Manufacture

We visit both traditional watch manufactures as well as young, aspiring, independent watchmakers and their ateliers.
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Paying a Visit to Glashütte Original: The Original German Manufacture

The German manufacture Glashütte Original has firmly earned its place alongside some of the most reputable of Swiss brands. Glashütte Original combines traditional watchmaking and craftsmanship with the almost implausible ability to adapt to new economic, political and cultural conditions.…

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Jaeger-LeCoultre Manufacture Visit: The Road to Precision

Jaeger-LeCoultre, often dubbed the ‘Watchmaker of Watchmakers’, has a long history of supplying parts to esteemed brands like Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Cartier. Today a fully integrated manufacture producing some of the most coveted and complicated luxury watches in…

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Watches Without an Expiration Date – A Visit to The Lang & Heyne Manufacture in Dresden

‘Born in Saxony’ – so goes the slogan of Lang & Heyne, a watch manufacture from the small German town of Radeberg near Dresden. It’s a name known only to true connoisseurs and watch aficionados; only around 150 watches are…

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A Visit to the Blancpain Manufacture: Into the Heart of Swiss Watchmaking

When one thinks of Swiss-made watches, what springs to mind? For some of us, it’s a luxurious boutique in the heart of an affluent metropolis. For others, it’s a fast-paced car rally with watch-branded banners plastered over the track. But…

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A Visit to the Richard Mille Manufacture: Where Innovation Meets Exclusivity

Richard Mille’s company history is marked by an unprecedented rise. In 2001, the first Richard Mille watch, the RM 001, made an immediate impact with its tourbillon regulator and a six-figure price tag, causing the brand to stand out from…

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Never Stand Still – A Visit to The A. Lange & Söhne Manufacture

We are standing in Glashütte in front of a mileage post from 1734 next to the A. Lange & Söhne manufacture, which signals the distances to the surrounding villages and towns. Back then, the post indicates, it took six hours…

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Unlocking the Treasure Trove:
Swisswatches Visits Cartier’s Métiers d'Art 

A vast structure of concrete and glass forms Cartier’s manufacture in the UNESCO World Heritage Site watchmaking town of La Chaux-le-Fonds. Across the panes of glass, which reveal only the subtlest glimpse into the world of watchmaking on the other side, the unmistakable cursive Cartier logo spreads…

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Swisswatches’ Exclusive First Look Into The New Tudor Manufacture

The first mention of Tudor dates back to the year 1926, when Hans Wilsdorf first had the trademark ‘The Tudor’ registered. Six years later, the name would start to appear on several watches. Then, in 1936, Wilsdorf had the actual…

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Piaget Manufacture Visit – A True Maison

While it is an extreme privilege to have been inside pretty much every Swiss horology house, at some point, a picture automatically forms in one’s mind as to what to expect when visiting yet another manufacture of mechanical watches. What…

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Atelier For Unique Pieces: Paying A Visit To Vacheron Constantin

Being at the top is always nice, of course. But here, with such famous names as Piaget, Rolex, Harry Winston and Patek Philippe as neighbours, it is just as delightful to be at the bottom. Only physically, of course, on…

Four old dials saved in an old box found in the Zenith manufacture

A Journey Through The Zenith Manufacture in Le Locle

Anyone who leaves school at the age of 9 is either clearly not suited to academia, or has already realised what their calling is. George Favre-Bulle must have been a visionary even as a child, because he had bigger plans…

The farm and Atelier from Greubel Forsey during the afternoon

Sculptors of Time: Greubel Forsey Atelier

Back in 2004, Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey founded the Greubel Forsey watch brand. In 2007, the two watchmakers bought an old 17th-century farmhouse and converted it into an atelier, where they now combine traditional craftsmanship with modern Haute Horlogerie…