Archive for the ‘Brand Watch Story’ Category

The Patek Philippe Story

In the watch Technically, Patek Philippe has been in a leading position, has several patents. From the 1851 “Patek Philippe,” was the first “spiral stem-winding” patent, the major projects include the patent precision regulator, dual timer, large screw balance wheel, the chain of automatic external rotor, as well as a balanced axle heart devices. 30 only from 1949 to 1979 years, there were 40 patents, many of its patents for the watches in the most.

 Patek Philippe’s exquisite manufacturing technology, creating a number of top brands watches. In 1927, should the U.S. auto magnate Bo Jiade ordering Ms. Patek Philippe watches, produced out of a can be made to play his mother’s favorite lullaby of playing spring form, when the value of 8,300 Swiss francs. Great collectors should be in New York Greaves requirements, Patek Philippe company from 1928 ~ 1933, spent five years, jet lag, star charts is equal to a bag table. Its exquisite outrageous, setting a milestone in the history of clocks and watches. In 1985, Patek Philippe’s 940 model produced by multi-functional watches, there are automatic, calendar, moon phase, leap month, automatic features such as jumping on a plane is only 3.75 millimeters thick, for the same watch in the thinnest.

 Patek Philippe watches the output of the company, there are strict limitations, each no more than 1 million. From the company was founded nearly a half century to the present, its total output of only 60 million. Fine plus limited, so that the table Patek Philippe great store of value. In 1989, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the company’s total 100 produced to commemorate the table to four times the appreciation of the early 90s. In 1953 the company produced a platinum diamond-studded star moon calendar male table, held in Hong Kong ‘97 was a spring auction in order to European buyers bought 5.3 million Hong Kong dollars, the price Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar watch broke The highest bid of the auction the highest price and the Asian watches two records.

 Patek Philippe is currently still the world’s only manually refined, and can be completed within the original manufacturer of all the tabulation process and to adhere to the traditional technique of clocks and watches. Swiss watch industry, said the traditional manufacturing techniques such as “Geneva, 7 kinds of traditional watchmaking craft”, which means that combines the designer, watches division, goldsmith, watch chain maker, sculptor, ceramic artist and jeweler’s traditional crafts. Patek Philippe are convinced that by such a skilled master craftsman of the produce to the list of Jiewei art treasures, which is the Patek Philippe watches the most even have to be proud of. In order to break with tradition and create a better working environment, Patek Philippe’s current president and managing director of Philip Mr. Shi Dong since 1988 began planning and constructing a new facility in was “to Patek Philippe Korea’s unique combination of technology and science and technology under one roof. ” Completed after the opening of the new plant to become a complete “into the table,” the factory next to an old castle has been renovated into a Geneva museum collections of private treasures.

 To achieve further development, Patek Philippe formally in October 1996 issue of “International Journal of Patek Philippe,” to the British, French, Japanese, Chinese, German, Italian language version 6 released an attempt by the magazine’s content to attract customers, enhance corporate image. All these proved Patek Philippe constant quest for innovation and change in business philosophy, so that this century-old factory is still full of vigor and vitality.

The Rolex Story

Hans Wilsdorf founded the company we now know as Rolex in 1905. Born in Kulmbach, Germany in 1881, the company, Wilsdorf & Davies, was based in London. By 1908 it had become one of the leading watch companies in the UK. It was in this year that he coined the name Rolex.

Official Chronometer Certification was awarded to Rolex in 1910 from the “Bureau Officiel” in Switzerland, the first time this had ever been given to a wristwatch. This was to be the first of many accolades awarded to the watch, including the Class A Precision from the Kew Observatory in 1914.

In 1926 the Rolex Oyster was released. It was the first wristwatch to be considered waterproof, proven a year later when the watch was worn by the swimmer Mercedes Gleitze in his successful bid to cross the English Channel. This was beneficial to Wilsdorf whom had sponsored the event and gained considerable exposure for his new Oyster Watch. Wilsdorf recognised the importance of advertising and marketing his creation in order to gain publicity and prestige.

1931 saw the creation of the Perpetual Rotor, a mechanism now seen as the basis for self-winding movements. In the following years Rolex released the first Oyster Perpetual Ladydate (1954) the GMT Master with dual time zone function (1955) and the first Day-Date (1956).

Andre Heiniger took over the company following the death of Hans Wildorf on 06 July 1960. Rolex continued to invent and innovate in terms of technical skill and style throughout the 2nd half of the century. The Sea-dweller (1967) was certified as reaching depths of up to 1,220 metres making it the choice for Professional Divers – a point that was quickly adopted in advertising the model. The Explorer II (1978) and Cosmograph Daytona (1988) were also released to international waiting lists securing Rolex as one of the worlds most prestigious watch brands.

The Omega Story

The Omega watch story begins in 1848, when founder Louis Brandt began hand assembling key-wound precision pocket watches from parts supplied by local craftsmen in his principality La Chaux-de-Fonds, in the northwest corner of Switzerland. However, the Omega name didn’t appear until 1894, after Louis Brandt had passed away and his watchmaking traditions were taken over by his sons, Louis-Paul and Cesar Brandt. Omega watches have long been associated with glamorous screen and sports stars–the Omega Seamaster is famous for being the watch of choice for James Bond–with current ambassadors including Pierce Brosnan, Nicole Kidman, tennis player Anna Kournikova, and swimmers Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe.

But Omega is more than just a fashionable watch. In 1965, the Omega Speedmaster chronograph was “flight-qualified by NASA for all manned space missions” as the only wristwatch to have withstood all of the U.S. space agency’s severe tests, including passing grades for extreme shocks, vibrations, and temperatures ranging from -18 to +93 degrees Celsius. The greatest moment in the Speedmaster’s history was undoubtedly 20 July 1969 at 02:56 GMT, when it recorded man’s first steps on the Moon’s surface as part of the Apollo 11 mission. Omega watches rocketed off to space on many subsequent missions, including visits to Skylab and the historic Apollo-Soyuz link-up of Soviet and American astronauts in 1975.

In more recent years, Omega created the world’s first self-winding wristwatch with central tourbillon in 1994 and made history in 1999 with the first mass-produced watch incorporating the co-axial escapement, developed in conjunction with renowned English master watchmaker George Daniels. In simple terms, the escapement is the heart of a mechanical watch, generating the impulses that make the mechanism move. Omega’s Co-Axial Escapement drastically reduces the friction among the parts that transmit energy to the other components, producing greater stability and precision and reducing service requirements.

Today, Omega is known for its rigorous testing of new movements, cases, and bands. Each new Omega movement is tested on the wrist in existing Omega models, while various laboratory tests are conducted to determine temperature-resistance, shock-resistance and vibration-resistance.

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