1905 HANS WILSDORF

 

 

1908 GENIUS IN  FIVE LETTERS

 

1910 THE QUEST FOR CHRONOMETRIC PRECISION

Rolex first concentrated on the quality of the movements. The relentless quest for chronometric precision rapidly led to success. In 1910, a Rolex watch was the first wristwatch in the world to receive the Swiss Certificate of Chronometric Precision, granted by the Official Watch Rating Centre in Bienne.

Four years later, in 1914, Kew Observatory in Great Britain awarded a Rolex wristwatch a class “A” precision certificate, a distinction which until that point in time had been reserved exclusively for marine chronometers. From that date forward, the Rolex wristwatch was synonymous with precision.

 

 

 

1919 GENEVA

Rolex moved to Geneva, a city renowned internationally for watchmaking. Montres Rolex S.A. was registered in Geneva in 1920.

 

OMEGA is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and symbolises accomplishment and perfection – qualities that have been inherent in every OMEGA watch since the company’s founding by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, in 1848.

The brand’s reputation for innovation and quality has led to numerous awards over the company’s 150-year history, starting as early as 1900 with the Grand Prix at the Paris World Fair and continuing with the world precision record of 97.8 points at the Kew-Teddington observatory in England in 1936.

OMEGA went on to be official timekeeper at no less than 21 Olympic Games, bringing numerous innovations to Olympic sports over the years, such as the first electronic timekeeping at the Helsinki games in 1952 – the same year in which the company was awarded the Olympic Cross of Merit for its outstanding contribution to sport.

On account of its precision and reliability, OMEGA’s Speedmaster watch was chosen by NASA as its official chronometer in 1965 and 4 years later was the first watch to be worn on the moon, when, on 21 July 1969, Neil Armstrong made his giant leap for mankind.

In more recent years, OMEGA has continued to build on its reputation for precision and innovation, presenting the world’s first self-winding wristwatch with central tourbillon (launched in 1994) and the revolutionary coaxial escapement sur developed in conjunction with renowned English master watchmaker George Daniels first offered in limited series in 1999.

OMEGA owes a large part of its watchmaking excellence to the quality of its movements.  These magnificent watches are highly collectible, and hold a very special place in many collectors showcases.

There seems to be an aura about Omega watches that captivate this collector especially.

 

 

First watch on the moon

Heuer Watch Company was founded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer.  He opened a watchmaking workshop in St-Imier, a village in the Swiss Jura region.  Heuer watches soon became recognized for a high level of accuracy and workmanship.  Perfect for the timing of sporting events Heuer soon found its niche.

TAG Heuer has a long tradition of technological innovation in precision timepieces, including stopwatches and water-resistant watches.  Reflecting this heritage, the TAG Heuer brand has long been closely associated with the world of competitive sports, providing official timing services for the Olympic Games, FIS Ski World Cup, FIA Formula 1 World Championship and other major international sporting events – automobile racing, ski competitions – since the early 1900’s.

In addition, TAG Heuer continues winning an active following among sports enthusiasts around the world. Throughout its history, TAG Heuer has steadily built its reputation understanding design and innovation, as well as, a tradition, establishing itself as a leading producer of prestigious sports watches and chronographs

 

Timeline:

1860 – Edouard Heuer founds a watchmaking company in St-Imier, Switzerland

1882 – Heuer patents his first chronograph.

1887 – Heuer patents an “oscillating pinion” still used by major watchmakers for mechanical chronographs.

1911 – Heuer introduces the first automobile dash-board chronograph.

1916 – Heuer invents a stopwatch that is accurate to within 1/100th of a second called the micrograph.

1920’s – Heuer watches are timekeepers at the Antwerp, Paris and Amsterdam Olympics.

1933 – Heuer launches the “Autavia” the first dashboard stopwatch for race-cars.

1950 – Heuer introduces the “Mareograph – Seafarer” a wristwatch with chronograph functions and tide indicator.  (COOL WATCH!)

1964 – Heuer launches the “Carrera” chronograph.  This watch was named for the 1950’s “Carrera Pan-america Mexico” road-race.

1965 – Heuer patents the MICROTIMER, the first miniature electronic timekeeping device which was accurate to within 1/1000th of a second.

1969 – Heuer introduces the “Chronomatic”, the first automatic chronograch with a microrotor.  They also introduce the widely popular “Monaco” worn by movie-star Steve McQueen.

1971 to 1979 – Heuer is named the official timekeeper for formula one racing.

1975 – Heuer launches the “Chronosplit”, the worlds first quartz wrist chronograph.

1985 – Heuer joins “TAG” group and the famous watch name and logo are changed from HEUER to TAG-HEUER.  Since then the company has craftily built one of the most recognized watch names in the world.  Tag-Heuer becomes a very popular and fashionable status symbol.

