Just a sec.. ! 100 Glares of Respect Fine watchmaking is an industry born out of a centuries-old and still very much live history, a precise and vastly rich culture, a highly professional ethic, the captivating expertise of the artisan with passion. Fine watchmaking is an elevated heritage and culture of knowledge and know-how. The Fine watchmaking industry carries long traditions with steady vision to the future. A future that holds values through research and development, innovating and educating the skills of tomorrow. Recently I have been asked “What is the difference between the Swiss watch industry and other luxury goods? What is the big deal about it?” Though I have been intrigued by such question, instead of presenting hundred of pages to explain the answer to that question, I preferred to list the below historic achievements, which turned out to come up with the perfect answer: in the year 1364 Giovanni de Dondi of Padua built his Astrarium, an astronomical clock considered to be the wonder of its age. Around 1410 the mainspring development combined with the fusee made possible for the innovation of the truly portable domestic clock and, as components grew smaller, paved the way for the production of watches. In 1554 Thomas Bayard became the first watchmaker in Geneva, followed notably by Martin Duboule at the end of the sixteenth century. 1601 was the date of the Foundation of the Genevan Corporation of Watchmakers. In 1632 Jean Toutin invented the technique of painting on enamel for cases and dials. In 1656 continuing the early work by Galileo, Christian Huygens adapted the pendulum to the clock and in doing so considerably increased its accuracy. In 1657 Robert Hooke invented the anchor escapement. In 1675 Christian Huygens invented the spiral balance spring for watches, thereby significantly improving their accuracy. In 1675 watchmakers Edward Barlow (Booth), Daniel Quare and Thomas Tompion developed systems for a quarter-repeater watch. In 1675 the Foundation of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich was born. In 1695 the half-quarter repeater watch appeared in England. In 1704 the first watch with jewels was produced by watchmaker de Beaufré using a drilling method invented circa 1700 by the Genevan astronomer and optician Nicolas Fatio de Duillier. In 1710 Samuel Watson invented the five-minute repeater. In 1720 George Graham built a device with pendulum and weights, and a hand that indicated the quartersecond and which could, theoretically, also divide the second into sixteenths. In 1727 Birth of Ferdinand Berthoud who became known as one of the most outstanding manufacturers of marine timekeepers of his era. In 1741 Le Locle was home to 41 watchmakers, 14 goldsmiths-casemakers, 5 enamellers, 6 spring-makers, 1 chainsmith, 9 engravers and 600 lace workers. In 1747 birth of the Swiss watchmaker Abraham Louis Breguet in Neuchâtel. His inventions included the gong spring (1783), the Breguet dial (1786), the pare-chute shock-absorber (1790), the single hand watch (1796), the constant force escapement (1798), the tourbillon (1801), the flat balance-spring with one or two terminal coils, known as the Breguet overcoil, and a compensation device for watches. In 1750 the first rose engines for guillochage or engine-turning were made. In 1755 watchmaker Caron created a ring-watch that was wound by rotating the bezel and set using a key. In 1757 watchmaker Thomas Mudge invented the lever escapement which, together with the detent escapement, is the most important of the so-called “free” escapements. They constitute the third category of escapement after “recoil” and “dead-beat”. Mudge also devised mechanisms for the equation of time, perpetual calendar, minute-repeater, etc. In 1775 the invention of a simplified flat calibre with bridges, named the Lépine calibre after its inventor, Jean-Antoine Lépine. Its principle is still used in mechanical watches. In 1776 Jean-Moïse Pouzait invented the watch with independent seconds, precursor of the chronograph. In 1784 Thomas Earnshaw introduced a new spring detent escapement for pocket chronometers and marine chronometers. His invention was widely used by subsequent watchmakers. In 1790 Jacquet-Droz and Leschot manufactured a watch attached to a strap which they