Imagine being selected to judge a contest of fine watches and finding a counterfeit of your own company’s product! That’s exactly what happened to Adrien Philippe at the Universal Exposition in Antwerp in 1885, and the resulting furor (including government sanctions and a high-profile court case) laid the foundation for anti-counterfeiting measures to this day. Incredibly, the perpetrator of this fake (labeled “Pateck & Cie, Genève”) was a respected watch trader, Armand Schwob, who insisted that it was Patek Philippe that was in the wrong. Let’s take a look at the “Affaire Pateck-Schwob”!
Zodiac Sea Wolf and the Dive Watch Craze
Jose Pereztroika recently debunked the fictitious history of the Zodiac Sea Wolf, inspiring me to look for additional context and information about this historic watch brand. Although it is difficult to say definitively that Zodiac did not produce a dive watch in 1953, there is a great deal of circumstantial evidence to suggest that they, like many other watchmakers, followed the trend set primarily by Rolex, jumping into the dive category at the Basel Fair in 1958. But the original Zodiac Sea Wolf had some interesting features, making a worthy historic model!
The Controversial Career of Paul Perret
The story of Paul Perret is quite unusual: He was famous not for one single accomplishment but for three different ones: He revolutionized watch adjustment, registered the very first Swiss patent, and contributed to the only watchmaking-related discovery to win a Nobel Prize! Perret was incredibly controversial in his time, vilified and then embraced by his peers, yet there is little record of his life. Read on and discover why Paul Perret deserves to be remembered!
How Charles Vermot Saved the Zénith El Primero – In His Own Words
In an industry as full of folklore and puffery as watchmaking, it is refreshing to uncover first-hand knowledge. As I was researching the history of Zénith, Universal, and the Martel watch factory I stumbled on a real gold mine: A 1991 interview with Charles Vermot, the watchmaker who saved the legendary El Primero watch movement from the scrap heap, and a look at how the watchmaking profession was viewed in 1991, as the industry was just recovering. I enjoyed the video enough to translate it and present it here for my readers.
Palais Invar, the First Watch Boutique in La Chaux-de-Fonds
La Chaux-de-Fonds is sometimes called “Watch City” because it is home to so much watchmaking history. It is said that “Chaux-de-Fonnier” factories produced half of the world’s watches in the first half of the 20th century! It’s no surprise that some historic sites are forgotten, but the Palais Invar deserves a closer look: It was one of the most recognizable buildings in La Chaux-de-Fonds for most of the 20th century, housing brands like Montre-Invar, Alpha, Venus, Le Phare, Sultana, and Jean d’Eve, and it was home to the first Salon Suisse de l’Horlogerie in 1933.
The Balance Spring Cartel Crisis
The pattern of high demand, over-production, and collapse is common in all industries, but especially in the history of Swiss watchmaking. We see it repeated throughout the 20th century, from ebauches to complete watches, but all of these efforts trace their roots to a crisis focused on the humble balance spring. Surprisingly, this very first attempt to create a cartel was also the most successful and disruptive! This is the story of Société des Fabriques de Spiraux Rèunies, which cornered the market for balance springs in 1895. The FSR was the template for Ebauches SA, ASUAG, and the Swatch Group, and we would be wise to study the lessons of this “cartel crisis”!
Gordon Moore’s $15 Million Watch – The Story of Intel and Microma
Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, died on March 24, 2023. Although many touching tributes are currently being published to this titan of the technology industry, most overlook what Moore himself called his greatest mistake: Intel’s attempt to corner the digital watch business. Intel bought Microma, a hot Silicon Valley startup, in 1972 but gave up the business just six years later. Moore continued to wear his “$15 million watch” for decades as a reminder of this failure – and to stay out of consumer products!
The Rise of Vénus, Legendary Chronograph Maker
There are few names in the golden age of watchmaking as revered as Vénus, which produced some of the best chronograph movements of the 1940s. But the history of this small Swiss company is not well documented, and the story reveals the surprisingly-connected world of watchmaking at the time. Vénus rose and fell in just a few decades, but the legacy of their chronograph movements, especially the legendary rattrapantes used by Breitling, lives on.
How Tiny Fontainemelon Dominated Swiss Watchmaking in the 19th Century
Although it is located in a tiny village of less than 1,000 residents, the factory in Fontainemelon looms large in the history of Swiss watchmaking. The oldest and largest ebauche factory in the country was established there early in the 19th century, and Fabrique d’Horlogerie Fontainemelon (FHF) was a founding member of Ebauches SA 100 years later. Even today, the Fontainemelon factory remains a cornerstone of the Swatch Group. Let’s look at the history that made Fontainemelon the dominant supplier of ebauches in the 19th century.
What is a Lépine Watch Movement?
Today, a “Lépine” movement is one with small seconds opposite the crown. But this is not one of the many innovations we should associate with Jean-Antoine Lépine, one of the greatest watchmakers of all time. Watchmaker to King Louis XV and George Washington, Lépine changed the course of watchmaking forever, with his plate-and-bridges movement design still used today. So why do we contrast “Lépine” movements with “savonnette” or “hunter” and what’s all this about small seconds?
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