The 57 Best Swiss Watch Brands: A Complete Guide for 2024

TB Team October 2023

If you were to ask the average person on the street in any part of the world which nation comes to mind when they think about luxury watches, they’d likely not hesitate in naming Switzerland. While the realities of the international watch industry are more complex, and several other nations, such as Japan and Germany, are also prominent makers of excellent luxury watches, Switzerland will always, justifiably, be regarded as the world center of fine watchmaking. The country's longtime reputation for watch excellence springs not only from the sheer number of industry giants that call it home — including household names like Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet — but also from its world-renowned reputation for expertise in all the various crafts that go into fine watchmaking. The Swiss watch industry is as vast as it is complex, with different brands offering varying specialties in a wide range of price points for export around the globe.
With all of that in mind, trying to boil down the Swiss watch industry to a subjective list of major players is a bit of a daunting task, as there are many dozens of brands worthy of inclusion. Here we attempt to provide a brief overview of some of the most prominent brands in the Swiss watch industry to give you a basic understanding of what makes each one special. For each brand, we'll provide a bit of history, showcase its major milestones and most important watches, and offer a bit of insight on what it's doing lately that's worthy of note. Scroll down to discover our choices for the 57 Best Swiss Watch Brands in the World.

Blancpain

Now a subsidiary of the Swatch Group, Blancpain was founded in 1735 by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain, making it one of the oldest watch brands in existence — older, in fact, than the United States. Blancpain can lay claim to many notable achievements over its lengthy history, but perhaps their most important horological contribution is the 1953 introduction of the Fifty-Fathoms, one of the very first purpose-built diver’s watches. Designed in collaboration with Nageurs de Combat, the French Navy’s combat swimmers, and later used by U.S. Navy SEALs and other US military diving units, the Fifty Fathoms is one of Blancpain’s icons and a pillar of its range today. Also known for high watchmaking, Blancpain offers many noteworthy watches in its luxurious Villeret collection, including the Villeret Complete Calendar and the legendary Blancpain 1735 Grande Complication, which features a tourbillon, moon-phase, perpetual calendar, minute repeater, and split-seconds chronograph, all in a surprisingly slim package.

Patek Philippe

Founded in 1839 by Antoine Norbert de Patek and Francois Czapek, Patek Philippe is a leader in high watchmaking and pioneered many complications and design elements seen widely throughout the watch industry today. Owned since 1939 by the Stern family, who still operate the brand today in the person of CEO Thierry Stern, Patek Philippe is the best-known and most universally beloved of the “Holy Trinity of Watchmaking,” which also includes Audemars Piguet and Vacheron Constantin. Patek Philippe is most often associated with expensive, impressive feats of watchmaking such as the Philippe Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300A-010 (with no less than 20 complications), which sold for $31.19M in 2019. Also included in Patek Philippe’s portfolio is the first split-seconds chronograph (No. 124 824), and the first perpetual calendar wristwatch (No. 97 975). Another of the most iconic Patek Philippe watches ever, the Calatrava Ref. 96, was released in 1932. For many enthusiasts today, the Nautilus, released in 1976, is a favorite, combining Patek’s watchmaking know-how with a trend-setting sport luxury design.Sticking to its guns in producing beautiful, complicated wristwatches for a very select clientele, Patek has recently expanded its catalog with grand complications like the Calatrava Pilot Travel Time and the Grande Sonnerie.

Richard Mille

Founded in 2001, Richard Mille stands apart from many traditional luxury watch brands as an innovative watchmaking company with superior technical prowess and a design concept focused on producing lightweight watches with high-end automotive DNA. With a signature tonneau case shape implemented throughout its range, Richard Mille’s collection is popular with celebrities, athletes, and the very wealthiest segment of the watch buying crowd. Demonstrating a collaborative spirit, the brand's impressive first model, the RM-001, was developed with Audemars Piguet. Some of the company's best-known models include the RM-56 Sapphire, which has a case completely constructed from sapphire; the RM-018 Meteorite, made in collaboration with Boucheron; and the RM 27-04, a watch built for tennis star Rafael Nadal that can withstand extreme accelerations such as the ones Nadal produces on the court. For most collectors, a brand like Richard Mille is out of reach. However, just as enthusiasts might fawn over a new Pagani Huayra Roadster knowing they’ll never own one, Richard Mille’s work can be appreciated by aspirational types in photographs and YouTube videos.

MB&F (Maximilian Büsser & Friends)

Launched in 2005, MB&F is a watch company that allows founder Maximilian Büsser to test his considerable engineering chops and artistic vision, creating “Horological Machines” (only some of which can be worn on the wrist), which look like absolutely nothing else out there. With advanced training in Micro-Technology Engineering, Büsser’s horological journey included a stint at Jaeger-LeCoultre, where he spent seven years in senior management, and a role as managing director of Harry Winston’s Rare Timepieces department. Each of MB&F’s Horological Machines is a technical and artistic achievement, using new materials, innovative design concepts, and an often novel approach to the very idea of what a watch is. Among the brand’s many wild creations are the HM10 Bulldog, the sporty Legacy Machine Perpetual EVO, and its recent collaboration with H. Moser & Cie, the LM101 and Endeavor Cylindrical Tourbillon.

Vacheron Constantin

Often considered a bit underrated by enthusiasts compared to some of its younger peers, Vacheron Constantin, founded in 1755 by Jean-Marc Vacheron and Francois Constantin, is another member of the “Holy Trinity of Watchmaking,” along with the aforementioned Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet. With a brand motto that states, “Do better if possible, and that is always possible,” Vacheron Constantin has somewhat quietly carved out an impressive following thanks to its watchmaking prowess and beautiful designs. Today, Vacheron Constantin has one of the most comprehensive lineups among high watchmaking brands, especially compared to the other trinity members, ranging from simple yet elegant three- handers to perpetual calendars, minute repeaters, and the excellent Overseas collection for which the brand is best known by some collectors. Some recent noteworthy pieces from Vacheron Constantin are the Overseas Perpetual Calendar Ultra-thin Skeleton, the Traditionnelle Tourbillon, and the Patrimony Minute Repeater, all excellent examples of Vacheron's legendary savoir-faire.

Cartier

In contrast to many of the brands on this list, French brand Cartier (now owned by the Swiss Richemont Group) is a luxury jewelry brand first and watchmaker second. Still, Cartier, founded in 1847 by Louis-Francois Cartier, is an icon in the watch world as the brand responsible for the Pasha, Tank, and the Santos, a watch with an especially important history. Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazlian aviator and friend to Louis Cartier, requested his friend design a watch that could be easily read during flight, a development which many consider the first men’s wristwatch and certainly the first pilot’s watch. Recently, Cartier has been increasing its production of in-house calibers, with the Rotonde de Cartier Mysterious Double Tourbillon an excellent example of the high watchmaking now taking place within the brand. For enthusiasts looking for something a bit more mainstream, the recently reissued Pasha de Cartier is a great example of Cartier’s signature look and feel.

