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Gallet & Co
1466: Humbertus Gallet, living and working in Geneva, becomes a citizen of the republic on the 18th of April.
Historical references point to his profession as a horloger or clock maker.
1685: Due to the abolishment by French King Louis XIV of the tolerance agreement of Nantes, additional members of the Bourg-en-Bresse Gallet family, whose professions are documented as goldsmiths and watchmakers, join their relatives in Geneva to live and practice their trade.
1702 - Philippe Gallet ((1679–1739), son of Jacques Gallet (1649–1700) and Marie Bouvier Gallet, is included in the Geneva Registry of Jewelers and Watchmakers.
1742: Pierre Gallet (1712–1768) marries noblewoman Jeanne Renée de Rabours.
The marriage contract records Pierre Gallet's profession as master goldsmith.
This document also lists the occupation of Pierre's father, Philippe Gallet (1679–1739), as goldsmith and watchmaker.
1744: Jeanne Renee gives birth to a son, Jacques, who follows in his father's occupation as jeweler and watchmaker.
1774 : Jacques Gallet (1745–1806) fathers a son, Jean-Louis Gallet (1774–1809).
1804: Napoleon annexes Geneva, naming it the Lemanique Republic. Jean Louis Gallet becomes a French citizen and continues his father's jewelry and watch making company until his pre-mature death in 1809 at age 35.
1826: Julien Gallet (1806–1849), son of Jean Louis, relocates the family watch making business to La Chaux-de-Fonds, a major center for pocket watch production.
At this time, the company is officially registered as Gallet & Cie (Gallet & Company), a break from the tradition of naming the business after the family patriarch.
1848: Julien Gallet dies at 43, after which, the company is run by his widow Louise, and sons Leon and Lucien.
1855: Léon Gallet (1832–1899) becomes the patriarchal figure of the rapidly growing Gallet & Cie.
He expedites the expansion of the company and the need for more workshop space by acquiring Grumbach & Co., which produces watches with the brand name Electa.
Gallet & Cie. is renamed Electa Gallet & Cie. and produces watches under both the Gallet and Electa brand names.
1864: Léon Gallet's brother Lucien Gallet establishes the company's first US location in Chicago, with a New York City office following soon after.
Together with Jules Racine, a cousin of the Gallet brothers living in the US, the company expands its distribution to the American market.
1876: In response to competition for sales of timepieces in Europe by large American watch manufacturer's, Léon Gallet, together with Louis and Jules Courvoisier, Ernest Francillon of  Longines, and Constant Girard-Gallet of Girard-Perregaux, found the "Intercantonal Company for Industrial Development of the Jura Industries".
Benefiting from the unified strength of combined Swiss manufacturing resources, the group is able to maintain its sales dominance in Europe.
Marketing for the syndicate is primarily European based with an emphasis on sales to England.
1880: Henriette Gallet (1860-1939), daughter of Léon Gallet, is wed to Émile Courvoisier (1858-1937), son of Louis Courvoisier (1825-1885), at which time the working relationship between these two important La Chaux-de-Fonds watch manufacturers becomes familial.
1881: Léon L. Gallet commissions and trademarks the Gallet Lyre Mark.
The Lyre Mark is stamped on watch cases and movements manufactured in the La Chaux-de-Fonds workshop.
1882: A strategic partnership is formed with Jules Jeanneret & Fils, to supply mechanisms for Gallet’s professional use line of hand-held timers and pocket chronographs.
1883: Léon hands over management of the Gallet company to his older son Julien (1862–1934), but continues to remain involved until his 1899 death in New York.
The JG initials are added to the Gallet Lyre Mark and the company name is temporarily changed to Julien Gallet & Cie to reflect the older son's control of the business.
Georges Gallet (1865–1946), Léon's younger son, assists his brother with the management of the company while working part-time at Courvoisier & Frères.
By this time, the Gallet Company is producing more than 100,000 watches annually.
1893: Berthe Courvoisier (1868-1936), daughter of Louis Philippe Courvoisier and an heir to the family watch company, is wed to Georges Gallet, son of Léon.
Berthe Courvoisier and her brother Émile, together with Georges Gallet and his sister Henriette, continue to manage the Courvoisier Frères watch company.
Georges Gallet assumes the role as co-director of the company.
1895: Gallet introduces the first wrist-worn watches for mass consumption by men and women to the American market.
These first "wristwatches" are immediately rejected due to public perception as being too unusual for women and too feminine for men.
All unsold examples are soon returned to Switzerland for disassembly.
In spite of initial resistance to this groundbreaking innovation, wristwatches are issued during WWI as a more useful way for soldiers to tell time in combat situations.
As a result, this new concept gains acceptance, and is soon added to the offerings of numerous other watch companies.
1896: Rail road pocket watches with chronometer grade movements with patented regulators are created by Gallet under the Interocean brand name and distributed by Timothy Eaton (T. Eaton Department Store) for railway use.
1896: Gallet wins a silver medal at the Swiss National Exhibition in Geneva.
1899: Upon his death, Léon Gallet bequeaths a sum of 43,000 Swiss Francs (today equivalent to approx. 1,000,000 US dollars) to the town of La Chaux-de-Fonds, of which 25,000 Swiss Francs is used for the construction of the Musée international d'horlogerie (International Museum of Watch Making).
To assist the museum in building its initial collection of timepieces, Georges Gallet donates over 100 highly complex and valuable Gallet, Electa, and Courvoisier watches.
Georges Gallet serves as director of the museum for the next twenty years.
1900: Shortly after Léon Gallet's death, the company name is changed back to Gallet & Cie (Gallet & Co.).
1905: Gallet wins a Diploma of Honor at the Liege Exhibition.
1906: The company name "Gallet & Cie, Fabrique d’horlogerie Electa" is registered to reinforce Gallet's ownership and control of the Electa brand. Under the Electa name, Gallet produces its highest quality timepieces.
1911: Henri Jeanneret-Brehm, a member of the esteemed Jeanneret family of St. Imier watchmakers, purchases the Magnenat-Lecoultre factory with financial assistance from the Gallet company.
1912: Gallet creates the first wristwatch for mass distribution to include a full-sized constant seconds hand originating from the center of the dial (face).
This innovation proved useful for timing tasks that emphasized seconds over minutes and hours, including the measuring of the human heart rate.
Gallet’s new “sweep second” wristwatches were issued to military nurses and medics during World War I.
1914: Gallet wins the Grand Prize in the Chronometer category at the Swiss National Exhibition in Berne.
1915: Gallet supplies hand held and cockpit mounted timers to the British Air Force during WW I.
Movements are produced in Gallet’s Electa workshop and marked with the Electa name.
1916: Gallet supplies wrist-worn timers to the British armed forces during World War I. This early chronograph wristwatch was an obvious transitional timepiece.
While technically refined and reduced in size from a traditional hand-held timer, it still retains the three-piece case, porcelain enamel dial, and center button crown of its larger predecessor.
1917: Gallet wins the 1st place award for chronometer accuracy at the Canton Observatory in Neuchâtel.
1918: Jeanneret-Brehm begins manufacturing under the company name Excelsior Park.
Deriving the name from Jenneret-Brehm’s previously registered “Excelsior” trademark, the English variation of the French word for “park” is utilized at the prompting of Gallet to support the collaborative efforts of the two companies in their marketing focus on the American consumer.
The cooperative relationship of Excelsior Park and Gallet leads to the development of a number of time recording mechanisms, including the calibre 40.
These new chronograph movements are utilized almost exclusively in Gallet and Excelsior Park wristwatches, with a small number supplied to the Girard Perregaux and Zenith companies when production capabilities allowed.
1927: Gallet introduces the “Regulator” and “Duo Dial” wristwatches for the medical and technical professions.
The large-sized lower subsidiary seconds dial of the rectangular Duo-Dial and the predominant resetting sweep-second hand of the Regulator simplify the task of calculating a person’s per-minute heart rate.
1929: While Gallet develops viable markets for its new wristwatch innovations, the company is able to survive the Great Depression by supplying professional use “tool watches” to its military and industrial clients.
1935: As World War II becomes imminent, Gallet begins production of wristwatches, boat clocks with 8-day movements, and military stopwatches for Great Britain, Canada, and the U.S.A. At the start of World War II, production again surpasses 100,000 watches annually.
1936: Gallet introduces the first water resistant cases for protecting the delicate mechanism of chronograph wristwatches from the damaging effects of humidity.
This new innovation become standard on many models in Gallet's "MultiChron" line of professional use timepieces, as well as the upcoming Flight Officer military issue pilot's watch.
1938: Commissioned by Senator Harry S Truman staff for the pilots of the U.S. Army Air Forces, Gallet creates the Flight Officer chronograph.
This wristwatch provides a combination of new innovations.
Besides the ability to accurately record events ranging from 1/5th second to 30 minutes in duration, the rotating 12-hour bezel and dial (face) printed with the major cities gives pilots the ability to calculate changes in the time as lines of longitude are crossed.
Truman wears a Gallet Flying Officer during his two terms as US president.
1939: Gallet produces the Multichron Petite.
The Petite is one of the first wrist chronographs engineered exclusively for enlisted women assigned to technical and scientific tasks during WWII.
Powered by the 10 ligne Valjoux 69 movement, and measuring only 26.6mm in diameter, the MultiChron Petite becomes the smallest mechanical chronograph manufactured to date.
1946: With the end of World War II, and the death of his father Georges, Léon Gallet assumes management of the Gallet Company.
Only minor changes are needed to transform the appearance of Gallet's military style watches into trendy chronographs for sportsmen and civilian pilots.
1965: Gallet introduces the Excel-O-Graph.
This pilot’s wristwatch features a rotating bezel with integrated slide rule for making navigational calculations during flight.
1970: Asian manufacturers begin releasing electronic quartz regulated timepieces onto the world markets.
By continuing to build mechanical timepieces for a clientele not influenced by changing fads and convention, Gallet survives the so called "quartz crisis".
1975: Upon the death of Léon Gallet, sons Pierre and Bernard assume management of the company.
They acquire the Racine Company, which has been struggling as a result of devaluation of the U.S. dollar.
1983: Excelsior Park closes its factory on 6 April due to the lack of family successors and a sizable decrease in orders of mechanical movements from its Gallet partner during the difficult "quartz crisis".
To continue to support owners of Excelsior Park powered watches, Gallet acquires the balance of the company’s remaining inventory and assets.
An attempt in 1984 by the Flume Company of Germany to revitalize Excelsior Park name proves unsuccessful.
1984: Wein Brothers, a Canadian distributor of timing instruments, contracts with the Gallet Company to manufacture rugged wristwatches for distribution to the US Government.
To facilitate the initial transactions, the watch dials (faces) of these military specification watches are marked Marathon, a previously held Gallet trademark.
Wein Brothers continues to distribute military timepieces and related products under the Marathon brand to the present day.
1990: Gallet supplies 30,000 “Navigator” wristwatches to the Marathon Company for distribution to the U.S. military.
Prior to Marathon’s fulfillment of the contract, prototypes are arduously tested by the US Government to withstand the most adverse of circumstances.
All examples exceed the military's strict requirements for sustaining accuracy and functionality during combat conditions.
1991: Pierre Gallet retires from the company due to ill health. His brother Bernard assumes control of the company, which continues to focus on the manufacture of professional-use timepieces.
1996: To facilitate expansion, Bernard Gallet enters into a partnership with B. Neresheimer Ltd., a company with over a hundred years experience in the manufacture and distribution of fine silver wares and high-end luxury goods.
2002: The Gallet factory is relocated from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Grandson, a canton of Vaud approximately one hour from Geneva.
Walter Hediger, a member of the Neresheimer family, takes the reins of Gallet as its CEO.
2004: Company activity becomes concentrated near Zurich. Bernard Gallet remains active with the company until his death in 2006.
2008: Gallet & Co co-sponsors "Time in Office" at the National Watch and Clock Museum, an exhibition of timepieces worn by America’s presidents extending back to the pocket watches of George Washington.
One of the featured items in the exhibit is the Gallet Flight Officer chronograph worn by Harry S Truman during his years in office as the 33rd president of the US.
2009: Gallet & Co co-sponsors "Time & Exploration" at the National Watch and Clock Museum, an exhibit highlighting the importance of time and timekeeping in the fields of exploration and navigation.

