AUDEMARS PIGUET

The roots of Audemars Piguet date back to 1874, when the 23-year-old Jules Louis Audemars met Edward Auguste Piguet, then only 21, at Vallée de Joux, they were both born in Le Brassus. When they graduated from school, they went to Vallée de Joux to start working together in watch manufacturing.

Thus Audemars started producing component parts for movements and Piguet got the job of a repasseur, maker the final regulation of the timepiece. In 1875, they founded a firm later known as Audemars, Piguet et Cie.

Since 1882, members of the Audemars and Piguet families have always been on the board of directors and have, therefore, directly or indirectly run the company.

The business started with Audemars managing the production and technical part, and Piguet focusing on sales, and success was not immediate. The Audemars Piguet trademark was registered in 1882; however, it would be seven years later that the company was officially founded. At this point, Audemars Piguet et Cie became one of the largest employers for watch-making in the whole of Vaud, southwestern Switzerland.

At the end of 1920s and the beginning of 1930s the success of Audemars Piguet started dimming. The crash of the stock market as well as the Depression slowed the development of many Swiss companies.

During World War II the manufacturer was able to come back on the market by producing a range of ultra-thin chronograph models, notably the Calibre 2003. The sales of Audemars Piguet started growing in the 1940s and 1950s. Together with Jaeger-LeCoultre it designed the thinnest automatic movement. The latter included a 21 carat gold rotor placed in the center. Their "Royal Oak", which uses a custom Jaeger-leCoultre movement, was produced in 1972 and is considered to have created the market for the stainless steel luxury watch. It was designed by Gerald Genta.

Today, the company, along with Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin & Jaeger-LeCoultre , is sometimes claimed to be one of the "big four" Swiss watchmakers. Every timepiece manufactured in-house is still made using the old-fashioned hand-made technique.

The Audemars Piguet watch group is composed of 1,100 employees, fourteen distribution subsidiaries and sixteen boutiques around the world. It comprises three production sites: Le Brassus (SA de la Manufacture d'Horlogerie Audemars Piguet & Cie), LeLocle (Audemars Piguet: Renaud et Papi SA), and Meyrin (Centror SA).

The manufacture Audemars Piguet produces 26,000 timepieces per year.

Since 1999, Audemars Piguet has been the sponsor of the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, a 2000 metres Group One Thoroughbred horse raceat Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong around the end of April each year.

In 2007, Audemars Piguet offered its support to the Clinton Foundation. The Foundation works around the world on global issues, including education, health, poverty issues, and fight against HIV/AIDS. The company created the Jules Audemars Clinton Foundation Equation of Time watch in a limited edition of 126 pieces. The watch incorporated complex astronomical features. It shows sunrise and sunset times, perpetual calendar, and astronomical moon.

Audemars Piguet was a sponsor of Team Alinghi, winners of the America's Cup in 2003, making a series of Alinghi limited edition watches.

Like many other brands of luxury watches, Audemars Piguet has a number of ambassadors, including: Novak Djokovic, Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Schumacher, Lionel Messi, Sebastien Buemi, LeBron James, Michelle Yeoh, Diamant Lulaj, among many other personalities and athletes.

TAG HEUER

TAG Heuer S.A., a combination of Techniques d'Avant Garde and the surname Heuer, designs, manufactures and markets luxury TAG Heuer-branded watches, chronographs and fashion accessories and markets Swissluxury TAG Heuer-branded eyewear and mobile phones manufactured under license by other companies. TAG Heuer traces its roots to the 1860 foundation of Uhrenmanufaktur Heuer AG by Edouard Heuer in St-Imier, Switzerland. The company was purchased by TAG Group (Holdings) S.A. in 1985 and the Heuer brand became TAG Heuer. In 1999, TAG Group sold TAG Heuer to French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton.

Notable wearers and brand endorsers of TAG watches include Barack Obama, Lewis Hamilton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tiger Woods, Brad Pitt, Shah Rukh Khan, Ben Blowers, Chris King and Tristan Revell.

TAG Heuer is based in Neuchâtel, Switzerland and is led by President and CEO John-Christophe Babin. Jack Heuer, the great grandson of the founder, is the Honorary Chairman. TAG Heuer maintains a watchmaking workshop in Cornol, Switzerland and a watchmaking factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. The TAG Heuer slogan is "Swiss Avant-Garde Since 1860".

TAG Heuer traces its roots to 1860 when Edouard Heuer founded Uhrenmanufaktur Heuer AG (English: Heuer Watchmaking Inc.) in St-Imier, Switzerland.