Officine Panerai

Now owned by the Richemont Group, the original Officine Panerai was founded in 1860 when Giovanni Panerai opened up his workshop in Florence, Italy that also served as a watchmaking school. During World War II, Panerai utilized luminescent material initially developed for gunsights in the dial of the Radiomir, a watch designed to allow frogmen of the Royal Italian Navy’s First Submarine Group Command to read time underwater while on clandestine missions. The original Panerai watches were built by Rolex, with Panerai producing only the luminescent dials. When the glowing material in the Radiomir was deemed too radioactive for wrist wear, the Luminor was developed, using tritium as a safer source of illumination. Today, Panerai is positioned squarely among the ranks of luxury watches and boasts an extremely loyal following who call themselves the Paneristi. Notable models from Panerai include the Luminor Base 8 Days with Caliber P.5000, the Radiomir California 47mm, the Submersible 42mm, and on the higher end of horology, the Luminor Tourbillon GMT 47mm.

Audemars Piguet

The third member of watchmaking's “Holy Trinity,” Audemars Piguet traces its heritage back to 1875, when founders Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet first registered the brand. Renamed Audemars Piguet & Cie in 1881, the company in its early days mostly manufactured movements for other firms, including Tiffany and Co. Audemars Piguet is respected for creating the world’s first-minute repeater movement in 1892 for Louis Brandt, Omega’s storied founder. Without a doubt, however, Audemars Piguet is best known for one watch, the Royal Oak, designed by Gérald Genta in 1972. The original Royal Oak design has been updated and reimagined many times since its inception, with modern descendants like the many Offshore models, and the complicated Concept pieces. In early 2019, Audemars Piguet released a new collection called Code 11.59, a series of modern dress watches with impressive calibers, as well as the [Re]master01 collection of heritage reissues.

Hublot

Hublot is among the youngest watch brands on this list, tracing its roots back only four decades to 1980, a fact that makes Hublot’s achievements and position in the industry today all the more impressive. Now a wholly owned subsidiary of the LVMH luxury group along with TAG Heuer and Zenith, Hublot as we know it today benefited tremendously from its time under former CEO Jean-Claude Biver, who helmed the brand from 2004 to 2014 and oversaw the release of the Big Bang, now Hublot’s most popular model and a watch credited with saving the brand. Hublot is also known for the Classic Fusion, the Meca-10 Titanium, and its Classic Fusion 40th Anniversary collection, all of which are takes the signature Hublot signature case design, with its porthole-inspired bezel, into new areas.

Chopard

Another brand with roots both in watchmaking and fine jewelry, Chopard was founded by Louis-Ulysse Chopard in Switzerland in 1860. Owned by the German Scheufele family since 1963, Chopard is a rare independent watch brand in a sea of conglomerate-owned brands. In the company’s early history, Chopard was known for reliable chronometer watches, and provided watches for Tsar Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia, as well as the Swiss Railway Company. Today, Chopard produces jewellery and watches with an emphasis on “Responsible Sourcing” for their raw materials. Some of Chopard's most noteworthy recent watches include the Chopard L.U.C Time Traveller One, Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph, and an integrated bracelet sports model called the Alpine Eagle.

Rolex

Without a doubt, Rolex is one of the most important brands in watchmaking. Founded in London in 1905 but based in Switzerland since 1919, Rolex has cemented a place in watch history by producing many legitimate icons of watch design including the Submariner, Daytona, Milgauss, Yacht-Master, and Datejust, watches that all but define the categories they inhabit. For many, the Rolex Submariner is the definition of what a diver’s watch should look like, just as the Daytona is the definition of a sport chronograph. However, Rolex is also a polarizing brand among collectors and enthusiasts, with lengthy waitlists and a generally secretive approach to business being major contributors to the shade being thrown. Still, as evidenced by the seismic-level reaction to something as simple as a 1mm increase in the case size of the latest Submariner variant when it debuted, Rolex still tugs at the heartstrings of a huge fanbase.

Breguet

Breguet, which dates back to 1775, is one of the oldest surviving watchmaking companies, and has long been associated with tourbillons, an invention that brand founder Abraham-Louis Breguet patented in 1801 as an answer to the gravitational effects on a watch’s timekeeping. Another notable achievement from the brand is the creation of the first watch to be wound by means of the crown in 1830, an era in which watches were wound with a key. Breguet has also made watches for many famous patrons such as England’s King George III and Sir Winston Churchill. The maison even established its own signature set of hands, called Breguet hands, back in 1783. Today these hands are used in watches from Breguet's Classic collection as well as in its nautically inspired Marine models. A few of Breguet’s best-loved modern watches include the Classique 5140BB, Type XX, and 7137BB.

Girard-Perregaux

Considering its long history and elite level of technical prowess, Girard-Perregaux is one of the most overlooked brands in watchmaking today. Originally founded in 1791 by Constant Girard and Jean-Francois Bautte as Girard & Cie, Girard-Perregaux, so named since 1856, has been associated with high watchmaking since its inception. With 80 manufacturing and design patents under its belt and a wide collection of in-house movements in beautifully designed watches, Girard- Perregaux has somewhat quietly garnered an impressive reputation among those in the know. Some of Girard-Perregaux’s most notable technical achievements are embodied in the Neo-Tourbillon with Three Bridges Skeleton and the Constant Escapement L.M. Girard-Perregaux’s recent achievements include the Laureato Infinity Edition, introduced in 2020 as a limited-edition offering in commemoration with Wempe, the brand’s German distribution partner.

Jaeger-LeCoultre

Often referred to as the “watchmaker of watchmakers”, Jaeger-LeCoultre was established in 1833 in the heart of the Vallée de Joux in the Swiss Jura Mountains. For much of its history, Jaeger-LeCoultre was more of a behind-the-scenes movement manufacturer, having supplied their calibers to many other important brands including Patek Philippe. This is, of course, in the days before the concept of “in-house” was as powerful a marketing tool as it is today. Without question, the most iconic watch from the House is the Reverso, initially conceived as a sports watch for polo players to wear during matches. Another signature innovation from Jaeger-LeCoultre iis the Polaris Memovox, a diver’s watch equipped with a mechanical alarm, which has its own interesting heritage and inspired a series of modern re-issues.