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Gant

In 1914, Bernard Gantmacher arrived from Ukraine to New York City.
Empty handed, but determined to make a better future for himself, he enrolled at Colombia University, studying to become a pharmacist.
To finance his studies he worked night shifts in the garment district of the Lower East Side.
His first job was to sew shirt collars and he soon proved to be a master at the sewing machine.
There he met his future wife, Rose, who was working as a button and buttonhole specialist.
In 1927, the couple moved to New Haven, Connecticut.
The city was the center of a booming textile industry and Bernard set up business as a sub-contractor, making shirts for other labels.
Gant were quickly recognized as skilled shirt makers and became trusted partners for some of the most notable brands of the time.
To satisfy the many customers who wanted to make sure they were getting the same high quality every time, Bernard started labeling the shirts with a diamond “G”.
Soon everybody was talking about the “G-shirt” and demand far exceeded supply.
After World War II, Bernard and Rose’s two sons, Marty and Elliot, returned home from active service.
The brothers joined the family business and in 1949 they launched their own label, GANT of New Haven.
The GANT shirt was an overnight success.
An important feature was the button-down collar.
Button-down shirts, originally an English innovation, where becoming very fashionable and GANT was the first to introduce such a shirt on a larger scale on the US market.
The combination of Bernard’s dedication to quality and his sons’ style sense proved to be a winning formula.
Over the following years GANT came up with a number of creative tailoring features, such as the locker loop, the box pleat and the button on the back of the collar to keep the tie in place.
Such innovations helped to maintain interest in GANT and won the label a dedicated following.
For GANT, it all began with the shirt.
Watches are at a special position in all the collections of Gant brand.
Watches are the reflections of traditions, customs fantasies of designers and their creativity.
Watches created by Gant became a perfect supplementation for many fans of Gant brand who want to pay attention to once sophisticated taste and beauty.
Cases made of stainless steel: squared, round, rectangular can make a perfect accomplishment to a classic or a sport wear.
Dials colored differently are supplied with three hands and an aperture of date placed next to some hour marks.

Genuine leather straps decorate watch models wich are supplied with quartz movements.

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Geiger

The company was founded in 1906 by Barbara Geiger.
She has made a new understanding of fashion.
At the time, was conceived notion of "emancipation" and Barbara led the process, having established her own business.
Today, watches Geiger, presented at the watch market in 2004, won huge popularity due to its elegant design and impeccable quality «Swiss Made».
They seemed to feel the spirit of 100 - year tradition of the fashion house.
Price Range of watches Geiger ranges from 57 to $ 107.
Cases and bracelets of all models are made of stainless steel, sapphire crystal and equipped with original Swiss movement Ronda.
Also, models are available with a leather strap.
All models are waterproof.
The dials are in black and white colors, as well as a pearl. Some models bezel are encrusted with crystals Swarovski.
Distributor of wristwatch is the company Geiger Hamilton Trading Co., Ltd., which started its activity on watch market in 1989.
In 2006 the company took part in Geiger Local Fair in Hong Kong, and in 2007 introduced its fine timepieces at BaselWorld.


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Georg Jensen

With a history that spans more than 100 years, the Georg Jensen brand represents quality craftsmanship and timeless aesthetic design, producing lifestyle products ranging from hollowware to watches, jewellery and home products.

The philosophy of Georg Jensen himself was to create democratic designs possessing both functionality and beauty.

His artisanal skill and artistic talent combined with his continuous ability to identify and support design talent was the foundation on which he built Georg Jensen in Copenhagen in 1904.

Georg Jensen’s style embraced the Art Nouveau lines of the day but injected them with a distinctive vigour that continues to resonate today.

Serene flowing forms are enriched by exquisitely sculpted ornamentation and his stylised bouquets of flowers and lush bunches of grapes reflect his sensual delight in nature.

Our most important task is to leverage the ideas and principles of the master himself and translate these into the design of the present day.

The Georg Jensen brand is based on a number of shared values such as integrity, authenticity and Danish design.

All resonating the Scandinavian values - the simplicity of life, the Nordic light, clean water and fresh air – and all capsulised in the Georg Jensen Vision, Mission and Values.

Respecting our DNA and our values it is both our obligation and our opportunity to run a profitable business providing products relevant to the consumer of today.


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Germinal Voltaire

They were in business from 1848 until very recently. The name Germinal was also used by the Swiss Waltham Watch Co. in the 1960's.
According to Pritchard, in 1911 they were listed as Fabrique Germinal in Chaux de Fonds by 1915 they were listed as picard & Co., Fabrique Germinal.
I had a wristwatch by them a few years ago that was of moderate quality that was signed Germinal Voltaire.
Pritchard's 2 volume work is the first and mostly only place to look for information on Swiss watches. (fonte NAWCC)