recorded in their accounts book. In 1822 a patent was granted for a “timepiece or measurer of distance covered”, named a “seconds chronograph” by its inventor Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec. In 1827 Breguet’s workshops produced the “Marie-Antoinette watch” which featured all the complications possible at that time. In 1828 a patent was granted to Louis-Frédéric Perrelet and his son for a “physics and astronomy counter” with split-seconds. In 1830 Abraham Louis Breguet’s keyless winding mechanism was invented. In 1831 Joseph Thaddeus Winnerl’s splitseconds chronograph was invented. In 1839 Antoni Patek started making pocket watches, to later be joined by Adrien Philippe to found Patek Philippe & Co. In 1842 Adrien Philippe invented the keyless winding mechanism. In 1844 Adolphe Nicole filed a patent for a system that returned the chronograph hand to zero. In 1858 Henri Grandjean founded the Observatoire de Neuchâtel whose role was to transmit the exact time by telegraph. In 1860 the Observatoire de Neuchâtel issued the first rating certificates for watches. In 1862 the first chronograph with a reset function (HenriFeréol Piguet of Nicole et Capt in Solliat) was invented. In 1865 Georges Favre-Jacot founds Zenith Watch Manufacture in LeLocle at the age of 22. In 1875 Nemitz discovered calcium sulphate as the first luminescent substance for numerals and hands. In 1877 invention of the palladium balance-spring by Geneva’s Charles-Auguste Paillard. In 1878 foundation in Biel of the first Swiss institution to officially control watch rates, acknowledged as the official watch observation bureau in 1893 and now the Bureau officiel des chronomètres (BO). In 1880 creation of the first water-resistant (screwed) case by the Genevan François Borgel. In 1886 creation of the Poinçon de Genève. In 1889 the first known patent for a wristwatch was filed in Bern. In 1890 invention of a transfer press for applying numerals and names to dials, by the dialmaker A. Beyeler in Geneva. In 1892 invention of synthetic jewels by Auguste Verneuil in France. In 1897 Charles-Edouard Guillaume developed the integral balance that bears his name. In 1900 Leroy made the most complicated pocket watch of its era. In 1909 patents for wrist-chronographs were filed in Berne. In 1914 creation by Eterna of the first series-production wristwatch with alarm. In 1916 Heuer filed a patent for the “Micrograph” to 1/100th of a second, and the “Semi-micrograph” to 1/50th of a second. In 1919 based on research by Charles-Edouard Guillaume and in
collaboration with the Imphy steelworks, the compensating balance-spring was made using a nickel-steel alloy. In 1924. John Harwood filed the first Swiss patent for a self-winding wristwatch with a central oscillating weight. In 1925 the first known wristwatch with a perpetual calendar was manufactured using a pendant watch movement (Patek Philippe). In 1926 series of production began of self-winding wristwatches with an oscillating weight, based on Harwood’s patent (Selza, Fortis and Blancpain using blanks by A. Schild S.A.). In 1926 Rolex created the Oyster wristwatch with water-resistant case and crown. In 1927 Patek Philippe produced what was then the world’s most complicated watch, known as the Packard after the automobile magnate James Packard who commissioned it. In 1929 LeCoultre revealed the world’s smallest movement, the 101 calibre. In 1929 Eterna launched the first eight-day alarm wristwatch. In 1930 the first known tourbillon wristwatch was produced. In 1931 Emile Borer made the first selfwinding wristwatch whose unidirectional rotor swung in a complete circle: the Rolex Perpetual. In 1931 Louis Cottier made a watch showing universal time (with 29 world cities). In 1933 patents were filed for a chronograph with two push-buttons (Breitling). The company Porte-Echappement Universel (Fritz Marti) invented the « Incabloc » shock absorption system that could be adapted to any calibre. Introduction of the « Nivarox » compensating balance-spring and the « Nivaflex » mainspring. In 1933 the speaking clock came into service at the Paris Observatory, invented in the 1880s. In 1937 Dubois-Depraz devised a system for chronographs that did away with the column wheel. In 1942 the “bidynator”, a bidirectional