In horology

Horology

Horology is the art or science of measuring time. Clocks, watches, clockwork, sundials, clepsydras, timers, time recorders and marine chronometers are all examples of instruments used to measure time.People interested in horology are called horologists...

, a manufacture d'horlogerie

Manufacture d'horlogerie

Manufacture d'horlogerie is a French horological term of art that is also used in English. In horology, the term is usually encountered in its abbreviated form manufacture. This term of art is used when describing either a wrist watch movement/watchworks fabricator or its products...

is a term reserved for the manufacturers which conceive and make all or most of the parts required for their movements in their own production facilities as opposed to assembling watches using parts purchased from other firms.

If a few parts such as the hairspring, screws or jewel settings are made by an outside supplier, that movement is still considered a Manufacture because the majority of the mechanism is an exclusive design.

Until the 1970s most of the Swiss watch

Watch

A watch is a small timepiece, typically worn either on the wrist or attached on a chain and carried in a pocket, with wristwatches being the most common type of watch used today. They evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. The first watches were...

 brands made their own mechanisms, but when the "quartz crisis

Quartz crisis

The Quartz Crisis, also known as the Quartz Revolution is a term used in the watchmaking industry to refer to the economic upheavals caused by the advent of quartz watches in the 1970s and early 1980s, which largely replaced mechanical watches...

" happened, some firms disappeared and many started to fit their watches with movements made by specialized companies rather than manufacture them, to save costs.

With the revival of the mechanical watch, the rise of a more informed and demanding consumer and the emerging concept of "in-house movement", the Manufactures use this status as a sign of prestige, distinction and know-how to stand out of the non-manufactures watch houses.

Notes: A company only needs to produce at least one movement in-house to be considered a Manufacture, hence some watch companies make all their mechanisms while others only do so for certain models of their range.

When it comes to the Swiss watch industry, an in-house manufactured watch movement is not necessarily better than the one that uses out sourced parts.

A

• Accurist
  Accurist
  Accurist Watches Ltd is a traditional British watch manufacturer, with its headquarters in West Hampstead, London. The company has a reputation of providing high quality watches.-Establishment:...
  
  
• A. Favre & Fils
  A. Favre & Fils
  A. Favre & Fils is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer located in Carouge, a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. Their timepieces are made from 18k gold .-History:...
  
  
• A. Lange & Söhne
  A. Lange & Söhne
  A. Lange & Söhne is a trademark of German watchmaking company Lange Uhren GmbH , a subsidiary of Richemont SA. Lange pocket and wrist watches are among the finest in the world, competing with watches produced by Swiss firms such as Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin.- History :Lange was...
  
  
• Ateliers deMonaco
  Ateliers deMonaco
  Ateliers deMonaco is an independent high-end luxury watch company that develops and manufactures their timepieces in Monaco. It specializes in inventing and hand crafting complicated horological creations that are only made in very limited editions or as unique pieces on request...
  
  
• Audemars Piguet
  Audemars Piguet
  Audemars Piguet is a manufacturer of prestige Swiss watches which compete with Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Vacheron Constantin.-Foundation:...
  
  
• Anonimo (watch)
  Anonimo (watch)
  Anonimo Firenze is an Italian watchmaker. Its watches are manufactured in Florence, Italy with movements provided by ETA SA or Sellita.-History:...
  
  
• Armitron

C

• Cabot Watch Company
• Cartier
  Cartier SA
  Cartier S.A., commonly known as Cartier , is a French luxury jeweler and watch manufacturer. The corporation carries the name of the Cartier family of jewellers whose control ended in 1964 and who were known for numerous pieces including the "Bestiary" , the diamond necklace created for Bhupinder...
  
  
• Casio
  Casio
  is a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company founded in 1946, with its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Casio is best known for its electronic products, such as calculators, audio equipment, PDAs, cameras, musical instruments, and watches...
  
  
• Certina
  Certina
  Certina Kurth Frères SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker company founded in Grenchen, 1888, by Adolf and Alfred Kurth, and currently an affiliate company of the Swatch Group.-History:...
  
