Watch archives & heritage

Archives & heritage

THE WATCH FILES

Archives & heritage

In watchmaking, it’s difficult to talk about the present or even the future without bringing up the past. Our selection of articles on archives and heritage.

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A history of watch advertising: 1950-1959

A history of watch advertising: 1950-1959

A history of watch advertising: 1930-1939

A history of watch advertising: 1930-1939

A history of watch advertising: 1920-1929

A history of watch advertising: 1920-1929

A history of watch advertising: 1900-1919

A history of watch advertising: 1900-1919

The story of the Tissot Ping-Han Railway Watch

The story of the Tissot Ping-Han Railway Watch

Swiss watches for Chinese trains: the story of the Ping-Han Railway is fascinating in more ways than one. Its construction between the end of the 19th (...)

Becoming Chopard

Becoming Chopard

EUROPA STAR ARCHIVES

Chopard is one of the many “sleeping beauties” in the watch industry to have been stirred back to life, as illustrated by the Europa Star archives. This was (...)

Anarchists and watchmakers

Anarchists and watchmakers

Two recent events - Florian Eitel’s extensively researched publication, Le Vallon horloger et ses anarchistes, and Cyril Schäublin’s film Unrueh (Unrest) - (...)

From the archives: our first look at the Swatch

From the archives: our first look at the Swatch

ANNIVERSARY SERIES

It has often been said that the Swatch saved the Swiss watch industry, and March 1, 2023 marks 40 years since its introduction. Although this view is (...)

Louis Cottier's archives to be digitised

Louis Cottier’s archives to be digitised

The Watch Library Foundation (TWL) and the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de Genève (MAH) have joined forces to digitise the watchmaking archives of Louis Cottier, (...)

A brief history of watch designers (which remains to be written)

A brief history of watch designers (which remains to be written)

CHRONICLE

The anniversary of the Royal Oak was the opportunity to celebrate Gérald Genta, not only for the creations he developed for numerous watchmakers but also (...)

Lang 1943: several decades in a single watch

Lang 1943: several decades in a single watch

Honouring the legacy of 1940s-born watchmaker Gerd-Rüdiger Lang, who founded the Chronoswiss brand in the 1980s, this new project relying on 1960s Marvin (...)

Reviving a watch brand: a risky venture

Before the 1970s, Switzerland was home to a record number of watch brands, many of which collapsed during the quartz crisis. Over the past twenty years, (...)

The second life of watch archives

The second life of watch archives

EDITORIAL

Just imagine: a new, horological Library of Alexandria, accessible at the click of a button to journalists, collectors, designers, historians and (...)

Looking back, to move forward

Looking back, to move forward

EDITORIAL

The act of digitising archives not only dusts them off and freshens them up; by cataloguing them digitally, with the help of artificial intelligence, it (...)

Debunking the Quartz Crisis

Debunking the Quartz Crisis

The distinction between vintage and modern is often drawn at the beginning of the 1980s, when nearly every Swiss watchmaking company failed. Although (...)

Launch of The Watch Library Foundation

Launch of The Watch Library Foundation

HERITAGE

The mission of The Watch Library Foundation is to digitise and make accessible hundreds of thousands of pages and documents of watchmaking heritage, in (...)

The second life of Zenith's legendary 135-O calibre

The second life of Zenith’s legendary 135-O calibre

INTERVIEW

On June 2, Zenith launched ten chronometers powered by the famous Calibre 135-O produced between 1949 and 1962, the most garlanded movement in observatory (...)

Watchmaking in 1927: major structural changes

Watchmaking in 1927: major structural changes

95th ANNIVERSARY

During the ‘Roaring Twenties’ the global watch industry was growing rapidly. Nearly one in two watches produced around the world came from a Swiss factory. (...)

When watchmakers face political risk: selling watches in the USSR

When watchmakers face political risk: selling watches in the USSR

HISTORY

Political risk has always been an issue for multinational companies in certain countries, as the recent closure of luxury stores in Russia shows. This is (...)

“Improving confidence in buying vintage Heuer”

“Improving confidence in buying vintage Heuer”

INTERVIEW

Nicholas Biebuyck is the new Heritage Director at TAG Heuer, a brand that is working on leveraging its long history, a key priority since its partnership (...)