Edouard Heuer patented his first chronograph in 1882 and in 1887 patented an 'oscillating pinion' still used by major watchmakers of mechanical chronographs

In 1911, Heuer received a patent for the "Time of Trip", the first dashboard chronograph. Designed for use in automobiles and aircraft, two large hands mounted from the center pinion indicate the time of day, as on a traditional clock. A small pair of hands, mounted at the top of the dial (12 o'clock position) indicates the duration of the trip (up to 12 hours). A top-mounted crown allows the user to set the time; a button mounted in that crown operates the start / stop / reset functions of the "duration of trip" counter.

In the early 1950s, Heuer produced watches for the American retailer Abercrombie & Fitch. The "Seafarer" and "Auto-Graph" were unique chronographs produced by Heuer to be sold by Abercrombie & Fitch. The "Seafarers" had special dials—with blue, green and yellow patterns—that showed the high and low tides.

Commencing in the mid-1960s, Heuer was part of a partnership (with Breitling and Hamilton) that sought to introduce the world's first automatic chronograph. Seiko (a Japanese watch manufacturer) and Zenith (a Swiss watch manufacturer) were also seeking to be the first to offer these chronographs. These projects were conducted in secret, as none of the competitors wanted the other companies to be aware of their efforts. Most agree that the Heuer-Breitling venture was first to introduce their new line of automatic chronographs to the world wide market, with Heuer-Breitling-Hamilton holding lavish press conferences in Geneva and New York, on 3 March 1969, to show their new lines of chronographs.

In 1975, Heuer introduced the Chronosplit, a digital chronograph with dual LED and LCD displays. Later versions featured two LCD displays.

TAG Heuer's current lines include Formula One, Aquaracer, Link, Carrera, Monaco and Grand Carrera.

TAG Heuer, in keeping with its image as a luxury brand with an innovative spirit, has long standing links with the world of sport and Hollywood. TAG Heuer has been the official timekeeper of the three Summer Olympic Games of the 1920s, the Skiing World Championships, the Formula One World Championships and has developed a watch for the McLaren F1 team. The brand has also had a long list of sports and Hollywood ambassadors.

Some of the more recently announced models include the Monaco V4 (the movement of which is driven by belts rather than gears); the Carrera Calibre 360 (the first mechanical wrist chronograph to measure and display time to 1/100 of a second) and the Monaco 69 (with both a digital chronograph accurate to a millisecond and a traditional mechanical movement, with a hinged mechanism allowing wearers to flip the watch between its two separate dials).

London-based Christoph Behling has been the lead designer for TAG Heuer since 2004. The collaboration has resulted in some of the brand's most celebrated pieces including the world's fastest chronograph, the Mikrogirder 1/2000th, launched in 2012.

CORUM

Corum is a Swiss watchmaker based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Canton of Neuchâtel. Founded in 1955, it makes high-quality and high-price watches, many of which are limited editions. The benchmark watch series for Corum is its "Admiral's Cup" series.

Corum has also been the maker of the World Series of Poker watches that accompanied World Series of Poker bracelet in 2007, and became the maker of the bracelets themselves in 2007.

Corum was founded in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland by Gaston Ries and his nephew, Renee Bannwart in 1955, one year later the first Corum watches were being produced.

Corum's claim to fame came early on when the company introduced a watch made out of a $20 dollar gold piece which was an instant best-seller. Corum is also known for its "World Premiers". Each year, it's produced a limited number of limited edition pieces.

In January 2000, Corum was purchased by its current owner, Severin Wunderman, and was soon under the guidance of his son Michael, Corum was sold to China Haidian Group (basel 2013) who also the owner of eterna.

The team was completed in 2007 with the arrival of a man with a rich professional background, Antoine Calce, to the CEO position, who oversees overall operations.

The Admiral's Cup race was first held in 1957 and the Corum Admiral's Cup watch was introduced just 3 years later in 1960. This first watch was square, water resistant and had a sailboat engraved in the back. It had little resemblance to the current Corum Admiral's Cup watches with their twelve-sided case design and brightly colored nautical penants decorating the bezels. The Corum Admiral's Cup is available in 40mm, 41mm, 44mm, and 48mm as well as in versions with a chronograph complication or just time and date. Several materials are available as well: rose gold, yellow gold, two tone, stainless steel and even a titanium and rubber fusion on the Admiral's Cup Challenge Regatta 2007.