Zenith

Zenith traces its roots back to 1865 and a surprisingly young founder, 22-year-old Georges Favre-Jacot. One of the first to integrate all aspects of the watchmaking process under one roof, from case manufacturing to movement production to final casing and assembly, Zenith has a lengthy history of watchmaking in the purest sense. For most modern collectors, Zenith is most known for the El Primero chronograph caliber, released in 1969 and considered the first automatic chronograph caliber, a foundational achievement for the brand. Though it struggled during the Quartz Crisis and changed ownership more than once, Zenith today remains one of a few Swiss manufacturers with true high watchmaking chops. Now heavily invested in technical horological research, Zenith’s recent Defy Classic Carbon, with its fully carbon fiber case and integrated bracelet as well as an in-house skeletonized caliber, demonstrates the Swiss company’s enduring commitment to pushing the boundaries of watchmaking.

Omega

Another of the most venerable and venerated Swiss watchmakers, Omega was founded by Louis Brandt under the name La Generale Watch Co in 1848 before taking up the Omega name in 1903. As pioneers of the minute repeater, tourbillon, and co-axial escapement, Omega, now owned by the mighty Swatch Group, is without question one of the industry's leaders. In addition, Omega has garnered a loyal following by producing watches worn by people playing active roles in making history. Omega watches have been worn by the Royal Flying Corps, U.S. Army, and myriad other military organizations since the WWI era. Omega has also partnered with the Olympic games since 1932, became the watch of James Bond in 1995, and boasts the distinct honor of being chosen by NASA as the first watch worn on the Moon. Today, Omega continues to pump out interesting variations of its core models, almost entirely with in-house calibers, including the recent “Silver Snoopy Award” Speedmaster.

Ulysse Nardin

A watch maison whose very name conjures up romantic images of seagoing adventure and oceanic exploration, Ulysse Nardin, founded in 1846 by its eponym, carved out its place in Swiss watch history as a revered maker of marine chronometers for many of the world’s navies in the 19th and 20th centuries. Long regarded as the “standard bearer of nautical timekeeping,” Ulysse Nardin also entered the 21st Century as one of the most technically innovative and boldly experimental watchmakers on the scene. In 2001, Ulysse Nardin shook up the watch world with its introduction of the Freak, a wildly unconventional timepiece with a “flying carrousel system” in which there are no hands, only a baguette-shaped movement rotating on its own axis, with a bridge to indicate the minutes, while a rotating disk mounted on the mainplate indicates the hours. The Freak was also one of the first watches to use silicon for several of its vital movement parts, a material now widely used in the industry. The brand’s maritime history lives on in collections like the Diver, whose many models include special editions devoted to preserving endangered marine wildlife, and the recently launched Marine Torpilleur family, named for a type of historical torpedo boat and designed to echo the look of classical marine chronometers, with Roman numerals, cathedral hands, and a stacked arrangement of subdials. At the pinnacle of haute horlogerie and trumpeting the company’s most avant-garde design are more highly complicated models like the Blast Hourstriker and Blast Moonstruck.

Breitling

Compared to some of the storied brands listed here, Breitling has something more akin to an everyman appeal — at least to the "everyman" interested in sport watches of a more luxurious pedigree. Founded in 1884, the Swiss company has a lengthy history of building capable tool watches, often with movements produced by someone else, but more recently adopting an in-house approach. Moreso than some other brands listed here, Breitling has consistently adapted to industry trends and shifting styles, earning a reputation as a brand for younger, more fashionable watch enthusiasts. Frankly, it’s a formula that has led to some misfires as well as successes, but this willingness to adapt, as well as a more reasonable set of price points compared to some other Swiss giants, have made Breitling a leading producer of "attainable" luxury sport watches, defined by models like the Navitimer, Superocean, and Aerospace. In recent years, Breitling has pumped up its in-house game, even collaborating with Tudor in producing the MT5813, a column wheel chronograph caliber based on the Breitling B01.

IWC

IWC Schaffhausen, née the International Watch Company, was founded by an American, Florentine Ariosto Jones, in 1868 in Switzerland’s northeastern, German-speaking region — in contrast to the rest of the Swiss watch industry’s home in western, French-speaking Switzerland. This key difference led to cultural differences which still influence IWC today. The brand is likely best known for the many pilot’s watches it's created over the years, such as the original B-Uhr built for the Luftwaffe, the Mark 11, the first ceramic pilot’s watch (ref. 3705), as well as the modern Top Gun series. IWC is also known for the Portugieser series, the Aquatimer range of dive watches, and as an early adopter of titanium as a case material, as in the landmark IWC Porsche Design Ocean 2000. Coming from the German-speaking part of Switzerland has also made the IWC a common choice for the German military since WWII, when IWC produced the aforementioned B-Uhr pilot’s watch along with other brands. IWC is still widely known as one of the top producers of aviation-style watches, including the famous Big Pilot’s Watch series.

Tudor

It was none other than Rolex founder Hans Wildorf who originally registered Tudor in 1926 before launching the company properly in 1946. Built around using off-the-shelf Swiss movements with Rolex-made cases and bracelets, Tudor was dreamed up as a way to bring customers into the Rolex brand family at a lower price point. For much of its history, Tudor has been associated with tool watches, a fact that makes sense when you consider the company's purposefully lower price points compared to those of more luxurious older sibling Rolex. Tudor’s Oyster Prince, one of its best-loved early models, was used on a Royal Navy scientific expedition to Greenland in 1952, proving its utility as a tool watch. The Tudor Submariner is another case in point, having been used by various military organizations around the world (along with Rolex Subs) all the way into the 1990s, when watches like the G-Shock largely took over military service. Tudor's current popularity stems from its North American relaunch in 2013 and the red-hot models that debuted then: the Black Bay and Pelagos, two very interesting divers that have both become mainstays of the brand. More recently, Tudor added to the flagship Black Bay family with the increasingly popular Black Bay 58.

TAG Heuer

TAG Heuer S.A. was founded back in 1860 by Edouard Heuer, and operated simply as “Heuer” until the Techniques d’Avant Garde (TAG) Group obtained a majority share in 1985, creating the TAG Heuer we know today. For decades, the brand was closely associated with sports and specifically auto racing, making appearances in many popular films including a cameo by Heuer’s beloved racing chronograph, the Monaco, in Le Mans (1971) on one Steve McQueen’s wrist. Later in 1999, TAG Heuer became a part of the LVMH Group. TAG Heuer’s most-loved models include the Monaco, Carrera, and the Aquaracer, with the Monaco arguably being the most iconic model from the company. Since receiving a major overhaul during Jean-Claude Biver’s tenure as CEO, TAG Heuer as a brand balances a collection of innovative, modern watches (including the TAG Heuer Connected smartwatch) with a vintage-inspired collection, including the excellent Autavia Chronograph.