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Gevril
Although Gevril has been making fine Swiss watches for 265 years, you may have only heard of them in the recent past. 
Gevril was acquired in 2001 by Samuel Friedmann in his desire to fulfill a dream. 
Friedmann envisioned the renaissance of an established, high quality watch brand through a careful balance of strong tradition with the most modern technology.
The rich Swiss history of Gevril attracted Friedmann to the company. 
The original founder of this watch brand, Jacques Gevril, was born in 1721. 
Jacques was the first in a family line of watchmakers. 
As would be expected of a watchmaker of his caliber, Jacques Gevril clocked in many firsts amongst the community of timepiece makers. 
Two of his most notable firsts were his invention of the repetition dial, and his becoming the first exporter of Swiss timepieces when he hand delivered a specially crafted watch to King Ferdinand VI in 1758. 
The king was so impressed with the craftsmanship that he personally appointed Gevril 'Watchmaker to the Crown of Spain'.
Gevril's son Moshe became a 'Master Clockmaker' in 1784, and many of his descendants followed in the family tradition of creating the finest quality watches and clocks.
Their tradition expanded and improved it was not simply continued. 
Jacques originally began restoring watches, building his first chronometer in 1743 and his repetition dial in 1744.
In the early 19th. Century the family became experts in enameling, and developed the finest artistry in the creation of dials for their timepieces.
The combination of quality and beauty embodied in the Gevril watches earned them their rightful place in the salons of the royal and prestigious, into European museums, and into watchmaking history books. 
Up until the more recent past Gevril was still a relatively unknown brand outside of the most educated rings of timepiece historians until Friedmann took ownership of the company in 2001 and breathed new life into the marketing of the brand. 
Today, Friedmann's goal of Gevril's rebirth has been realized. 
Gevril is once again recognized as a maker of the finest watches. 
Examples of Gevril artistry and technology grace the arms of the celebrities who constitute today's royalty, and the pages of the magazines of the elite. 
Collectors appreciate and admire the simple grandeur of Gevril watches.
Because of its substantial history, Gevril has its own identity and does not, remotely, imitate any other brand. 
This individuality is something which Friedmann values greatly and strives to preserve. 
He says, “The watch has a face, and just like people, every watch's face is different.
The watch you wear reflects the person inside you." Gevril maintains its quality vigilantly.
Every single timepiece is expertly hand-crafted at their factory in Tramelan, Switzerland. 
Each year, a maximum of 6,000 Gevril watches are created; numbers per line vary between 26 and 500. 
The finest quality materials are used: mother-of-pearl dials are natural, Wesselton diamonds are calibrated by CNC machines, Gold is 18K and the Stainless steel is surgical grade (316L).   Gevril's own craftsmen expertly finish all movements for their luxury watches.
Although only the most modern techniques are used, Freidmann is proud to say that he is not letting go of the “classic” Gevril watch "look."
In fact, the dial on the watches Gevril sells today is not so different from one by Daniel Gevril which can be found in a Geneva museum. 
Samuel Freidmann explains, “I want to make sure that the new watches have something in common with past watches.
I want to go closer to the past, because I feel that this will be our success: using today's technology with the core being from the historical foundation.
" When Freidmann first acquired Gevril in 2001, he summed up his goal – since then he has attained it: 
“I want to combine the tradition of the Gevril brand with innovative and modern watchmaking techniques.” 
Gevril's combination of these core aspects has made it, once again, a prestigious watch brand – known for fine watchmaking and design.

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Girard Perregaux
Girard-Perregaux witness the history that comprises more than 200 years of fruitful creativity and development of a prestigious Swiss producer of high quality timepieces established in 1791.
It makes it one of the oldest manufactures within the industry.
Having inherited rich tradition, each new generation of watchmakers has made the significant contribution towards continuous enriching the company's expertise and skills.
The Girard-Perregaux manufacture produces practically all the watch parts independently. Girard-Perregaux, being one of the members, takes part in the activities led by the association of leading jewelers and watch specialists, as well as the Association Interprofessionelle de la Haute Horlogerie (AIHH).
The company was given its present name in 1854 when a gifted watchmaker Constant Girard married Marie Perregaux, having taken over the company.
More than just a famous watchmaker, Constantin Girard was not only a prominent watchmaker but also a enthusiastic supporter committed to the republican cause and devoted a great deal of his time and energy to serve for the benefit of his native town of La Chaux-de-Fonds.
It took the watchmaker just a few years to establish a reputation that reached even the New World. The "Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges" or Tourbillon Sous Trois Points d'Or, brought the Girard-Perregaux Company international fame and appreciation.
This technical and aesthetic wonder indubitably represents the greatest achievement of a life spent in the research and developing of the horological art.
The astonishing pocket watch brought Girard-Perregaux two gold medals at the Paris Universal Exhibitions in 1867 and 1889, and is found among the most desirable mechanical watches ever produced. In 1991, the world of watch-making was amazed to witness the appearance of the first wrist version of the Tourbillon with Three Gold Bridges that commemorated the anniversary of the Girard-Perregaux company that was successfully creating fine timepieces for two centuries in the row.
The wristwatch available in different cases for the first time featured beautifully skeletonized design, the manual wind movement and three bridge tourbillon escapement that has won the hearts of many collectors.
In 1999, the company introduced the automatic version of the timepiece, having maintained both the dimension of the movement and the ideal structure of the three Bridges.
This technical feat was supplied with an absolutely reliable movement, as well as a power reserve of over 48 hours.

