The Watch Files

As we discussed last time, Porsche Design's innovative use of materials and coatings set their watches apart in a crowded industry. In this special episode, Serge Maillard and Stephen Foskett discuss the future of watch movement and case materials with Lucien Steinmann of Positive Coating, the company driving an explosion of colorful PVD and ALD coatings. Watches like the rainbow-c

On April 25, 1981, attendees at the European Watch, Clock, and Jewellery Fair in Basel got their hands on something completely new. IWC introduced the Porsche Design Titan chronograph, the first titanium watch available for sale. The revolutionary material caught the watchmaking world off guard, and the Titan helped IWC and their partner Jaeger-LeCoultre survive the quartz crisis.

On June 9, 1931, watchmaker Eugène Meylan registered a new company, Automatic EMSA, to exploit his latest innovation, a central-rotor automatic winding mechanism that could be paired with nearly any small round movement. This would catapult Glycine, the company Meylan founded as a young man, to prominence with the first mass-market automatic watch. But the story of Meylan's life i

In this special "extra" episode of The Watch Files, Stephen Foskett tells the story of the Breitling Montbrillant Watch Manufactory in La Chaux-de-Fonds. If you're a Breitling fan, you're probably aware of the name, Montbrillant, which has been used on historic models and featured in advertising for a century. But you might be surprised to learn what the name really refers to, and

On April 4, 1960, 70 independent Swiss watchmakers joined forces to form a remarkable new cooperative. Intent on standing their ground against the consolidation of watchmakers into corporations, the Coopérative de Fabricants Suisses d'Horlogerie would launch a shared watch brand three years later, using the name of famous watchmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz. The Coopérative grew rapidl

On October 25, 1960, American company Bulova introduced the most advanced watch ever made. The Accutron used a tuning fork oscillating 60 times faster than a normal watch thanks to electronic components and a battery. This space-age watch shifted the balance of watchmaking power to America, but it was the brainchild of a Swiss engineer who soon returned home. Max Hetzel's work disr

On July 8, 1992, it was announced that watchmaking giant SMH (today known as the Swatch Group) was purchasing upstart watch brand Blancpain and their movement producer, Frédéric Piguet. This was a recognition of the contrarian company's decade-long effort to re-establish mechanical watchmaking in the face of the quartz crisis. Declaring that Blancpain would never produce a quartz

On January 10, 1969, Zenith and Movado announced the world's most advanced watch movement. Called El Primero, it was the world's first automatic chronograph and represented the best in mechanical watchmaking. But Zenith was sold to an unrelated American company of the same name just two years later, and was forced to cease production of mechanical watches and focus on quartz. This

On January 12, 1979, the Swiss watch industry announced the thinnest watch ever made: The Delirium, developed and produced by Ebauches SA for Concord, Eterna, and Longines. It was just 1.98 mm thick and wasn’t a big seller, but it accomplished something more important: The Delirium proved that the Swiss were innovating like the Japanese and would stand their ground in the quartz

On November 7, 1984, the watch industry was stunned as famed jewellery designer Gerald Genta unveiled a line of fine watches styled with Mickey Mouse, the Pink Panther, and Popeye. The industry had never before mixed pop culture with haute horology, and the outcry forced Genta to abandon Montres et Bijoux. Was it really so bad? Shouldn't they have known this would happen? Join Serg