Hamilton

With roots dating back to 1892 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the United States, Hamilton Watch Company is a brand with a rich history of producing military watches for the United States Army during WWI and WWII. Though the company eventually ceased U.S. manufacturing in 1969, the brand’s now Swiss-made Khaki field watch collection will forever be associated with the classic image of the American GI storming a beach or charging across a battlefield. Hamilton is also known for its roles in film, with more than 500 major movie appearances for its watches and a stunning catalog of milestone moments on the silver screen — including Elvis Presley's immortal sporting of a Hamilton Ventura in "Blue Hawaii." Hamilton, now owned by the Swatch Group, is a major player in the international watch industry, with iconic collections like the aforementioned Khaki, the Intra-Matic, and the Jazzmaster, and a reputation for quality at an entry-level price point for a Swiss watch.

Montblanc

Better known by a majority of its consumers for its pens and leather goods, Montblanc was founded in 1906 in Hamburg, Germany. Still considered a young brand in the world of horology, Montblanc only started producing Swiss-made watches in 1997. However, Montblanc has been in excellent company as a subsidiary of the Richemont Group since 1988, and enjoys technical support from other Richemont Group brands like Vacheron Constantin, Piaget, and Cartier. Richemont also purchased Minerva, a high end watchmaking factory, in order to increase Monblanc’s manufacturing capabilities, and Montblanc debuted its first in-house movement, the Caliber MB R100, in 2008, followed by the Tourbillon Bi-Cylinderique MB 65.53 in 2011. In 2020, Montblanc released the 1858 Split-Seconds Chronograph, a declaration to the industry of Montblanc’s watchmaking prowess.

Bell & Ross

Initially conceived by Bruno ("Bell") Belamich and Carlos A. ("Ross") Rosillo as a university project in 1992, Bell & Ross, still an independent brand, known more for its clever designs than any in-house manufacturing prowess. Heavily focused on a tool-watch style, and designed with a “function drives design” concept, the majority of Bell & Ross watches are directly inspired by aviation instruments, all the way down to their signature square case shape. In their early days, Bell & Ross watches were built by Sinn Watches in Germany, and that lineage still shows in the current Bell & Ross collection. Breaking free from Sinn, Chanel stepped in as a partner and equipped Bell & Ross with its own Swiss factory in 2002. Usually relying on Sellita movements, Bell & Ross watches are also often a strong value proposition compared to watches from other luxury watchmakers. Recent releases from the brand include the square-cased, ISO-rated BR 03-92 diver’s watch and the exciting BR05 sport watch, Bell & Ross's entry into the burgeoning category of integrated-bracelet luxury sport watches.

Baume & Mercier

Founded as Frères Baume in 1830 in Geneva, by brothers Louis-Victor and Célestin Baume, the brand later partnered with Paul Mercier in 1918, becoming the Baume & Mercier we know today. During a particularly challenging period for the brand, Baume & Mercier joined the Richemont group in 1988. As another Swiss watch brand that is often overlooked by the general watch-buying public, Baume & Mercier presents solid value in its tastefully designed collection, and has recently forayed into making some in-house calibers, including the BM13-1975A installed in the Clifton Baumatic, one of the brand’s most popular collections. Capitalizing on an industry trend currently gaining ground, Baume & Mercier has taken the environmentally-conscious route by releasing the 10587, cased in recycled ocean plastic, in 2020.

Longines

Longines was founded in 1832 in Saint-Imier, Switzerland by Auguste Agassiz. Now a subsidiary of the Swatch Group since 1983, Longines plays a key role as one of that parent company's entry-level luxury brands alongside Tissot. Serving as the official timekeeper of the Commonwealth Games, the Kentucky Derby, and the French Open, as well as many other sporting events, Longines has become especially well-known to non-watch enthusiasts, acting as a gateway brand into Swiss watch collecting for many consumers. In recent years, Longines has produced an enviable line of Heritage reissue models which have garnered a growing fan base among enthusiasts of vintage watches. Longines’ popular contemporary models include the Legend Diver, the Spirit, and the Avigation Big Eye. Though powered by off-the-shelf Swiss movements, the value proposition presented by many Longines watches has made them a popular industry mainstay.

Oris

Oris SA, founded in 1904 in Holstein, Switzerland by Paul Cattin and Georges Christian, is a rare watchmaker in the current landscape in that it is still independent in a sea of brands backed by large conglomerates the Richemont, Swatch, and LVMH Groups. For most, Oris’ status as an independent is endearing, giving the brands' fans a sense of David vs. Goliath pride. With a distinctive aesthetic and willingness to innovate outside the normal boundaries, Oris has become a staple for value-conscious collectors and especially sport watch enthusiasts. Its most-beloved models include the Aquis diver’s watch and the Big Crown Pointer Date, a staple watch for Oris since 1938. In an apparent answer to critics, Oris’ most impressive achievement in recent years is the release of its first in-house movement, Caliber 400, which holds an amazing 120 hours of power reserve, and is installed in the aptly-named Aquis Calibre 400.

Franck Muller

In 1992, independent watchmaker Franck Muller was challenged by Vartan Sirmakes, a watch industry executive, to expand his then cottage-style business into an actual luxury watch brand. Muller has devoted his career to making highly complicated and innovative watches, earning for himself the nickname “Master of Complications.” The Franck Muller brand is known for technologically advanced watches built with true high watchmaking craftsmanship. Despite its relative youth as a company, Franck Muller has cultivated a loyal following among celebrities and those who can afford its largely custom-made pieces. One of the most notable watches from Franck Muller is the Crazy Hours, a watch in which the hour markers are mixed up and the hands jump around to display the time. Also worthy of mention are the Secret Hours and the Vanguard Tourbillon.

Parmigiani Fleurier

Founded in 1996 in Val-de-Travers, Parmigiani Fleurier had its earliest seed planted in 1976, when eponymous founder Michel Parmigiani initially conceived the notion of starting a watch brand while working as a mechanical timepiece restorer. Parmigiani’s intimate knowledge of the inner workings of complicated watches and clocks — put to use for such revered clients as the Patek Philippe Museum — was infinitely valuable in allowing the young brand to immediately produce watches at a level of complexity that often takes a new brand decades to develop. By acquiring several other workshops, Parmigiani eventually created a fully in-house production model and has won numerous horological awards in its brief history. Some of the brand’s best loved models include the Bugatti Type 370, theoretically inspired by the Bugatti Veyron supercar, as well as the more recent Tonda 1950 Tourbillon and the recently unveiled Tonda PF collection.