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Glashütte original
After almost four centuries of mining, the silver found until then dried up at beginning of the nineteenth century and great poverty broke out over the town of Glashütte.
Ferdinand Adolph Lange (1815-1875), master watchmaker to the Saxon court, brought new hope to the place with the founding of the first watch manufactory.
His vision was to make an independent Saxon watch industry concentrating on the production of high precision watches in comparably small numbers.
Glashütte’s municipal coat of arms, existing in its present form since 1912, displays the history of the city, a past first characterized by mining and then watchmaking.
Well-known watchmakers followed Lange’s call, with Julius Assmann at the forefront.
At his Deutsche Präzisions-Taschenuhrenfabrik, he manufactured precision watches outfitted with elements typical of Glashütte, such as the three-quarter plate and a hand-engraved balance cock, that were awarded prizes all over the world.
A model from Julius Assmann’s company is this pocket watch from around 1905 featuring a tripartite enameled dial typical of Glashütte and wonderfully decorative gold hands in Louis XV style.
After the first developments such as winding by crown, the Glashütte three-quarter plate, and the lever escapement, even more complex mechanisms were being made.
The first Glashütte watch with a stop function (1863), repeaters, and calendar watches followed. The mechanical workshops of Strasser & Rohde were famed for their extraordinary precision pendulum clocks.
They were founded in 1875 by the influential personalities Ludwig Strasser and Gustav Rohde. The enormous international demand for Glashütte’s precision watches called for more and more very specialized tradespeople.
And thus Moritz Grossmann – also famous for his excellent pocket watches – founded the German School of Watchmaking (DUS), certainly one of the reasons for the economic success of the region’s watch companies.
Here the great instructors of the trade were able to pass on their knowledge.
Illustrations of typical Glashütte movements served as teaching material, and the students also created these types of drawings themselves later.
At the end of 19th century only a few people could afford to buy the relatively expensive, but very good, watches made in Glashütte.
Johannes Dürrstein, a businessman in the world of watches, decided to consistently do without everything that would make a watch more expensive on his UNION models.
He underscored the technical know-how of his UNION watch factory, however, by making lavish timepieces again and again, such as the Universal Watch of 1901.
Outfitted with eighteen complications it was the most complicated watch in the world for a long time.
Ernst Kasiske founded his own watch factory in 1898, which in 1904 was integrated into Glashütter Präzisionsuhrenfabrik Aktiengesellschaft and later became an individual company within the Uhrenrohwerkefabrik Glashütte (UROFA).
In addition to the many important watchmakers, case makers and producers of hands and balances also settled in Glashütte.
They supplied the individual companies who strove to make watches containing German-made components.
Glashütte became the epitome of German precision horology and advanced to one of the era’s most important centers of watchmaking, along with the Swiss Jura.
Movements for observation watches with large compensation balances made of two metals were constructed around the turn of the century, guaranteeing an especially great amount of precision even despite changes in climate.
Former pupil Alfred Helwig was called to become an instructor at the German School of Watchmaking in Glashütte.
With his extraordinary knowledge of fine adjustment and most especially with the invention of the flying tourbillon in 1920 he made a name for himself worldwide.
His expert essay on “Karussel Watches” remains today one of the most important instructional works for tourbillon builders.
A unique escapement model by Helwig made in 1927 at the German School of Watchmaking was bought at auction by Glashütte Original – and returned to the place of its birth.
With the approach of World War I in 1914, the positive development that Glashütte had been enjoying came to an abrupt end, terminating the town’s first heyday.
Many watch companies had to let the majority of their employees go.
No one knew how the sales of Glashütte precision watches would develop.
After the end of the war, many companies were newly created.
On November 9, 1918 Deutsche Präzisions-Uhrenfabrik Glashütte (DPUG) was entered into the registry of companies.
The factory‘s origins were underscored with the words “Original Glashütte” in its logo.
The “Original Glashütte“ logo appeared on a Deutsche Präzisionsuhrenfabrik Glashütte pocket watch dial for the first time in 1921.
Thus, the company was able to set itself apart from the imitation pieces of “System Glashütte”.
Following the severe world economic crisis of the early 1920s, many of Glashütte’s companies were experiencing great financial difficulty.
Additionally, the wristwatch was becoming ever more popular from 1919.
When the Swiss watch embargo was lifted in 1924, Glashütte’s relatively expensive wristwatches and pocket watches, which were no longer the fashion, had lost importance.
With the express goal of not letting the Glashütte watch industry go under, two new companies, UROFA (Uhren-Rohwerke-Fabrik Glashütte AG) and UFAG (Uhrenfabrik Glashütte AG), were founded in 1926: important movement ébauches were supplied from then on by the Uhren-Rohwerke-Fabrik Glashütte (UROFA), which was created from the remains of Glashütter Präzisionsuhrenfabrik.
The qualitatively very good and price-conscious wristwatches from Uhrenfabrik Glashütte (UFAG) were welcomed by many fans.
The large G and the town name Glashütte made up the succinct logo of UFAG.
The positive development of Glashütte’s wristwatches ended in the 1930s with the beginning of World War II.
The watch companies were obligated to manufacture “goods important to the war.
” The design of Glashütte’s pilot’s chronometers became a military secret in 1940.
They were fantastic in their striking reliability and rate precision.
On the very last day of World War II, May 8, 1945, Glashütte was subjected to an air raid.
After the end of the war, numerous factories were expropriated and dismantled by Russian occupying forces.
Once again, the unshakable will of Glashütte’s watchmakers was called upon to restart.
In the new political climate, it was the simple utilitarian wristwatch that shaped the development to follow.
On July 1, 1951 all of Glashütte’s independent watch companies were fused into one large conglomerate: VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe.
It included UROFA with its departments UFAG and Basalt, VEB Lange, VEB Feintechnik (formerly Gössel & Co. or Burkhard), VEB Messtechnik (formerly Mühle and Son), VEB Estler, VEB Präzision Glashütte (formerly Liwos), and the technical school Makarenko (founded in 1946).
Shortage of foreign currencies and absent import opportunities demanded of Glashütte’s residents the most autonomy possible in terms of education, research, and direct creation of value in their products.
This was to begin with a movement design department, continue with tool making, and go right into the production of individual components.
At times even jewel bearings, balances with balance springs, shock protection, and ball bearings for rotors were even manufactured there.
1990 The reunion of Germany caused VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe to become Glashütter Uhrenbetrieb GmbH, a limited company.
This firm is the legal successor to all of the previously founded companies belonging to Glashütte’s watch community.
1994 High-quality mechanical watches, manufactured in the tradition of the old masters: that is how the company returned to the exalted group of genuine watch manufactories.
The brand name Glashütte Original is a synonym for watch movements that are conceived, designed, and manufactured in exceptional depth of production at the company itself.
1995 In the spring, the manufactory celebrated its first new appearance on the market with a collection of three-handed automatics, an automatic chronograph, and a manually wound chronometer.
