Manufacture

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 the ground floor of the Vacheron Constantin manufacture in Plan-les-Ouates, near Geneva. On top: The…

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 for himself than to sit wasting several years in school. At the tender age of…

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 – making it one of the few places where a manufacture embodies the products created…

Christian Lattmann already waits in the manufacture’s entrance as we arrive in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The brand’s CEO welcomes us in such a heartfelt way, as if we had been long-time friends of the Maison. It all feels so familiar, not only, because the small but fine manufacture is very charming anyway, but also, because despite…

The case of the newest collection CODE 11.59 by Audemars Piguet has a complex architecture which required the use of dedicated tools and sophisticated hand finishing techniques. It has an octagonal middle case with a round extra-thin bezel and stylised arched lugs. The case’s multiple geometries and ergonomic curvature made the conception, manufacturing and decoration of each…

Once, the small village of Fleurier in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel has been an important place for watch making. But in the 1970s the quartz crisis had a major impact on the watch industry in Fleurier. At that time a young watchmaker called Michel Parmigiani was faced with the decision either to become an…

Time seems to stand still in ‘Vallée de Joux’, the high Jura valley of Vaud. The idyllic villages around the lake ‘Lac de Joux’ mainly live from dairy and their cheese. And watchmaking. From village to village on the eastside of the lake you can find old-fashioned houses next to imposing constructions of prestigious watch…

Antoine LeCoultre, who later put the foundation stone of the manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre, has already in young years been a restless inventor. His pioneering spirit created – next to numerous other patents – a Millionmeter in 1844 and the first rocking bar winding mechanism in 1847. With the Millionmeter it was possible to measure up to…

The village Lengnau, which is located at the foot of the Jura Mountains in the canton of Bern and its population of just 5'500 is not very spectacular. However it is an important junction for the watch production. Something that Swiss watchbrand Carl F. Bucherer already realized many years ago and since 2002 runs a…

The watch brand Armin Strom puts a lot of attention to the visibility of the movement as it is the driving engine and highly complex mechanism that keeps the watch running. Therefore they specialized in skeletonized movement designs to bring the inside to the outside for its wearer. Most people cannot imagine how intense work…

Maybe the founder of the AkriviA can be called the ‘enfant terrible’ of the watch industry, but in a positive, eccentric way. We have already introduced the brand and master watchmaker Rexhep Rexhepi. He created an atelier that not too many people know about, yet which offers so much potential. The master watchmaker Rexhep Rexhepi focused at work…

The masterminds behind OMEGA strive to be ahead everyone else. A milestone and watch for which the brand is probably most remembered by is the OMEGA Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch, which was the first watch they shot to the moon in 1969. That is nearly 50 years ago. In 2015, OMEGA introduced the world’s first Master…