F.P. Journe

Another brand piloted by an individual craftsman is F.P. Journe, whose founder, Francois-Paul Journe, like Michel Parmigiani, spent many years restoring complicated timepieces for other entities, including brands and museums. In 30 years of practice, Journe learned more than enough to create his own collection of totally handcrafted timepieces, the first of which he unveiled in 1994. Each new watch was emblazoned with “Invenit et Fecit,” meaning “invented and made,” a reference to the high level of craftsmanship that went into each of Journe’s creations. Though expensive by any measure, F.P. Journe watches appeal to a wide swath of serious-minded, knowledgeable collectors, and are produced, by design, in very small numbers each year. As it has with a few other brands, Chanel has partnered with Journe, a move which should provide the boutique brand with the financial backing to expand its traditionally small collection and reduce lengthy lead times by adding additional watchmakers and facilities. Three excellent examples of what F.P. Journe is capable of are the Tourbillon Souverain, Sonnerie Souverain, and Centigraphe Souverain.

Van Cleef & Arpels

Like several other brands on this list, Van Cleef & Arpels is likely better known for its jewelry than its watches; like Cartier, VC&A is headquartered in Paris but produces watches in Switzerland. Now owned by the Swiss Richemont Group, Van Cleef & Arpels was founded in 1896 by a father and son-in-law team. With an early history steeped in revolutionary and artistic jewelry making, Van Cleef & Arpels turned its attention to watchmaking in the 1920s, primarily with jewel encrusted women’s watches such as the now-iconic Shutter and Cadenas models. More recently. Van Cleef & Arpels has unveiled some serious high watchmaking pieces, including the Midnight Planetarium. With an entire solar system beautifully executed in precious materials on its starry, aventurine dial surface, the caliber powering the Midnight Planetarium consists of 396 components and accurately displays the relative position of the planets as they are in real life, an incredible feat of watchmaking and a powerful demonstration of Van Cleef and Arpels’ capabilities.

Piaget

Another Swiss jewelry maker-slash-watchmaker is Piaget, whose roots are grounded in 1874 in La Côte-aux-Fées. Unlike Van Cleef & Arpels, Piaget’s watchmaking history goes back to the very beginning of the brand, which has produced watch movements since its inception. In the 20th century, Piaget expanded its collection by producing complete watches, as opposed to simply building calibers for other brands. Now owned by the Richemont Group, Piaget has grown into a true high watchmaking house capable of competing on the fields of both technical prowess and artistic inspiration with the titans of the Swiss watch industry. Having pioneered the ultra-thin watch segment in the 1950s, Piaget unveiled the Altiplano Concept is an example of its watchmaking acumen: it features an astounding 2-mm overall thickness while still housing a finely finished hand-winding caliber.

Laurent Ferrier

Among the youngest brands on this list is Laurent Ferrier, whose eponymous founder opened his atelier in 2010 near Geneva. With a family history rich in watchmaking, young Laurent followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather by attending watchmaking school before starting work with a small Swiss brand you may be familiar with, Patek Philippe. Even more interesting is Ferrier’s history in motorsports. As a semi-professional race car driver, Ferrier finished third at Le Mans in 1979, sharing the podium with winner and fellow watch legend Paul Newman. Moving back to watches, Laurent Ferrier’s first watch, the Gallect Classic, was released in 2010 to immediate critical acclaim and industry awards. Since then, the brand has continued to produce models that are beautiful examples of high Swiss watchmaking in very limited quantities, including the Micro-Rotor, Traveller, and Origin. In 2020, Laurent Ferrier released the Classic Origin Opaline, which many have called the most beautiful dress watch release in years.

Corum

Entrenched in the high-end luxury watch space, Corum was founded back in 1955 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, and quickly developed a reputation for avant-garde visual designs backed up by impressive technical watchmaking. Corum is perhaps best known for its Coin watch, released in 1964, which is an ultra-thin mechanical watch with a movement set behind a $20 U.S. Double Eagle gold coin. While a bit gimmicky, the Corum Coin watch has been worn by U.S. presidents and other prominent figures, and likely galvanized the experimental spirit we see in Corum’s collection today. Other milestones of unusual watch design from Corum include the Admiral's Cup and the Golden Bridge, the latter made famous by its baguette-shaped linear movement. More recently, Corum released the LAB02, featuring a totally handmade caliber with a flying gear train and flying tourbillon, and almost no bridges to be found. The LAB02 is visually striking and a great example of the wild, bold designs for which Corum is known.

Frederique Constant

Frederique Constant is another relatively young brand, at least compared to those on this list that measure their life cycle in centuries. However, since its founding in 1988, the brand has undergone an interesting series of acquisitions and mergers, the latest of which made it a subsidiary of Citizen Holdings, which also owns Bulova. Frederique Constant is one of the larger Swiss brands in terms of output, and maintains an emphasis on the so-called affordable luxury sector of watchmaking. In recent years, notably since the Citizen acquisition, Frederique Constant has stepped up in the area of in-house integration and produces several interesting models, including the excellent Slimline Moonphase, which houses a totally in-house manufactured caliber. For the money, these are some of the best-equipped watches coming out of Switzerland right now.

H. Moser & Cie

Though certainly Swiss today, H. Moser & Cie has an interesting history as a brand name originally founded in Russia way back in 1828, though the brand’s watches were primarily made in Switzerland. The original company was sold soon after its founder’s death in 1874 and folded amongst political unrest in Russia in 1918 before reappearing in Switzerland in 1953. After a few more acquisitions and a total disappearances from the market, H. Moser & Cie as we know it today was formally relaunched in 2005 by the original founder’s great grandson along with some private investors. Since then, H. Moser & Cie has taken up a position as a high watchmaking brand with a highly streamlined, clean aesthetic and impressive technical acumen. It's generated critical acclaim and industry buzz for many of its very limited models, most recently for the Streamliner Flyback Chronograph, the brand’s first automatic chronograph and integrated bracelet sport watch, which debuted in 2020.

Maurice Lacroix

Maurice Lacroix finds its origins under the umbrella of Desco, a luxury watch representative and distributor that once handled such brands as Jaeger-LeCoultre, Eterna, Heuer, and Audemars Piguet. In 1961, Desco acquired a company that assembled watches for other brands, and eventually began to build watches under the Maurice Lacroix name in 1975. The brand took off, and models like the Masterpiece collection are great examples of the early decades of Maurice Lacroix’s history. More recently, the brand has jumped into the world of manufacture movements with both feet, culminating in modern models like the Pontos Chronograph Monopusher, a watch celebrating 20 years of the brand’s popular Pontos sport watch. For watches built to a surprisingly high standard, Maurice Lacroix also offers excellent value in most of its wide collection.