An absolute highlight on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Glashütte watch production was the most complicated and expensive watch in Glashütte’s modern era: the Julius Assmann 1 – a masterpiece outfitted with a perpetual calendar and a flying tourbillon.
This masterpiece can be worn as both a pocket and a wristwatch. 1996 1845 – the founding year of the first watch manufactory in Glashütte – gives this popular collection outfitted wtih manually wound Calibers 42 and 49 its name.
The 1845 Special Edition model Alfred Helwig Flying Tourbillon, limited to only 25 pieces and outfitted with very fine Caliber 41, was sold out within just a short period of time.
With its new Sport collection the manufactory won over ever more fans of striking, robust watches.
1997 For the production of the special edition model Julius Assmann 2, the Glashütte Original watch manufactory decided to cooperate for the first time with the porcelain manufactory Meissen.
The fine mechanics of Caliber 52 are crowned with a dial made of paper-thin, hand-painted Meissen porcelain.
Worldwide there were only 25 pieces – each one definitely a unique piece.
Today already a classic: the Senator Edition was impressive with its new Caliber 39, the first automatic movement with swan-neck fine adjustment and a skeletonized rotor.
And the ladies weren’t forgotten either: the Lady Sport Edition pleased sports-oriented females and ambitioned businesswomen alike.
1999 Haute horlogerie of the finest sort: The new Senator Perpetual Calendar united demanding complications with the functionality of the modern.
In the same year, the readers of the Austrian magazine Die Presse crowned this model the winner in the competition’s most interesting category: “Complicated Watch.”.
2000 The Senator Perpetual Calender was honored with the sought-after title Watch of the Year by the readers of the German watch magazine ArmbandUhren and the German national newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
With the introduction of the PanoRetroGraph, there was simultaneously a world premiere: the first mechanical chronograph that can also count backwards.
Its off-center dial design was also the platform for the new PanoDate Edition.
Now it was the goal to make this innovative manufactory art directly tangible for even more watch lovers.
Through a strategic alliance with the Swatch Group AG, the manufactory was able to find quick entry to competent watch dealers all over the world.
2004 New types of solutions inside and out: the PanoMaticChrono convinced watch lovers of this with various dial levels and a patented bilaterally winding stepped gear that made a targeted transmission of winding energy to the serial spring barrels possible.
In the same year, the PanoMaticChrono won first prize at International Watch’s readers’ vote in the category “Chronograph. The Saeculum Glashütte Original Music Festival Prize proved the manufactory’s cultural commitment.
True to the motto “quality is not a question of time,” from this point on the special life’s work of an artist has been honored.
In 2004 it was the famous conductor and music director Prof. Kurt Masur.
Another new beginning was represented by the first class to go through the Alfred Helwig School of Watchmaking, which successfully completed its education in this year.
All graduates were offered a job at Glashütte Original.
The start into the New Year was successfully once again.
At 2007’s Golden Balance, the PanoMaticVenue took first place in Category “Watches to 10,000 Euros”.
On the occasion of the 155th anniversary of the founding of J. Assmann Glashütte/i. Sa., the manufactory created the Julius Assmann 4 – a skeletonized masterpiece with a tourbillon and a retrograde hour display.
For many experts, the absolute highlight at the Baselworld marked the Senator Rattrapante containing a split-second chronograph in the manual winding caliber 99.
In remembrance to joie de vivre of the “wild ’60s”, Glashütte Original introduced the new Senator Sixties edition with domed sapphire crystals on top and bottom.
The creative spirit was also reflected by the Senator Meissen with individually numbered porcelain dial, as well with the new Pano XL and Lady Serenade edition – each leaded by an exclusive tourbillon model.
A traditional topping-out ceremony took place at the construction site of the German Watch Museum Glashütte on June 28, 2007, celebrating the end of an important construction phase.
During the year, Glashütte Original also expanded its international presence, e.g. with the inauguration of the first Boutique Japan at the new Nicolas G. Hayek Center in Tokyo, the brand launch in Australia and the opening of a flagship stores at “The Venetian Macao”.
The exceptional corporate identity of the German luxury watch manufactory made its mark on national and international competitions.
Glashütte Original received five awards: three for the customer magazine MOMENTUM, one for the entire positioning of the brand Glashütte Original and the image film “Handmade in Germany.”
2008 The duplex swan-neck fine adjustment introduced by Glashütte Original in 2002 got the attention it deserves on the dial of a watch.
This impressive changeover was shown at the PanoInverse XL.
Within the Sport Evolution, the manufactory surprised with a "perpetual globetrotter": a perpetual calendar with an additional bezel for a second timezone.
The optimum protection of the movement had been the focus of the development efforts for the Sport Evolution Impact Tourbillon and Chronograph.
Four cushioning elements made of elastomer absorb up to 60% of the impact forces.
Three further chronograph models were added to the Sixties, the Senator Navigator (“Chrono Award 2008” in Austria) as well as the Lady Serenade.
A watch with a very special history was the 1878 Limited Edition. For Glashütte, May 1, 1878, was an important date.
On this particular day, the German School of Watchmaking in Glashütte was founded on the initiative of watch manufacturer Moritz Großmann.
On 22nd May 2008, the official opening of the German Watch Museum Glashütte took place in the historical building of the school.
Consistent with the goals of the foundation “German Watch Museum Glashütte - Nicolas G. Hayek”, Glashütte Original developed an exhibition journey which conveys the rich history of Glashütte as well as aspects relating to the sensation of time and its measurement.
Just after five months, the museum welcomed its 25,000th visitor at the end of October.
2009 For the special moments in life… The new Senator Chronometer was made for these.
Glashütte Original’s first chronometer with official certificate offered a new stop seconds / reset mechanism combined with an innovative minute detent allows the precise time to be easily set on the manual winding Caliber 58-01.
It has been not just one of the “talking pieces” at the Baselworld 2009, but also the highlight of exclusive launch shows in Berlin, Zürich, Hong Kong, New York and Moscow as well as of the Glashütte Original TV spot shown on n-tv.
As master of its class, the Senator Meissen Tourbillon united the Meissen porcelain and Alfred Helwig's flying tourbillon for the first time.
The demanding approach was honored with the title “Watch of the Year 2009” (Complex Mechanism) in Austria.
The new Senator Sixties Square Chronograph also convinced the watch enthusiasts, especially the readers of the Diners Club Magazine ("Mechanical Watch of the Year 2009”).
Two new perpetual calendar were presented as Navigator version or housed in new ceramic case, while the new Sport Evolution Impact Panorama Date offered a PVD coated case.
As very special previews for 2010, the manufactory showed the limited Strasser & Rohde Regulator and the Glashütte Original Pocket Watch No. 1.
Unique masterpieces have been also exhibited by the German Watch Museum Glashütte at the HK Art 09 in Hong Kong and in Wuhan (China).
In Glashütte, the museum welcomed its 50,000 visitor in July – just 14 months after the opening.
Two exceptional classical highlights were presented by the manufactory in Dresden: one at the Semper Opera with the Concertgebouw Orchester Amsterdam & Gustavo Dudamel (Glashütte Original SAECULUM Music Festival Prize 2009) and one at the Church of our Lady with the Vienna Philharmonic & Valery Gergiev.

