Founded in New York in 1875 by Joseph Bulova, the company was an early industrialiser of standardised parts and an early advertiser on radio and television. Its Accutron of 1960 was the first wristwatch with no balance wheel.
Archives: Brands
-
Hamilton
Founded at Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1892, Hamilton made its name on railroad-grade pocket watches and later on military supply. It produced the first battery-powered wristwatch in 1957 and, through its Pulsar project, the first all-electronic digital watch in 1972. Swiss-owned since 1974.
-
Vulcain
Founded at La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1858, Vulcain is remembered for one problem solved unusually well: making an alarm audible from the wrist. The Cricket of 1947 created the category and was worn by several American presidents.
-
Omega
Founded by Louis Brandt at La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848 and named after the calibre that made its reputation in 1894, Omega built its standing on observatory chronometry and on supplying instruments, from military issue watches to the timekeeping of the Olympic Games.
-
Louis Moinet
Louis Moinet (1768-1853) worked in Paris as a watchmaker, teacher and author, and supplied instruments to Napoleon, Thomas Jefferson and the King of Spain. His two-volume Traite d’Horlogerie of 1848 remained a standard reference for a century. The modern company bearing his name has no corporate descent from him.
-
Heuer
Edouard Heuer founded the firm in Saint-Imier in 1860 and patented the oscillating pinion in 1887, a chronograph coupling still in use. The company built its reputation on timing instruments for sport and motor racing, and in 1969 led the consortium that brought an automatic chronograph to the international market.
-
Zenith
Georges Favre-Jacot founded Zenith at Le Locle in 1865 on an unusual principle for the period: every part of a movement made under one roof rather than bought in from specialists. The approach produced a long line of chronometers and, in 1969, the first chronograph to run at 36,000 vibrations an hour.
-
Blancpain
Blancpain traces its registration to Villeret in 1735, which makes it among the oldest surviving names in watchmaking, though the modern company descends from Rayville S.A., the firm that carried the name through the middle of the twentieth century. Its lasting contribution is the specification of the diver’s watch drawn up in the early 1950s.