in-house and still the incredible complications are being lovingly crafted as they always have been – by hand.

Jules Audemars and Edward Piguet obviously knew what they wanted to achieve when they first began their collaboration, but the scale of their achievements and the reverence in which their surnames are held would certainly not even have been imaginable to them. For without doubt Audemars Piguet is today recognised as one of the very most important watchmakers in the history of the entire industry.

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Popularity: 61% [?]