The Corum Tourbillon and Classical collection, as the name suggests, is devoted to the most elegant and complicated watches. The current collection comprises the Corum Classical Billionaire Tourbillon, a diamond and sapphire covered masterpiece of watchmaking, the Corum Golden Tourbillon Panoramique with its tourbillon movement floating between sapphire bridges, and the skeleton dialed Corum Classical Skylight Skeleton..

The Corum Artisan watch line is defined by beautiful dials depicting wild animals, exotic locales, or even historic scenes, all of them limited edition masterpieces of some of the very few craftsmen left who are familiar with the immensely time consuming techniques used in these watches.

ULYSSE NARDIN

When it comes to mechanical watches, today’s vocabulary flourishes with superlatives and ready-made statements.

Words like "creativity, manufacture, exclusivity, innovation, limited edition, trend, ultimate, etc." keep flooding the professional literature and the advertising in general.

This somewhat legitimate turmoil conceals the very nature of a mechanical timepiece.

Because of the hundreds of tiny pieces combined in an intricate web of gears and wheels, the precision of a mechanical instrument will never match that of a quartz instrument. Interestingly enough this has never been an issue.

Why?  Simply because a mechanical timepiece is and will always remain the quintessence of traditional craftsmanship with a long lasting value. Some of our museum pieces have been passed on from one generation to the next six times already.

To many of us, acquiring or inheriting an ever ticking instrument with a noble history behind it is like making a dream come true.

Swiss Watch Manufacturer Ulysse Nardin was founded in 1846. Ulysse Nardin has been dedicated to excellence for over 165 years in manufacturing mechanical watches. Among the most reliable ever made, Ulysse Nardin's marine chronometers are still sought by collectors around the world. Ulysse Nardin continues to be in the forefront of watchmaking technology by pioneering new materials in manufacturing high precision movement components and most innovative timepieces.

ULYSSE NARDIN Tellurium Kepler. 

Founded in 1846, Ulysse Nardin was named after its founder, Ulysse Nardin, an accomplished watchmaker. Nardin first trained in horology under his father, Leonard-Frederic Nardin, and perfected his skills under the tutelage of Frederic William Dubois and Louis JeanRichard-dit-Bressel, two master watchmakers whose fame extended beyond the mountains of Neuchatel, Switzerland.

In 1983, Ulysse Nardin was purchased by Rolf W. Schnyder, its current President. At about the same time, Schnyder also discovered Dr. Ludwig Oechslin, a scientist, inventor, historian and watch-maker extraordinaire. In a unique relationship of professional cooperation and personal friendship, Schnyder and Oechslin created timepieces that had never before existed.

The Ulysse Nardin collection is in the proud tradition of quality and mechanical innovation. Its consistent excellence had also been recognized by the award of 18 international gold medals and 4,300 first prizes in chronometric excellence.

In its over 150 years of history, Ulysse Nardin had been widely respected as a specialist in marine chronometers. Among the most reliable and accurate ever made, Ulysse Nardin’s marine chronometers are still sought by collectors around the world, and have seen service with the navies of some 50 countries.

Today, Ulysse Nardin continues to develop and produce specialized timepieces of the highest technical level in limited editions. Using the company’s patented inventions, these often include complications offered by no other watchmaker, such as the renowned Trilogy of Astrolabium, Planetarium and Tellurium; the Jaquemart Minute Repeater and the Hour Striker San Marco.

Steadfast in its journey to remain in the lead, Ulysse Nardin looks to its own universe to plot its course. Steering the Ulysse Nardin spirit of innovation and independence into new, unchartered territory is Chai Schnyder, president of the Board of Directors, CEO Patrik P. Hoffmann and the expertly skilled and dedicated Ulysse Nardin team. At its Switzerland-based headquarters, true invention and design meet to form the most remarkable timepieces of today and tomorrow.

ULYSSE NARDIN Michelangelo. 

ULYSSE NARDIN Diavolo. 

ULYSSE NARDIN Royal Blue Tourbillon. 

BAUME et MERCIER

Baume et Mercier is a Swiss luxury watchmaking company founded in 1830. It is owned by Richemont, and with Cartier and Piaget they make up the core of the group. This company is represented in 75 countries and produces around 200,000 watches a year. The most important markets are in Europe, especially Italy, Spain and France. Baume et Mercier is distributed by 220 exclusive retailers worldwide and has established itself as a manufacturer of sporty chronographs.

In 1830 the Baume family opened one of the first comptoirs horlogers (watch shops) in the Swiss Jura region in the village of Les Bois. “Frères Baume” soon became a major watch company, thanks to the commercial flair and rigorous industrial methods of the two brothers, Louis-Victor and Joseph-Célestin Baume, who strictly followed their motto: “Accept only perfection. Only manufacture watches of the highest quality.”