  
• Chopard
  Chopard
  Chopard is a Swiss based luxury watch, jewelry, and accessories company founded in 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard at the age of 24. Chopard initially concentrated on developing precise pocket watches and chronometers based upon innovative ideas...
  
  
• Chronosport
• Citizen Watch Co.
  Citizen Watch Co.
  is the core company of a Japanese global corporate group based in Tokyo, Japan. The company was originally founded as Shokosha Watch Research Institute in 1918 and is currently known as the manufacturer of CINCOM precision lathe machine tools as well as CITIZEN watches. The trade name originated...
  
  
• Corum
  Corum (watchmakers)
  Corum is a Swiss watchmaker based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Canton of Neuchâtel. Founded in 1955, it makes high-quality and high-price watches, many of which are limited editions and thus especially pricey...
  
  

D

• De Grisogono
  De Grisogono
  De Grisogono is a Swiss luxury jeweller. It was founded in 1993 by black diamond specialist Fawaz Gruosi....
  
  
• Dakota Watch Company
  Dakota Watch Company
  The Dakota Watch Company is a retail and service company that specializes in watches and watch accessories. The company was founded in 1945 by Albert Cooper under the name Cooper's Fixery in Cincinnati, Ohio. At the time, the company's products consisted mostly of a variety of services ranging...
  
  
• Daniel Roth (watchmakers)
• De Grisogono
  De Grisogono
  De Grisogono is a Swiss luxury jeweller. It was founded in 1993 by black diamond specialist Fawaz Gruosi....
  
  
• Doxa S.A.
  Doxa S.A.
  Doxa S.A. is a Swiss company, founded in 1889, that manufactures watches. Doxa is best known for its dive watches.-Company history:Doxa, founded in 1889 by George Ducommun, began as a maker of fine dress watches and other timepieces. Over the years, Doxa gained in size and branched out into...
  
  
• Dubey Schaldenbrand
  Dubey Schaldenbrand
  Dubey & Schaldenbrand is a luxury watch company dating back to 1946 and named after founders Georges Dubey and René Schaldenbrand. It was purchased by Cinette Robert in 1995 and continues to produce small quantities of primarily automatic movement watches. The company is located in Les...
  
  
• Roger Dubuis
  Roger Dubuis
  Roger Dubuis is the brand name of luxury watches and jewellery founded by Carlos Dias and Roger Dubuis.Dubuis, a talented watchmaker, founded his own atelier in 1980 after 14 years of developing complications for Patek Philippe. He took commissions to design new complications for major brands for...
  
  

F

• Fastrack
  Fastrack
  Fastrack is a bus rapid transit scheme operating in the Thames Gateway area of Kent. It currently consists of two routes operated by Arriva Southern Counties on behalf of Kent County Council...
  
  
• Carlo Ferrara
  Carlo Ferrara
  Carlo Ferrara is a luxury Italian watch brand, known for its Regulatore collection, timepieces which feature hour and minute hands on independent vertical elliptical tracks. The timepieces are manufactured in Switzerland....
  
  
• F. P. Journe
  F. P. Journe
  F.P. Journe is a high-end watch manufacture of Switzerland named after the founder François-Paul Journe.The motto of the brand, Invenit et Fecit denotes that the company builds the entirety of the watches...
  
  
• Florence
  Florence
  Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
  
  
• Folli Follie
  Folli Follie
  Folli Follie Group is a Greek-based international company which designs, manufactures and distributes jewellery, watches and fashion accessories. Through its subsidiaries it also operates duty-free shops and sporting goods retail outlets.-History:...
  
  
• Fortis Uhren
• Fossil
  Fossil, Inc.
  Fossil, Inc. is a designer and manufacturer of clothing and accessories, primarily watches and jewelry, but also sunglasses, wallets, handbags, belts, shoes and clothing, based in Richardson, Texas, United States...
  
  
• Frédérique Constant
  Frédérique Constant
  Frederique Constant SA is a manufacture of luxury wrist watches based in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva. The company was established in 1904 by Frederique Schreiner & Constant Stas and is involved in all the stages of watch production, from initial design to final assembly...
  
  
• Franck Muller
  Franck Muller
  Franck Muller is a noted Swiss watchmaker and the company of the same name. The brand of watches carries the slogan "Master of Complications". Franck Muller's watches are worn by various celebrities, among them Demi Moore, Robin Williams, Elton John, 50 Cent, and José Mourinho...
  
