Compagnie des Montres Longines, Francillon S.A. was founded in 1832 by Auguste Agassiz, and is based in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. Agassiz initially had two partners, Florian Morel and Henri Raiguel, who both retired from the watch industry by 1846. Longines’ flying hourglass logo is the oldest unchanged active trademark registered with WIPO. The Swatch Group In …
IWC Schaffhausen is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer that was founded by American watchmaker and entrepreneur Florentine Ariosto Jones in 1868. Originally known as the International Watch Company, the company was transferred to the Rauschenbach family in 1880. Since 2000, IWC has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Richemont Group which also owns other high …
The Richard Mille brand was first developed in 1999 in a partnership with Montres Valgine and Audemars Piguet, with the RM 001 Tourbillon introduced to the world at Baselworld in 2001. In addition to their distinctive design, lightweight construction, and shock resistance, Richard Mille is well known for their untraditional marketing. Early Partnerships with F1 …
Breitling SA was founded in 1884 in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, by watchmaker and businessman Léon Breitling. The business was later run by Bretling’s son Gaston, and grandson Willy, before the Breitling name was purchased by Ernst Schneider of the Sicura Company in 1979. Today, Breitling is one of very few watch companies that enjoys mainstream brand …
Citizen Watch Co., Ltd is an electronics company based in Nishitokyo, Japan and mainly known for their watches. As of 2008, they also serve as the parent company of Bulova. Citizen was founded in 1930 by Japanese and Swiss investors. The name Citizen was first registered in Switzerland by Swiss watchmaker Rodolphe Schmid in 1918 …
Hublot is a Swiss luxury watchmaker founded in 1980 by Carlo Crocco. The company was named after the French word for “porthole”, which serves as a visual design reference across many of their models. Hublot is notable for being the first to pair a rubber strap with precious metals in their luxury sports watch. Today, …
Montres Tudor SA was registered in 1926 by Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex. The recipient of a large spectrum of Rolex-themed nicknames that range from derogatory to borderline complimentary, Tudor has remained a sister company to Rolex to this day and continues to serve its original purpose: Offering watches at more accessible prices while …
Seiko was founded in 1881 by Kintaro Hattori as a watch and jewelry shop called K. Hattori in Tokyo. Hattori started producing clocks under the company name Seikosha in 1892, and officially changed its trade mark to Seiko in 1924. In addition to being a household name today even amongst non-watch enthusiasts, Seiko has the …
Omega SA is currently based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, and was founded in 1848 by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The company originally operated as La Generale Watch Co. until the name Omega was incorporated in 1903, becoming Louis Brandt et Frère-Omega Watch & Co. The company name was officially changed to Omega SA in 1984, …
TAG Heuer was originally founded in 1860 as Uhrenmanufaktur Heuer AG (Heuer Watchmaking Inc.) by Edouard Heuer in St-Imier, Switzerland. Building off a foundation of early innovations in dashboard instruments and chronographs, TAG Heuer is now synonymous with motorsports and enjoy a mainstream brand recognition matched by vanishingly few watch companies. In 1999 the Swiss …