Roger Dubuis

Based in Geneva, Roger Dubuis was founded by its namesake as an independent brand in 1995. Now under the weighty umbrella of the Richemont Group, Roger Dubuis has grown into one of the more prominent smaller Swiss brands in the industry. Known since its early days for high watchmaking and complicated calibers, Roger Dubuis stands out as one of the few brands on this list to produce the majority of their case and movement components in-house, a more difficult and rare feat than you might imagine, especially for a brand that isn’t all that big. Roger Dubuis has also gained a reputation as a prolific producer of highly complicated, skeletonized tourbillon watches and in recent years has collaborated with prominent motorsport brands such as Pirelli, a relationship symbolized by the Excalibur Spider Pirelli ICE ZERO 2, a titanium watch featuring a flying skeletonized double tourbillon.

Carl F. Bucherer

Carl F. Bucherer is a lesser known Swiss brand that deserves to be more prominent in the Swiss watchmaking conversation. Founded in 1888, Carl F. Bucherer started out producing pocket watches, but saw the writing on the wall and was an early maker of wristwatches for both men and women. With a wealth of experience in chronographs, world timers, and chronometer-grade calibers developed mid-century, Carl F. Bucherer has more recently reached into their archives, as has much of the industry, and created a tasteful heritage collection. Still invested in high watchmaking, the brand recently released the Heritage Tourbillon Double Peripheral, a relatively svelte 42.5mm watch packed with beautifully finished watchmaking tech and artisanship.

Doxa

One of the most fun and colorful Swiss brands on the market today, Doxa was founded in 1889 as a maker of mostly dress watches, but the brand is without question best known today for the Sub series of divers' watches it released in 1967. While the company suffered and changed hands more than once as a result of the economic effects of the quartz crisis, Doxa was effectively relaunched with a heritage-inspired diver’s watch collection in 2002, and today operates more like a microbrand than a huge corporation. In Doxa's modern collection, standout favorites include the Sub 300T, Sub 200 T.Graph, and entry level Sub 200. More recently, Doxa has been having some fun with the Sub collection's array of materials and colorways, releasing a solid gold version of the T.Graph chronograph as well as a carbon-cased variant of the Sub 300. In the entry to mid level Swiss tool watch space, Doxa shouldn't be overlooked.

Eberhard & Co.

Eberhard & Co. was founded in 1887 around the genesis of a number of other prominent watch brands. Founder Georges-Lucien Eberhard represented a prominent Swiss family with deep roots in the watch industry. The company’s early history is marked by innovation in the chronograph space, and Eberhard & Co. is one of the first to release a wrist-worn chronograph in 1919, before also introducing dual-pusher and split-seconds models. Today, Eberhard is known for the Extra-Fort series of watches released in the 1940s, which were sportier, more capable watches in a market then dominated by dress watches. Today, the brand, which is incredibly popular in Italy, continues its tradition of creating sporty mechanically interesting watches like the modern Scafograph, 8 Jours, and the revamped Extra-Fort.

Eterna

The Eterna watch that comes to mind for most people is the KonTiki, a series of sport watches built to commemorate the incredible ocean passage of Thor Heyerdahl aboard a balsa-wood raft (while wearing an Eterna) in 1947. Each KonTiki watch featured an engraved version of Heyerdahl’s raft on its caseback. Eterna traces its lineage all the way back to 1856, and is also responsible for establishing ETA as a stand-alone movement manufacturer in 1932, which is perhaps Eterna's most substantial and influential contribution to the watch industry as a whole. Nowadays, Eterna is known for its tasteful collection of watches inspired by the brand’s most successful models. For an often overlooked, excellent source for everyday Swiss watches, Eterna is one to consider.

Fortis

Fortis is another independent Swiss brand mostly associated with tool watches, notably its collection of Cosmonaut watches, used in space by the Russian Space Agency. With an often bead-blasted, utilitarian style, Fortis has developed a reputation for overbuilt, highly-legible timepieces designed for a variety of active pursuits. With roots as far back as 1912, Fortis’ early history is marked by the first regular-production automatic watch in 1926, as well as the early production of a water resistant watch, the Fortissimo, in 1940. Since then, the brand has dabbled in avant-garde designs, alarm watches, Marinemaster diver’s watches, and a variety of Flieger-style aviation tool watches, including the aforementioned Cosmonaut collection. In recent years, the company faced financial difficulties and was acquired by a private investor in 2017, who reinvigorated the brand and ensured that Russian cosmonauts still have watches to wear in space.

Zodiac

As another brand to heavily invest in the recent vintage-revival craze currently dominating the international market, Zodiac has a wealth of historic watch designs to pull from, including the much-loved Aerospace GMT and Sea Wolf collections. The brand that would become Zodiac was founded in 1882 and later named Zodiac in 1908. Zodiac’s most important contribution to the watch world, most would agree, is the Zodiac Sea Wolf series, which debuted in 1953, making it one of the first-ever watches designed for diving. Financial issues threatened Zodiac in the late 1990s, and the huge Fossil Group acquired it in 2001 before formally relaunching it in 2002. Recently, Zodiac has dabbled with in-house movements in watches designed as revivals of historical models. The re-released Sea Wolf, Super Sea Wolf, and Super Sea Wolf GMT (which looks more like an old Aerospace) watches are well regarded for their approachable prices and are a good indication of the positive direction in which Zodiac is moving.

Mido

In business since 1919, Mido’s early history is associated with automotive-inspired designs, waterproof tech, and the automatic Multifort collection. Today, Mido is one of a few value leaders in the Swiss watch industry and particularly popular in Latin America, combining a rich heritage of classic designs with modern technical advancements to create a compelling collection of reasonably-priced everyday, dress, diver, and chronograph watches, all with Swiss-made calibers. Some of Mido’s best-loved watches in recent years include the Ocean Star Tribute diver and Baroncelli dress watch.

Tissot

Tissot traces its long history back to 1853, when it was founded by the father-son team of Charles-Félicien Tissot and Charles-Émile Tissot in Le Locle in Switzerland’s Jura Mountains. Today part of the Swatch Group, Tissot can lay claim to several watchmaking milestones throughout its history, including the first pocket watch to display two time zones in 1853; the first watch purpose-built to resist magnetism, the aptly named Antimagnetique, in 1930; and the first tactile-screen multifunction digital watch, the T-Touch, in 1999, years before the smartwatch would come into existence. Today, the brand markets more than 4 million watches per year to more than 160 countries and is known for producing what its parent group terms “midrange market” watches that are prized for their price-to-value ratio. Among the most notable timepieces in Tissot’s current far-ranging portfolio are the Seastar 2000, a beautifully designed and robustly built professional-grade divers’ watch; the PRX, Tissot’s value-priced contribution to the white-hot category of sport-luxury watches with integrated bracelets; and the models from the historically inspired Heritage collection, including the Heritage 1973 Chronograph, a modern revamp of the Navigator model built for auto racing driver in the heyday of Formula One. Tissot is also huge in marketing partnerships, including its longtime role as Official Timekeeper of the Tour de France and its more recent timekeeping relationship with the National Basketball Association, the latter ensuring the Tissot logo appears in NBA arenas and on TV screens across the U.S.A. and worldwide.

