Watch manufacture
As a watchmaker producers are referred to mechanical watches, both produce the movement as well as other essential parts of a wristwatch itself.
In contrast to watch manufacturers , a significant number of manufacturers of mechanical wristwatches equip their products with movements from other manufacturers. The term watch manufacture therefore represents a small group among the numerous suppliers. Watch manufacturers mainly manufacture themselves so that the value chain remains largely in the company and greater independence from the supply of raw works (French: ébauches) is achieved by competitors. The definition of the Association of Swiss Watch Manufacturers refers to "factories that produce almost the entire watch" as a watch manufacturer, but this definition only applies to Swiss manufacturers. The name is often used by watch factories for advertising reasons.
However, the term watch manufacture does not make any statement about the quality or the price of the watches, as manufacturers of the highest quality wristwatches in the 20th century were predominantly établisseurs , i.e. exclusive processors of raw works, such as Audemars Piguet , Patek Philippe or Vacheron Constantin , Maurice Lacroix and Manufacturers of inexpensive watches with partially copied movements such as Tianjin Seagull also meet the criterion. Nor does the term include whether all of the watch models offered by these companies are equipped with their own movements. In addition, the majority of watch manufacturers buy their spirals externally. Therefore, the term watch manufacture is often a marketing term .
Manufacturers can, with restrictions, also be called watch manufacturers who, although equipping a considerable part of their models with movements from other manufacturers, also have their own movements. These include Breitling , Chopard and Franck Muller . Cartier used to date the works of Jaeger-LeCoultre and Piaget , but also presents "own" works, in order to gain the status of a watch manufacturer since 2009, which also for Richemont belonging Corporation company, however, on the resources and expertise of Roger Dubuis recourse .
Examples
The following companies make entire clocks, including cases and movements:
- A. Lange
- Audemars Piguet
- Blancpain
- Breguet
- Breitling SA
- Chopard
- Citizen Holdings
- Frédérique Constant
- FP Journe
- Girard-Perregaux
- Moritz Grossman
- H. Moser & Cie
- Hublot
- IWC
- Jaeger-LeCoultre
- Lang & Heyne
- Maurice Lacroix
- Nomos glassworks
- Omega SA
- Panerai
- Parmigiani Fleurier
- Patek Philippe & Co.
- Piaget SA
- Roger Dubuis
- Rolex
- Seiko
- The Swatch Group
- Tudor
- Ulysse Nardin
- Vacheron Constantin
- Vostok
- Vulcain
- Zenith
literature
- The watch manufacture. Edited by Jaeger-LeCoultre , Pforzheim o. J.
- Michael Philip Horlbeck: The wrist alarm clock, the story of an underrated complication . Heel, Königswinter, 2001, ISBN 978-3-89880-003-7 .
- Leonhard Beitl, Reinhard Öhner (photos): Alarm on the arm. Large wristwatch directory for the collector of mechanical wristwatches [from A - Z]. Beitel, Vienna, 2009, ISBN 978-3-200-01646-0 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.fhs.ch/berner/?l=de&q=Manufaktur Berner, Dictionnaire professionnel illustré de l'horlogerie, electronic version
- ↑ Watch brands from all over the world on Chrono24. Retrieved September 10, 2019 .