Baume watches earned ever-growing success and recognition under the impetus of the second generation.

The House distinguished itself at the national exhibitions and world fairs that began to be organized from the second half of the 19th century onwards, in Paris (1878 and 1889), Melbourne (1890 and 1895), Zurich and Amsterdam (1883), London (1885 and 1890) and Chicago (1893), winning ten Grand Prix awards and seven gold medals.

The end of World War I in 1918 brought sweeping changes in industry, the arts, and society in general. Women’s emancipation led them to wear jewellery watches as brooches, long necklaces or on the wrist, a trend made possible by the miniaturization of watch movements.

After proving its use in a military context, the wristwatch gradually took over from the pocket watch as the masculine timepiece of choice. Baume witnessed the emergence of a new generation, and the young William Baume, a great visionary and an accomplished watchmaker, was eager to take advantage of the new opportunities afforded by the ebullient mood of the era. Having by then settled in Geneva, he decided to partner with a colorful figure named Tchereditchenko, who subsequently adopted his French mother’s family name and became known as Paul Mercier. Born in Odessa to a Russian father, Paul Mercier was a passionate and refined individual, a dedicated art-lover who spoke seven languages and was endowed with exceptional business acumen.

The period between the late 1930s and the 1950s saw the baton being passed on to a strong new personality at the head of Baume & Mercier, the Count Constantin de Gorski.

William Baume withdrew from the company in 1935 for health reasons, and Paul Mercier sold his shares in 1937 to the Ponti family, who were jewellers and goldsmiths from northern Italy.

During the 1940s and throughout World War II, Baume & Mercier chronographs became watches of choice that are still highly sought-after collector’s items today. After the war, Baume & Mercier launched one of its most successful models: the Marquise.

This jewellery watch, set in a “bangle” type bracelet, asserted itself as the leading post-war ladies’ model and remained a brand best-seller until the early 1960s.

In 1952, Baume & Mercier acquired a new production facility for its chronographs by buying up the C.H. Meylan factory in the village of Le Brassus, in the Joux Valley.

In 1964, in order to reinforce its brand identity, Baume & Mercier chose the Greek symbol PHI as its new visual brand emblem.

Considered since Antiquity to be the “golden section” representing perfect proportions, the PHI appeared from then on as the Baume & Mercier logo on all its watch dials. It was from this time onwards that Baume & Mercier acquired its status as an affordable luxury brand, a positioning it continues to uphold. The brand also accentuated its avant-garde, innovative approach, especially during the 1970s.

In 1971, Baume & Mercier was one of the first brands to adopt the new electronic tuning-fork movements, forerunners of quartz, in its Tronosonic model.

In 1973, this was followed by the innovative Riviera model, one of the very first steel sports watches featuring an original twelve-sided design. The Riviera was to become Baume & Mercier’s best-seller and its flagship model for 20 years.

In 1972, the brand caused a sensation in the field of ladies’ watches by introducing the Mimosa and Galaxie models, both of which won the Golden Rose at the Baden-Baden international watch and jewellery competition held in Düsseldorf, Germany – the most important contest of its kind at the time.

In 1973, Baume & Mercier once again earned the supreme Golden Rose distinction for its splendid Stardust model featuring an onyx dial surrounded by 138 diamonds.

The 1980s witnessed the global success of the Linea ladies’ model, and in 1988 the destiny of Baume & Mercier took a new turn when the luxury group that would later become Richemont bought up both Piaget and Baume & Mercier

Baume & Mercier has had many celebrity ambassadors including Andy Garcia, Gary Sinise, Ashton Kutcher,

Teri Hatcher, Kim Basinger, David Duchovny, Evangeline Lily, and most recently, Gwyneth Paltrow.

VACHERON CONSTANTIN

The company was founded in 1755 by Jean-Marc Vacheron, an independent watchmaker in Geneva, Switzerland. This makes it one of the oldest watch manufacturer in the world with an uninterrupted history. Besides being a young businessman, Vacheron was also a talented craftsman. In 1770 his company created the first complication, and nine years later he designed the first engine-turned dials.

The son of Jean-Marc Vacheron, Abraham, took over the family business in 1785. During this period the company was able to survive the French Revolution (1789–1799). Later, in 1810, Jaques-Barthélemy Vacheron, the grandson of the founder, became the head of the company. He was the first to initiate the company's exports to France and Italy.