Jaquet Droz

Pierre Jaquet-Droz (1721-1790), founder of the modern watchmaking house that bears his name, was not only one of the most renowned watchmakers of the 18th century; he was also a pioneer in the development of automatons, which are now considered the first mechanical computers. His lifelike, moving figures, controlled by complex clockwork-like mechanisms, are now on display in museums and inspired smaller versions on Jaquet-Droz’s clocks and music boxes, which featured singing birds and other mobile creatures. The spirit of these fascinating inventions lives on in the timepieces of today’s Jaquet Droz, which resides alongside Breguet and Blancpain among the Swatch Group’s high-luxury houses. Whereas much of the collection consists of elegantly designed timepieces with more conventional complications — many of them part of the flagship Grande Seconde series, whose figure-eight arrangement of hours-and-minutes and running seconds on two different-sized, overlapping subdials has become a brand hallmark — the most breathtaking Jaquet Droz watches combine minute repeater mechanisms with miniaturized automatons on the dials, which move at the push of the same slide that activates the repeater’s chimes. To mark its namesake’s 300th birthday in 2021, Jaquet Droz unveiled the Bird Repeater 300th Anniversary Edition, with tiny birds singing and fluttering against the lush, miniature-painted natural landscape of the enamel dial as the watch chimes the time.

Rado

The use of ceramics in the watchmaking industry has proliferated in recent years but it was Rado that got there first. Founded in 1917 by brothers Fritz, Ernst, and Werner Schlupp, who converted their parents’ home into a watch factory, the Swiss company started out making movements but found success as a watch producer in 1957 with the Rado Golden Horse collection — one of the first watches marketed for its anti-magnetic properties — and followed it up in 1962 with the futuristic DiaStar model. The latter was groundbreaking in its use of hardmetal and sapphire glass for increased scratch-resistance, and ushered in Rado’s modern credo of exploring the most avant-garde, high-tech materials for ideal comfort and durability in its watches. In 1986, the same year it became part of what’s now known as the Swatch Group, Rado took that mission to a new level with the launch of the Ceramica, the first watch with a case and bracelet made of high-tech ceramic, a material that has been a calling card of the Rado collection ever since. Today, Rado’s output includes a number of distinctive product families, the vast majority of which use ceramics and ceramic alloys in their construction, including the elegantly understated True Thinline, the boldly styled HyperChrome, and perhaps most notably in recent years, the sporty, retro-chic Captain Cook collection, which revives a divers’ watch that debuted in 1962, the same year as the DiaStar, and updates it for contemporary audiences with that unmistakable Rado aesthetic.

Bulgari

Renowned worldwide for its jewelry, Bulgari has also forged a reputation over the past decade as perhaps the most prolific pioneer in the elite field of ultra-thin, complicated timepieces. The company, which was founded in Rome in 1884 by Greek silversmith Sotirio Bulgari, made its first important contribution to the watch community in the 1940s — the Art Deco-inspired, coiled-bracelet Serpenti, which survives as its flagship ladies’ model to this day. Two historic men’s timepieces, the Bulgari Roma and Bulgari Bulgari, debuted in the 1970s and established the classical Roman-architectural look that would define the Bulgari watch brand going forward. The jeweler set up its own watchmaking center in Switzerland in the 1980s and in 2000 bought the independent high-horology ateliers of Daniel Roth and Gerald Genta (the latter founded by the legendary watch designer who contributed the Bulgari Bulgari), incorporating their expertise into the parent Bulgari brand. It is that horological savoir faire that has enable Bulgari to introduce new models in its Octo Finissimo collection — high-luxury mechanical watches of record-breaking thinness — into the market consistently for several years, including the world’s thinnest automatic tourbillon, perpetual calendar, GMT-equipped chronograph, and minute repeater.

Arnold & Son

Watchmaker and inventor John Arnold (1736-1799), who gave us the modern definition of the term “chronometer,” was English, not Swiss, but his remarkable horological innovations in the 18th century live on today in the company that bears his name, based in the Swiss watch hub of La Chaux-de-Fonds and owned by Japan’s Citizen Group. Arnold & Son makes high-end mechanical watches, all with in-house-made, highly decorated movements, whose designs hearken to the marine chronometers that John Arnold made for the British navy. Among the maison’s notable pieces are the Time Pyramid Tourbillon, with a three-level, openworked linear-oriented movement that features a 12 o’clock tourbillon and dual power reserve indicators; the Globetrotter, an inventively designed world-time watch with a miniature-painted 3D globe that rotates under a suspended bridge over the dial to display multiple time zones simultaneously; and the Luna Magna, introduced in 2021, which boasts the largest 3D moon-phase ever used in a wristwatch.

Norqain Neverest

Norqain

A jointly developed project between Swiss watch entrepreneur Ben Küffer, former Breitling co-owner Ted Schneider, and retired NHL player Mark Streit, Norqain is the baby on this wide-ranging list, founded in 2018. It has, however, established itself fairly quickly and decisively as a player in the field of value-driven sports watches with proprietary movements. The movements are made in partnership with a Swiss movement-making firm called Kenissi, which was established as a subsidiary company by Tudor, and boast 70-hour power reserves as well as COSC chronometer certifications. Norqain’s primary collections include the inspiringly named Freedom and Independence lines, and more recently the mountaineering-inspired Adventure Neverest, which Norqain has used as a stage for some very innovative dial colors and textures.

Urwerk

Conceptually, Urwerk is cut from similar cloth as MB&F, with a mission to make timekeeping machines for the wrist that are as far from traditional analog design as technically possible. Founded in 1997 by the visionary pair of watchmaker Felix Baumgartner and designer Martin Frei, Urwerk’s visual stock-in-trade is the use of orbiting satellites on a three-armed carousel to display the hour rather than hands, often in conjunction with an unconventional retrograde minutes indications along a scale. Urwerk has applied versions of this innovative timekeeping tech to various timepieces in a number of executions and materials — black PVD-coated platinum, gunmetal-toned titanium, and the yellow-gold, Star Wars-inspired UR-100 “C-3PO” edition, to name just a few.

Greubel Forsey

Frenchman Robert Greubel and Brit Stephen Forsey teamed up to establish this Swiss brand that occupies the highest echelon of complicated watchmaking in 2004. Greubel Forsey made an instant splash with the high-horology aficionado set by introducing the world’s first watch with two tourbillons and has pushed the envelope of innovation ever since. Many of its signature timepieces, all of which are made in very limited quantities, feature tourbillons in various creative iterations, including watches with as many as four of them, i.e., the Quadruple Tourbillon à Differentiel introduced in 2008, which connects two double tourbillons rotating at different speeds by a clever differential device. In recent years, Greubel Forsey has applied its distinctive design aesthetic and award-winning chronometric technology to other categories of timepieces, like the eye-catching GMT Sport, with a super-complex global time indication and a new, ergonomically curved sporty case.

