SwissMade Archives - Watchisthis

01Fév 2021 by Jonathan Kopp 1 Comment

Review – Timeless Swiss Watches

Review

Several weeks ago I discovered on the social networks a new Swiss microbrand named Timeless. I’ve been directly captivated by the design of the piece and so I decided to contact Mael Oberkampf, the founder and designer of the brand (an interview will come in the next weeks). After some weeks of conversation he decided to send me the two watches that are part of his first collection. Let’s welcome home the HMS watches :-) I was honestly happy that he accepted my proposal because I was quite intrigued by these pieces. It is quite rare to find a new brand, or micro brand, which has a more or less affordable price, and which has a totally different design than what is already on the market. So yes, for those who…

15Avr 2019 by Jonathan Kopp 2 Comments

The lovely Terra Cielo Mare Milano San Babila

Magazine

Some weeks ago I had the chance to meet Eric Delicati who is distributor of the Italian brand Terra Cielo Mare. This brand is not really visible today because of a lack of communication but honestly it’s a brand on which you should have a look. For the record, Terra Cielo Mare is a family business that produces watches for enthusiast and collectors since 1999. The interesting thing is that behind everyone of their watches there’s a real story to tell. That means that they try to develop and narrate the history of aviation, naval, mechanical engineering and Italy through Haute Horlogerie. That’s not the most common thing in todays watch industry. Indeed, most of the time, a designer draws a watch and then the marketing director says : “Ok,…

31Jan 2019 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments

Classicism and Émail Grand-Feu – Focus on Lundis Bleus

Uncategorized

What’s great about independent watchmaking is that you’re not only talking about watches. You’re talking about esthetic choices, technical skills and passion. All mixed together in order for some brands to propose watches made with great creativity, great craftsmanship, recognizable among all thanks to their design. And all that sold for a reasonable price. Lundis Bleus is one of those brands. Initiated by friendship in 1994 when the two founders, Johan Storni and Bastien Vuilliomenet, meet in the watchmaking school of La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland; the brand started to produce watches in 2016. In between, 1998 was the year of their graduation. Then, they both continued their studies and got experiences and skills in several domains such as design, watch restoration or watch construction in manufactures like Renaud & Papi…

29Jan 2019 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments

DWISS – The awards winning microbrand

Uncategorized

DWISS was created in 2011 by Rafael Simoes Miranda, a Brazilian born naturalized Italian designer, who has been designing watches for over a decade now, with a portfolio of more than 300 different watches designed for 15 different brands, awarded with important international design awards, like the Red Dot Design Award. DWISS (Design Watch Independent Switzerland) offers premium watches with a world-class design at reasonable prices – combining Swiss watch engineering, precision and quality. DWISS has been in the market for almost 7 years and has presented in several of the most important watch fairs worldwide such as BaselWorld (2014 and 2015) and Hong Kong watch and clock fair (2014 and 2015). DWISS has won an IDA - International Design Award for producing the very first Niobium (Nb1Zr) watch in…

25Jan 2019 by Jonathan Kopp No Comments

Armand Nicolet presents the M02 collection

News

Swiss brand Armand Nicolet just launched a new collection under the name of M02. This collection is separate in 3 lines : Date, Chronograph & Date and GMT. The original concept that years ago inspired the first version of this family hasn’t changed, but the Maison this time has focused particularly on comfort and ergonomics. In order to make the watch as comfortable as possible on a man’s wrist the diameter of the case has been reduced a little and time-telling is now easier thanks to a revisited dial where Arabic numbers are displayed alternatively to indexes. The date model is something really classical. It uses the SW-200 movement from Sellita and is priced around 1400 CHF. The most interesting thing about it is the guilloche dial that I find…

21Jan 2019 by Jonathan Kopp 3 Comments

Riskers is coming

News

Riskers is a new watch brand that will be launched quite soon. The name seems to be well found… Riskers for « Taking Risk ». Indeed, this new brand has been created by ten former Richemont Group executives, who have worked for prestigious firms such as Cartier, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin and Baume & Mercier. Now they have decided to join forces to create a new independent watch brand together. Well, you will ask yourself « why Watchisthis talks about them ? They come from luxury brands so they will launch a luxury brand »…And there you’re right ! They will launch a luxury brand but at an affordable price!! After a first talk with Pierre Guerrier (former Richemont marketing services, Piaget) and co-founder of the brand, I heard that they…

20Juin 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 2 Comments

David Daper – A Swiss & Lifestyle “Signature” Brand

Uncategorized

Press Release - Time Square Collection from David Daper David Daper, with its first collection, Time Square, has positioned itself as a “Signature” Brand, thanks to a distinctive and highly differentiated product offering. David Daper creates its own Brand Territory with a unique and minimalist design which answers the request of a generation in search of a strong identity working with their lifestyle. It caters to a mobile community in search of multicultural and urban experiences; a trend-aware community, with sharp product and quality knowledge. Far from the simplistic patterns of 'me-too' brands, David Daper's founders bring their own interpretation of a lifestyle brand. Their experience of high-end watchmaking allows the creation of this first iconic collection, despite a cluttered segment, it is a design recognizable amongst all. The…

14Mar 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 15 Comments

Buser Frères & Cie S.A. – A Brief Introduction

Vintage

There have been countless Swiss watch companies come and go over the last 200 years or so. Literally every single day I come across at least one defunct name I’ve never heard of before, and I know of many Swiss watch brands (not to mention German and French brands too)! A sizeable proportion of these old brands were merely that – brands only, meaning that they did not manufacture any components of the timepieces they marketed. Rather, they designed (sometimes they didn’t even go that far...) or assembled watches from components supplied by other factories; a successful business model that continues today in the Swiss watch industry. Buser Frères & Cie S.A., a family owned business whose origins began in 1892 in Niederdorf, Switzerland; were a true ‘manufacture d’horlogerie’. Buser…

14Fév 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 3 Comments

Winding Back the Years

Vintage

The vast majority of wrist watches, from their very conception, have a crown on the right hand side of the case, at 3 o’clock. Most crowns protrude from the case, where they are grasped for setting and winding of the watch, if the watch is of the mechanical variety. However in 1953, Jaeger LeCoultre released the Futurematic, with the technically impressive calibre 497 bumper automatic movement. What was different about the Futurematic, lies in how the watch was set – there was no crown to be found at 3 o’clock. This watch was the first ‘back-set’ wristwatch, a true innovation where the tiny coin-like crown was located flat against the back of the case, in contact with the wrist when worn. The crown would slide one way to be rotated…

24Jan 2018 by Jonathan Kopp 1 Comment

The new Moduco watches

News

The name Moduco comes from the abbreviation of « Modern Urban Company ». This new brand is a collaborative vision of two good friends - One who is an American watch designer, the other a Swiss product manager. Together they have a combined experience of more than 10 years in the watch industry. With this first collection they tried to create a watch inspired by the urban environment, modern aesthetics and industrial elements. A strong yet clean timepiece with some nice details. The first one that directly caught our eyes is the 3 dimensional roman numeral XII, that is more thick than the other numerals and on which there is a vertical brushed finishing. This special detail could remind us some skyline that you can find around Central Park in…

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