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Glycine
The Beginning: The history of a passion: Since its founding by Eugène Meylan in 1914, Glycine has been producing watches at its factory in Bienne, Switzerland. Meylan was an uncompromising watch engineer who strove for perfection and nothing less.
He had a profound understanding of both the market demands and the possibilities offered by the technological advances of the time.
Very soon, he succeeded in producing extremely precise, small movements for ladies watches, enabling Glycine to put on the market the finest miniature movements, clad in precious gold and platinum cases, often studded with diamonds.
Glycine became a supplier to the wealthy people who valued highly these works of fine craftsmanship.
However, Meylan did not stop there.
Around 1931, he presented to the world market a well-functioning self-winding watch, entirely of his own invention, a sensational performance that, for lack of capital, could not be exploited commercially.
Some of these GLYCINE Eugène Meylan SA self-winding watches can still be found in the collectors' market.
The year 1934 saw the launch of a chronometer range, a line of watches passing the exacting tests of the Official Swiss Quality Control.
The depression years of the 30s and the approaching world war took a heavy toll on the company as Switzerland was cut off from nearly all its traditional export markets.
Yet Glycine survived and even managed to be one of only 29 exhibitors at the Basel Fair in 1938, an annual event the firm has not missed since.
In 1945, with the war over and access to world markets again possible, the industry took a deep breath.
Immediately, Glycine geared up production and rapidly presented a complete range of automatic (self-winding) watches, making use of the most advanced technologies.
1952 saw the birth of the famous VACUUM chronometers, watches known for their incredible resistance to water and shocks, designed for long-term use under hostile conditions.
They performed well beyond expectations.
In 1953, the AIRMAN line was presented to the world market and immediately received an enthusiastic welcome.
Now, in addition to regular local time, world time was available at a glance. 
The steadily growing class of jet-setters and frequent travellers readily took to the convenience of having two time zones on their wrist. 
The AIRMAN line has never been absent from the Glycine selection, and is, today more than ever, the spearhead of the range.
In the 70s, the Swiss watch industry – late in introducing quartz movements - was hit by the proliferation of quartz watches from the Far East.
The technological revolution brought about by the quartz movement, together with the world-wide recession and a massive increase in value of the Swiss franc, pushed many manufacturers to the brink of disaster.
The products that had earned Glycine such an excellent reputation, namely high-quality mechanical watches and above all automatic watches, were suddenly no longer in general demand.
Customers everywhere were buying Japanese quartz watches or American digital LED watches.
The lucrative business with highly-regarded automatic watches was over, and these were now being sold off at give-away prices.
The market went through a turnaround in its values, a tendency which further intensified as the price for the initially exorbitantly expensive quartz watches consistently dropped to a level where it finally drove even the cheap pin-pallet (Roskopf) mechanical movements out of the market.
Many market shares were lost, the industry entered into a crisis that lasted six years and cost roughly 60,000 jobs.
Glycine too suffered heavily but managed to survive. In 1984, soldering on with a reduced staff, Glycine was sold to Hans Brechbühler, who had been working for years with Glycine in a loose cooperation based on the joint development and exchange of watch models.
Following the purchase of Glycine in 1984, Brechbühler, who had been a specialist in private label business, switched over to the brand watch business, an entirely new experience for him.
Progressively, new products were developed that enabled Glycine to work successfully in countries such as Scandinavia, Italy, Holland, Belgium and Germany.
A quartz collection was created and an international network of agencies sprang to life again.
Extremely resistant watches, such as the TJALK and HEAVY DUTY models, were launched and added to the prestige of the brand. 
The market accepted with pleasure the GOLDSHIELD line, featuring a standard of goldplating much higher than anything the competitors could present.
The sophisticated super-thin AMARANTH watches received an enthusiastic welcome in Italy and the USA.
The new strategies began to pay off in the early 1990s when Brechbühler's daughter Katherina, born in 1962, joined the company and successfully implemented her own brand concept, resulting in mechanical products being increasingly integrated into the company’s collections.
This strategy proved effective in positioning Glycine as a specialist, with a long tradition in the field of mechanical watches.
After an initial success in Germany, the first to really accept the mechanical watches on a large scale, the new range of Glycine products spread to other countries.
The markets were now ready for watches of real value, and Glycine made the most of it.
Beginning in the late 90s and in quick succession, a rich assortment of mechanical watches, with steadily growing diameters, was presented to the market, from the 37 mm COMBAT to the 42 mm OBSERVER, the 44 and 46 mm INCURSORE, the 48 mm KMU and, to top it off, the 52 mm F 104, one of the biggest wrist watches ever produced.
Chronographs with the famous V 7750 and 7751 movements were added, such as the classic 46 mm STRATOFORTE, the giant GRAND CARRE 3810 and the elegant barrel-shaped ALTUS, inspired by a successful Glycine model of the 50s.
All these big size watches gave the company the status of a daring innovator that did not hesitate to push the size of its watches beyond every dimension known so far.
Already in 1953, Glycine started production of its first Airman model, a watch that has become legendary.
The design and features of this watch had been worked out in close co-operation with pilots of civil and military aviation.
Undoubtedly this line gave Glycine the status of a pioneer in the field of world time watches.
Over the years Airman models have never been absent from the Glycine range, even during the period when quartz movements dominated the world market. In reply to market demand, two AIRMAN models with ETA quartz movements were launched, gaining particular success in Japan and USA, where demand for real world time watches had not faded.
The year 1998 brought the long-awaited rebirth of this leader, with model ref. 3764, AIRMAN 2000.
By using an exquisite ETA movement 2893-2, Glycine offered a three-time-zone timekeeper, unique in the field of 24-hour watches.
The following year, the AIRMAN line was enlarged by a jumbo 46 mm watch, featuring a special locking system on the revolving top ring.
At Basel Fair 2002, a genuine world novelty was offered to the public under the name of AIRMAN 7, a watch featuring three independent self-winding movements, showing time simultaneously in four different time zones on three independent dials.
The case measures a stunning 53 mm in diameter yet fits well on an average wrist.
Its sapphire glass back allows for a fascinating view of three finely embellished self-winding movements. 
From 1998 to this day Glycine has devloped an unbroken chain of mechanical aviation watches ranging from successively more complex world timers to unique collectors item.
Today, Glycine is active world-wide by means of a steadily growing network of agencies, allowing the company to increase production while maintaining the quality of its products.
Widespread and reliable after-sale service remains an important factor in the company's growth, and Glycine is taking utmost care to provide impeccable performance in this field.
Offering excellent value at reasonable prices is an important part of Glycine's philosophy.
The company's strong foundation, coupled with its emphasis on rugged and reliable products, make Glycine a respected name in Swiss watchmaking today.