Victorinox Swiss Army watches

Victorinox Swiss Army

Recognized worldwide as the maker of the ubiquitous Swiss Army knife since 1891, Victorinox (“Inox” is the French word for the stainless steel used in the knife blades) joined the watchmaking game fairly recently, in 1989. As one might expect from the company’s lengthy history as a supplier to the armed forces, Victorinox watches are known for their military-chic designs and tough, functional construction. Regarded mostly as an affordable brand, it offers many timepieces with quartz movements as well as a relative handful of products with automatic movements at slightly higher prices. Its lineup includes the field-watch-inspired Heritage, the military aviation-style AirBoss and the dive-ready Maverick. A recent addition to the collection is the FieldForce positioned as an entry-level, tool-oriented family that offers three-hand, chronograph and GMT options.

Porsche Design

What do you do for an encore after designing one of the world’s most iconic sports cars? If you’re Professor Ferdinand “Butzi” Porsche, mastermind behind the Porsche 911, you start a product design studio and make a groundbreaking wristwatch its first release. The Porsche Design Chronograph 1, launched in 1972, was one of the first “all-black” watches and transferred car dashboard design to a watch dial in a way that had never been done before. In 1978, Porsche Design began a fruitful partnership with IWC that produced the first all-titanium wristwatch, the Titan Chronograph, in 1980, before the relationship ended in 1997. After a series of corporate ownership changes in the subsequent years, Porsche Design officially joined forces with its namesake automobile brand and opened up its own watchmaking manufacture in the Swiss village of Solothurn, becoming a fully Swiss-made brand that still has a Bavarian flair.

Raymond Weil

Raymond Weil, founder of the eponymous watch brand, was a pilot and a musician as well as a watchmaker, and his musical passion is still evident in the names of the company’s collections, like Tango, Maestro, and Toccata. One of the most approachably priced Swiss brands, Raymond Weil makes a wide array of timepiece styles, most of them powered by outsourced movements, but has recently begun dabbling in making movements that are distinctly its own, starting with automatic Caliber RW1212, designed in-house and produced exclusively for Raymond Weil by the experts at Sellita. Other notable moves by the company in recent years are the regular release of timepiece tributes to music legends like the Beatles, David Bowie, and Buddy Holly, designed in close collaboration with those stars’ estates.

Alpina Seastrong Diver

Alpina

Because it is so often linked to its sister brand, Frederique Constant, with whom it shares ownership, management, and production facilities, Alpina is often mistakenly believed to be a fairly recent addition to the watchmaking scene (Frederique Constant, as noted previously, started up in 1988). In actuality, Alpina traces its history all the way to 1881, when it began making purpose-built watches for rugged sport and exploration under the “Alpinist” standards for toughness, accuracy and magnetism- and shock-resistance. Priced comparably to the mostly dressy models from Frederique Constant, Alpina’s watches exude sportiness and tool-watch practicality, from its Seastrong dive watches to Startimer pilots’ watches to the Alpine Regulator, one of the most notable modern watches with a regulator dial, with a suitably outdoorsy look.

14 Comments

Join the Conversation

Mike S. February 7, 2023

My wife and I are making our first overseas trip after over 28 years of marriage and are headed to Switzerland in March. I have several Seiko automatics, a Magrette diver, a Seiko Turtle special edition, a Seiko SPB169, and a few others. I would love to buy a Swiss diver while there under say $2k. I like a ceramic bezel, 3 oclock or later crown, sapphire, etc. I plan to look at Fortis, Tissot, Mido, Alpina, and Oris as they have styles I admire. Are there a few other brands you recommend I look at that might be less mainstream, but still a quality piece? Love your Youtube channel and I’ve watched more watch videos than should be allowed.

Ryan H. January 26, 2023

Hi my names Ryan! I’m trying to find out about some of my fathers watches he had on his dresser.

Does anyone know the watch maker Filippe Girard Swiss made

Looks like it might be from the 1960s-1970s
Thanks for any information you may have to share.
Sincerely,
Ryan

DennisW P. January 22, 2023

I “Love” Swiss watches (usually buy used here on the internet). I have a drawer full of watches and movements acquired over 20 to 25 years. Every time I see a good deal here on the Internet – I’m forced to bid. Thanks!

Stéphane G. January 21, 2023

Just listing Swiss watch brands that everyone already knows is nice, but not very exciting. Have you ever heard of DuBois et Fils? Existing since 1785, it is the oldest watch factory in Switzerland!

James L. January 14, 2023

Great article and excellent list – thank you for that. I am surprised that Certina didn’t make it on the list.

James L. January 14, 2023

The reason I say that I am surprised is due to Certina being the first watch to be mentioned in the YouTube video that the link to this article was posted to.

Nick S. January 14, 2023

Hi Teddy, great article, I stumbled upon recently on Roamer, probably cheapest Swiss brand (if it is genuinely Swiss and not Asian knock-off), have you ever encountered those watches at paper seems OK deal for 300-600$ for quartz and around 700-800$ for mechanical?

Wade B. January 13, 2023

This is a great article! Not easy to get crash course on so many brands in one place. Have you heard of a swiss brand called Candino? I have a watch from my father that is from the early 70s. Don’t know must about their history, but they seem to still be in business. Anyway…something to check out. Thanks!

Paulino J. January 8, 2023

Great article. For the Alpina, I think you meant Seastrong for divers. Seastar is for Tissots.

Sam S. December 18, 2022

with out a doubt, the holy trinity brands are among the best and with an amazing history in horology .. especially the father of the holy trinity Vacheron Constantin … what a history.

vinod d. December 12, 2022

Are Mugnier, Bernhard H. Mayer, and Cimier reputed watch companies?

Mike S. September 23, 2022

Teddy, I’m a recent follower on youtube and love your content, style, and respectful way. Your joint adventures with Kevin O’Leary are awesome as well and I didn’t know him either. I’m a long time Seiko guy with a couple of microbrands as well. I’m headed to Switzerland next weekend for the first time ever and was wondering if it’s a good idea to buy a timepiece while there? Thanks a bunch! I would probably be looking at divers from Zodiak, Mido, Tissot, and Alpina. Possibly a microbrand if I see the right one. (the pic is my wife and I can’t figure out how to change it!)

Samuel K. September 1, 2022

Great great knowledge and outstanding article

Craig D. August 24, 2022

Great article – No Squale though?

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