Some of you will probably not be surprised to read this. Nevertheless please discover by clicking on “read more” why these six brands are absolutely undervalued watch manufacturers.
No doubt, this six-pack, Breguet, Cartier, Chopard, Glashütte Original, Nomos and Tissot, does a great job. All the brands mentioned are extremely innovative and they have a huge range of in-house manufactured calibres in their collections. But is a greater public, are watch collectors and aficionados aware of this? In these six cases I doubt and I want to tell you why.
Once again, before starting, I want to mention that this is my personal opinion. Neither someone told me to write this, nor paid me anything. It is simply the Watch-Insider´s opinion. I also want to note, that mentioning these six brands does not mean I don’t like what they do and I want to harm the manufacturers.
In contrary! Due to the fact that I know how capable they are and what kind of wristwatches they manufacture, I now put them into the spotlight here and I try to attract your attention.
As always also the order on these six pages is alphabetical and of course not a ranking or something else.
Your valuable comments are very much appreciated, so please do not hesitate to use the comment function… 🙂
Breguet
In the high-end watchmaking segment everybody talks about Patek Philippe and it seems that there is only Patek Philippe. The Geneva based top-of-the-end-manufacturer has established such a brilliant and strong communication in the last two decades that almost every other company operating in the same segment seems not to exist. Breguet operates in the same segment, builds amazing wristwatches is extremely creative and is in terms of innovations the leader of the pack. Each year Breguet presents at least one stunning timepiece in which high-tech, high-end watchmaking is applied. The consequent use of strong magnetic fields in a wristwatch is one example, or the knowledge to manufacture ultra-thin and ultra complicated timepieces. Abraham-Louis Breguet was the inventor of the tourbillon and until today Breguet is the Swiss manufacturer that builds and sells the most high-end tourbillons. Breguet manufactures some of the most beautiful dials of the industry and is a master when it comes to ultimate calibre surface finishing. Breguet builds some of the most beautiful women’s watches and sport watches in that segment, Breguet masters breath-taking high-speed-escapements and many more horological innovations.
For many though Breguet is not more than a mediocre Swiss watch manufacturer and people are not aware of the real potentials of that brand. I position Breguet at the same level of Patek Philippe and I do not exaggerate. You Patek Philippe disciples out there you can blame me now for this statement if you wish, but take it as granted that I do not err. 😉
Please use the search function of the blog and find some of the articles I wrote about Breguet to better understand what I mean.
The Breguet Classique Tourbillon extra-plat automatique shown here is one of the thinnest automatic tourbillons on the market and one of the most beautiful ones. This is ultra elegant Breguet-style for the wrist, from the inventor of the tourbillon in the year 1801.
Cartier on page 2
Wery nice rewiew from some fantastic brands that will set the trend in the future. Powermatic 80 as mention with Tissot is also used by Certina in a beutyful design, (Ref C026.407.16.087.01)
Great article and totally agreed!!! Breguet and Nomos are two of my favorite brands which are very very underrated (even here in Bangkok, Thailand). Whereas I’ve been a proud owner of a Breguet Tradition WG for a while now, I just bought the Nomos Zurich Weltzeit three months ago and have loved it ever since. I hope they keep up the good work and maintain their distinct brand identity for which they are respected
I really like this post Alexander. There is so much more to discover besides the few very well established and worshipped brands. And I am always annoyed when one of the marketing-leading brands presents something as groundbreaking new development while the same invention was quietly introduced by someone else long before.
I agree with you, unfortunately Cartier and Chopard are in the trap of the big corporations. The general belief is that a company cannot be number one in every domain which he chooses to make stuff.
Breguet has the problem of not making constantly PR as others did. They do have the money only after Swatch group embrace them fully.
Glashutte is my secret love. Tipically german engineering. Together with Lange they have the handicap of restarting the production after the RED plague has gone away.
Tissot is in the trap that the service network cannot cover the debit which comes from the factory. Pure and simple the production far exceeds the service capabilities.
All these are my personal opinions , Cheers
-I find it refreshing to learn in-house manufacturers are successfully developing there own assortments picking up the gauntlet cast down by Swatch Group.
-I like the coin edge case and dial of the Breguet I would be proud to own one.
-Tissot to my eye has always been about clean understated style at an affordable price.
Good to learn the details of these very serious marques.
Well done Alexander!
Guys, you are so right. Of course Certina uses the calibre also. When writing the article I simply did not think about it… It’s good to have knowledgeable readers like you are. Thank you! In this context the fact does not change much, since Tissot is the sleeping giant and not Certina…
I have been interested in Nomos for about two years and finally purchased one last June. I am very pleased with the watch, Nomos deserve far more recognition than they get.
From what I know, Certina uses Powermatic 80 as well: http://www.certina.com/technology/powermatic-80
You mention that the Powermatic 80 is exclusively used by Tissot.
Sorry but so is Certina on it’s DS1 collection:
http://www.certina.com/technology/powermatic-80
Very much appreciated indeed!
Nice to read these thoughts of an insider.
I was certainly one of the ones being surprised about Tissot, but can follow the story line. With Breguet I’m never sure if I’m old enough to like their design, but Cartier is just fantastic in terms of their fascinating complications. I am with you, too, what you say about the brand with the double G shining through the case back.
Your report also offered interesting news to me about Chopard and Nomos. I didn’t know about the share holder of Parmigiani’s Atokalpa company, nor did I know about Nomos’ escapement regulator. So, this explains why I’m reading here regularly.
One outing from my side: If somebody is asking me, it is Chopard.
For the reasons stared in your report, and let’s don’t forget that for my understanding it is only Nomos and Chopard standing out of this selection as family-owned companies. While comparing both, Chopard just offers the more complete range of horlogerie and history.
As private companies – let’s exaggerate that – both are not driven by some investor’s ROI or what so ever. So what is driving them? – Maybe the passion top down and bottom up throughout their daily work. In my eyes, they are more free to do things differently. The one polarizes with puristic design and the other is really into oldtimer cars. To me, both are therefore a valuable contribution to variety in the watchmaking industry.
Thanks again and read you soon.