rotor, was developed by A. Michel-Felsa in Granges. In 1948 the first self-winding watch with a rotor on ball bearings (Eterna-matic) was produced. In 1952 the first electric watches with contacts were made, a joint collaboration between engineers at Elgin and Lip. In 1955 Vacheron Constantin created the Extraplate. In 1955 the first self-winding watch with alarm, the Memovox by Jaeger LeCoultre was produced. In 1961 an aquatic version of the Cricket was made which was initially created by Vulcain in 1947. In 1963 Favre-Leuba created the Bivouac altimeter/barometer watch. In 1967 in Paris, the 13th Conference on Weights and Measures defined the second as the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom. This replaced the astronomical definition where a second equalled 1/86,400th of the average solar day. In 1969 the Omega Speedmaster was worn by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during the mission Apollo XI, that allowed human beings to walk on the Moon. In 1969 simultaneous launch of the first self-winding wrist chronographs by Heuer, Breitling, Bürer and El Primero by Zenith. In 1978 quartz watches overtook mechanical watches in popularity, plunging the Swiss watch industry into crisis. In 1979 launch of the Delirium, the world’s thinnest watch (1.98mm). In 1980 Corum launched the Golden Bridge, a miniature baguette movement whose prototype, three years earlier, had won Vincent Calabrese a gold medal at the Geneva Inventions Fair. In 1982 the first Swatch watches were launched in the United States and in Europe a year later. In 1983 official launch in Switzerland of the Swatch watch, in Zürich. The Swatch invention by Nicolas G. Hayek next to other watchmaking projects of his, saved the Swiss watch industry. In 1983 as recommended by Nicolas G. Hayek, the merger between SSIH and ASUAG, a holding company that controlled manufacturers of movements, assortments and electronic components for the entire Swiss watch industry, gave a new bill of health to all brands concerned and gave rise to what would become the Swatch Group. An act of true master class. In 1985 the creation, by Lucerne-born Ludwig Oechslin for Ulysse Nardin, of the Astrolabium Galileo Galilei astronomical watch, followed by the Planetarium Copernicus (1989) and the Tellurium (1992). In 1985 foundation of the Académie des Horlogers Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI), a group of independent master watchmakers, a significant force behind innovation and creation in mechanical watchmaking. In 1986 creation of the first series-production self-winding tourbillon wristwatch by Maurice Grimm and André Beyner for Audemars Piguet. In 1989 Patek Philippe made the most complicated pocket watch of its time to commemorate its 150th anniversary. In 1996 Philippe Dufour invented the Duality, a wristwatch with a double regulator. In 1999 Jean Kazes made the world’s tallest clock (30 metres) for a hotel in Geneva. In 1999 Omega launched the coaxial escapement, developed some 20 years previously by George Daniels. In 2000 first results of research into silicon as a material for wristwatch escapements. In 2000 François-Paul Journe unveiled the first resonance watch. In 2001 Ulysse Nardin produced Dual Direct Escapement in The Freak watch. In 2004 inventions of a flurry of “multiple” tourbillons, with the GyroTourbillon by Jaeger-LeCoultre, Tourbillon Révolution by Franck Muller, DoubleTourbillon 30° by Greubel-Forsey and Thomas Prescher’s triple tourbillon. In 2013 Antoine Martin’s Martin Braun introduced the Slow Runner 1 Hertz with the largest balance wheel. In 2014 Patek Philippe made the most complicated watch ever made by the Manufacture to date, to commemorate its 175th anniversary. Our ultimate duty, in fact I may even call it obligation, is to ensure such a gigantic history full of incredible achievements remains at the prime of our memory, by promoting and educating fine watchmaking with the highest levels of respect and determination today, for a better and a more productive tomorrow. Just remember, what your tomorrow holds for you is not only based on your present, but also on your appreciative manners of your past. Keep reading and watching,
Vasken Chokarian
Info: iW archives
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