 

 

 

Prestigious Swiss watchmaker Ebel is a brand long associated with elegance, luxury and design for more than a century. Ebel was founded in 1911 by husband and wife team, Eugene Blum and Alice Levy in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.

The brand’s name in fact comes from joining the initials of its founders: Eugene Blum et (and) Levy. The two pioneered many milestones in horological history, including their ladies’ strap wrist watch in 1912 and their diamond jewelry watch ring in 1914.

During World War II from 1939 to 1945, Ebel supplied watches to the British Royal Air Force to aid pilots in their air missions throughout Europe. In 1964, Ebel was awarded the Swiss Premier Prix award for their Luna Etoille jewelry watch featuring a sparking diamond and blue sapphire bezel.

 

 

 

The founder’s grandson Pierre Alain Blum took over at the helm of the company in 1970, leading to its status as the world-class watch leader it is today. Ebel introduced the Sport Classic Collection for men and women featuring a rounded, hexagonal shaped case and distinctive wave designed bracelet under Blum’s direction in 1977.

The Sport Classic was an instant global success and remains one of the most popular luxury watches for men and women today. In 1985, Ebel followed the Sport Classic with the Beluga collection, a lustrous and graceful collection of timepieces created expressly for women. With fluid, flowing contours and highly polished lines the Beluga was another international success.

Both the Sport Classic and Beluga collections remain popular today along with more recent introductions from Ebel, including the 1911, Wave and Brasilia series.

 

Vacheron Constantin is one of the oldest continuously operating watch manufacturers in the world. Founded in 1755 by Jean-Marc Vacheron, who was both a talented young watchmaker and a good businessman (an unusual combination), Vacheron quickly established a reputation for producing finely crafted watches, including some of the first “complications” and the first engine-turned dials.

Abraham Vacheron, Jean-Marc’s son, assumed control of the family business in 1785. Abraham guided the company through the difficult years of the French Revolution, and was succeeded in 1810 by Jaques-Barthélemy Vacheron, who was the first to export the company’s watches to Italy and France. It was Jaques-Barthélemy who foresaw the need to expand the company’s markets and he knew he would need a partner to accomplish this goal. He formed a partnership with François Constantin in 1819 and the company became known as Vacheron & Constantin. François Constantin, whose job was primarily sales and marketing, traveled the world seeking new markets for Vacheron & Constantin’s watches, and Constantin began distributing watches throughout North America. It was Constantin who first coined the Vacheron Constantin motto: Faire Mieux si possible, ce qui est toujours possible – “Dobetter when possible, and it is always possible!”

In 1839, the company hired Georges-Auguste Leschot, one of the true pioneers of European watch production. Leschot’s interest was in the application of mechanization and standardization to horology, and he is credited with helping to develop the ebauche system of watch manufacturing and the standardization of watches into calibers (or standard sizes). Before Leschot, virtually every part of the watch was cut, formed and finished by hand, which made every finished watch a “one of a kind” piece. There was no interchangeability of parts as each piece was hand-fitted to the watch and was slightly different than the same piece in the next watch.

Leschot’s contribution was in the design of machines which could produce parts of sufficient quality and precision that they could be used interchangeably across multiple watches, with minimal hand-finishing. (note that parallel efforts were taking place in America, under the guidance of pioneers like Dennison). The greater manufacturing efficiencies achieved by Vacheron allowed them to become a major supplier of components and raw ebauches to other manufacturers, and this contributed greatly to the company’s survival and growth during these challenging years. It can be said that Leschot helped transform Swiss watchmaking from a handcrafted, cottage industry to modern mechanized production.

After the death of Vacheron in 1854 and Constantin in 1863, the company was run by a series of Vacheron or Constantin heirs. The name of the company was changed in 1877 to “Vacheron & Constantin, Fabricants, Geneve,” and in 1880 the company adopted the use of its iconic “Maltese Cross” logo (inspired by the maltese-cross stopworks piece which is sometimes used within the watch to limit mainspring travel). It was not until 1970 that the “&” would be dropped from the name.

In 1938, Jaeger-LeCoultre acquired a partial ownership position in Vacheron Constantin, and George Ketterer (a Managing Director of the holding company which owned JLC and a portion of VC) took the helm at Vacheron. George Ketterer or his son Jacques ran VC until 1987 when they became part of the Richemont Group, one of the largest Swiss luxury-brand conglomerates. Richemont currently owns the following watch brands: Baume & Mercier, Cartier, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Piaget, IWC, Vacheron Constantin, A. Lange & Sohne, and Panerai.

According to available records, Vacheron Constantin produces about 20,000 timepieces per year.