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Graham
Graham is an unrepentantly English name for an exquisitely English watch.
If you're interested in the minutiae of watch making, Graham was the surname of George Graham, born in 1673, master watchmaker who lived in Fleet Street in London.
London was definitely the place to be if you were interested in watchmaking in the 17th and 18th centuries.
A highly developed city, it had a business culture, the world's first scientific society and a navy all of which had pressing time keeping requirements.
Like many Brits before and after him, Graham was more interested in generating lots of ideas than in making money.
He created several inventions but never patented any of them.
For example, he created the first stopwatch.
He devised a mercury pendulum system for making clocks more accurate in very hot and very cold weather.
He also invented the dead-beat escapement which made clocks more accurate in general and built the master clock for Greenwich Royal Observatory.
The escapement he invented is today simply known as the Graham Escapement and still used in high-precision pendulum clocks.
It is actually a predecessor to the Swiss anchor movement almost universally used in wristwatches.
Graham had a pretty open attitude to sharing his innovations.
He often helped fellow horologists like John Harrison and Julien Le Roy to solve problems, and for this acquired the nickname "honest George."
George Graham had learnt his trade from Henry Aske and went on to work for Thomas Tompion. Graham and Tompion moved from being colleagues to friends, with George marrying Tompion's niece, Elizabeth. In 1713, after Tompion's death, Graham took over the business premises.