Later, Jaques-Barthélemy realized that he was not able to handle his business alone. In order to travel overseas and sell the company's products, he needed a partner. Consequently, in 1819 François Constantin became the associate of Vacheron. The company continued its activity under the name Vacheron & Constantin.

François Constantin traveled around the world and marketed watches. Thus he helped the company to open new markets. The main market was North America. The company's motto (which remains today), "Do better if possible and that is always possible," first appeared in Constantin's letter to Jaques-Barthélémy. The letter was dated July 5, 1819.

In 1839 Vacheron & Constantin hired Georges-Auguste Leschot. His job was to supervise the manufacturing operations. Leschot was an inventor and his creations turned out to be successful for the company. His inventions had a great impact on the watchmaking industry in general. He was the first person to standardize watch movements into Calibers.

In 1844 Georges-Auguste Leschot was awarded with a gold medal. The Arts Society of Geneva highly appreciated his pantographic device, a device that was able to mechanically engrave small watch parts and dials. This invention pushed Vacheron & Constantin forward much further than other watchmakers.

Later, after Constantin's death in 1854, and Vacheron's death in 1863, the company was taken over by a series of heirs. At one point, the company was headed by two women.

In 1862 Vacheron Constantin became a member of the Association for Research into non-magnetic materials. Later in 1885, the company created the first nonmagnetic timepiece which included a complete lever assortment made of materials able to withstand magnetic fields. Its construction included a balance wheel, balance spring and lever shaft that were made of palladium, the lever arms—in bronze and the escape wheel was in gold.

In 1877 "Vacheron & Constantin, Fabricants, Geneve" became the official name of the company. In 1880, Vacheron & Constantin started using its symbol, which is kept till nowadays, the Maltese cross. The latter was inspired by a component of the barrel. The part had a cross-shape and it was used for limiting the tension within the mainspring.

Advertising from 1896 promoting their observatory trial results

In 1887, was reorganized into a stock company. For the remarkable achievements of the company it was awarded with a gold medal at Swiss National Exhibition. The event took place in Geneva in 1887.

The first boutique in Geneva was opened by Vacheron Constantin in 1906. This store can be seen today on Quai de l’Ile. During the Great Depression Vacheron & Constantin found itself in a difficult situation and the only one to bring hope was Charles Constantin. He became the head of the company in 1936 and it was the first time since 1850s that a representative of the Constantin family received the position of Vacheron & Constantin's president.

During World War II the company's sales decreased considerably. However, Vacheron & Constantin was able to come back on the watch market due to Georges Ketter.

To outline the beginning of the 3rd century of its watchmaking the company created Patrimony—the world's thinnest mechanical watch at that time which was only 5.25 mm thick.

In 1970 the "&" was dropped from Vacheron & Constantin.

In 1979 Vacheron Constantin made Kallista, one of the most expensive wristwatches. Its initial price was $5 million, but today the watch is valued at about $11 million. Kallista had 118 emerald-cut diamonds. It took about 6,000 hours for the watch masters to make this watch and about 20 months for jewelers to enrich the watch.

When Jacques Ketterer died in 1987, Vacheron Constantin changed hands. However its sales increased and today the company produces about 20,000 timepieces per year. Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, former Oil Minister of Saudi Arabia, Harvard MBA, and avid watch collector, became majority shareholder, who then folded VC into his personal portfolio of holdings. There are those that would argue that VC stagnated during this phase. As with any subjective generalization, this may not be entirely fair or accurate. In 1996 the entire share capital of the company was bought by Richemont Group.

In 2003 Vacheron Constantin introduced a new sports line called Overseas, and a collection called Egérie, the first to include watches for women.

In 2004 Vacheron Constantin opened its new headquarters and manufacture in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva.

The Richemont Group named Juan Carlos Torres as the Chief Executive Officer of the company in October 2005. Vacheron Constantin is considered to be company that was able to create one of the most complicated wristwatches in the world entitled "Tour de I'lle". It was created in 2005 to mark the anniversary of 250 years of Vacheron Constantin. The watch includes 834 parts and 16 horological complications. It was only available through the Vacheron Constantin shop in Geneva, Switzerland and sold for more than $1 million.

In 2007 Vacheron Constantin introduced the Metiers d'Art 'Les Masques' collection of timepieces featuring miniature reproductions of primitive art masks. The company selected twelve masks from a private museum collection and reproduced the masks on a small scale. The miniaturized masks are featured in the dial center of every watch from the 'Les Masques' collection.