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Gronefeld
The name Grönefeld and the art of watchmaking have a family history spanning nearly one hundred years, originating in the small and ancient town of Oldenzaal located in The Netherlands.
It is there, in a shop directly under the view of the ancient basilica church and its tower dating from 1240, that the grandfather of the present watchmakers, Johan Grönefeld, began his career as a watchmaker in 1912.
This marked the beginning of the small and highly talented dynasty of Grönefeld watchmakers, which reaches to the present day with the brothers Bart and Tim Grönefeld.
Their workshop is located in the same building as that used by Johan Grönefeld, representing a continuous, unbroken watchmaking family history that is exceptionally rare to find anywhere in the world today.
Both Tim and Bart Grönefeld underwent extensive training in Switzerland, and within a relatively short span of time proved themselves adept world specialists in the production of the most coveted and exquisite horological complications of all: the tourbillon and the minute repeater wristwatch.
After 8 years with Renaud & Papi, where Bart was workshop manager and responsible for training, Tim in charge of escapements and regulating and assembling tourbillons, they returned to the Netherlands in 1998 to set up their own service workshop.
In 2008 Tim and Bart presented the first watch bearing their own name, the GTM-06 Tourbillon Minute Repeater.

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Grovana
Grovana was founded in 1924.
Grovana is a firm that has made a name for itself in the Swiss watch making industry through innovation and flexibility.
Up to the 1970s it made mechanical watches that were always state of the art.
For decades the Swiss watch industry has been renowned all over the world for the quality and accuracy of its products.
Grovana began to move into new markets as early as the 1970s.
This led to a collection being presented that met the requirements of the different markets and made the Grovana brand name successful.
Thanks to this flexibility Grovana weathered the crises in the Swiss watch industry very well, a time when many companies were forced out of business.
Grovana was one of the first Swiss watch manufacturers to start making analog quartz watches.
This technological know-how enabled Grovana to open up new markets.
As early as 1982 80 % of Grovana's output consisted of analog quartz watches.
Grovana has carefully targeted the further expansion called for new investments.
Appropriate measures had to be taken in the form of constant increases in production to satisfy the demand for Grovana watches on the world market.
That is why the manufacturing and administrative divisions in Tenniken were extended in 1986.
Work is currently in progress on a further capacity increase.
In recent years Grovana has achieved annual sales increases of between 5% and 15%.
This is attributable to two factors: firstly, the further extension of existing markets and, secondly, the political changes in Central and Eastern Europe.
Grovana has been able to open up significant new markets in the Baltic States, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania.
Today Grovana exports to more than 80 countries and presents its collection every year at numerous European and overseas trade fairs.
In future the company's supreme objective will still be to produce high-quality, technically excellent Swiss watches.
An attractive collection of Swiss Made watches is to be made available to the worldwide clientele, enabling Grovana to meet the different requirements of the local markets. 
A new building wing came into service in January 2000.
The work preparation process can be optimised as a result of the extension.
The entire components warehouse was brought together in this new building and at the same time new forwarding unit was put into operation.
This means all work process connected with watch manufacture are now more optimally organized.
Special attention was also paid to the repair service.
New, clearly laid out warehouse facilities make it possible to quickly assemble spare parts for our agents.
This means Grovana can continue to guarantee that our spare parts can be despatched to the agents within 48 hours. 
New production facility was taken into operation to be used exclusively for the production of REVUE THOMMEN manufacture movements.
The Grovana Company will continue to make further substantial investments in the existing buildings over the next few years.
Grovana is convinced that in this way we will be able to enter the next millennium confidently.
This business policy will further strengthen the sales markets and also bring much pleasure to the owner of Grovana watches in future.

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