  

G

• George Daniels
• Girard-Perregaux
  Girard-Perregaux
  Girard-Perregaux is a high-end Swiss watch manufacture with its origins dating back to 1791. It is situated in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland and is a part of the Sowind group, a subsidiary of PPR.- History :...
  
  
• Glashütte Original
  Glashütte Original
  Glashütte Original is a German watchmaking company founded in 1994 by the privatization of VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe . GUB was an East German conglomerate formed in 1951 from the watch companies based in Glashütte. This included A. Lange & Söhne, founded in 1845...
  
  
• Georg Jensen
  Georg Jensen
  Georg Arthur Jensen was a Danish silversmith.Born in 1866, Jensen was the son of a knife grinder in the town of Raadvad just to the north of Copenhagen. Jensen began his training in goldsmithing at the age of 14 in Copenhagen...
  
  
• Greubel Forsey
  Greubel Forsey
  Greubel Forsey is a watchmaking company specializing in very high-end complicated timepieces. It was launched in 2004 by Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey and is based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland....
  
  

I

• Ikepod
  Ikepod
  The original Ikepod company was a Swiss wristwatch manufacturer, specializing in conceptual timepieces.Ikepod began in 1993, when Oliver Ike spotted the Australian designer Marc Newson due to his first publication in Europe. Together they completed their first prototype wristwatch called Seaslug...
  
  
• Independent Watches
  Independent Watches
  Independent Watches, a secondary label to Citizen Watches offered primarily in Japan, feature a more modern, contemporary look than the traditional Citizen line. Watches produced through the Independent label are generally released through seasonal collections.-External links:* *...
  
  
• Indiglo
  Indiglo
  Indiglo is a brand name of Indiglo Corporation, solely owned by Timex for licensing purposes. Timex electroluminescent lamps, branded Indiglo, were introduced through Kmart in 1992 in the Ironman watch line...
  
  
• International Watch Company
  International Watch Company
  International Watch Co, also known as IWC, is a high-end Swiss watch manufacturer located in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. IWC is an active member of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH....
  
  
• Invicta
  Invicta Watch Group
  Invicta Watch Group is a United States-based fashion watch company, trading on the name, but a distinct entity from the company founded in 1837 by Raphael Picard in La Chaux-de-fonds, Switzerland. The Picard family owned and operated the company until 1991, when the company was purchased by a...
  
  

L

• Leijona
  Leijona watch
  The Leijona watch is Finland's most popular wristwatch. It has been manufactured since 1910.-Description:New models are introduced several times a year. They combine influences from international trends as well as local Finnish styles. The collection has trendy as well as conservative models. Many...
  
  
• Lorus
• LOUIS GEORGE
  LOUIS GEORGE (watches)
  -Brand Name History:LOUIS GEORGE is a German watch brand based at Berlin, Germany. For the article about the watchmaker click here.The brand name refers to the Berlin master watchmaker Louis George who became the 'watchmaker to King' Frederick the Great of Prussia on the 26th December 1769.Louis...
  
  
• Longines
  Longines
  Longines is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. The company was originally founded by Auguste Agassiz in 1832 and it currently holds the oldest registered logo for a watch company . Longines is currently owned by the Swatch Group.Longines is known for its 'Aviators' watches...
  
  
• Luminox
  Luminox
  Luminox is a brand of watches and clocks that use tritium to illuminate the hands and numerals of its products. Luminox was originally designed for United States Navy SEALs when a procurement officer approached the company to design a watch specifically suited for the needs of this special...
  
  

P

• Panerai
  Panerai
  Officine Panerai Marketing e Communicazioni Srl, a wholly owned subsidiary of Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A., designs, manufactures, markets and sells watches under the Officine Panerai brand through authorized dealers and company-owned boutiques worldwide. Giovanni Panerai founded Officine...
  
  
• Parmigiani Fleurier
  Parmigiani Fleurier
  Parmigiani Fleurier SA is a Swiss brand of luxury watchmakers founded in 1976 in Fleurier, Switzerland by Michel Parmigiani. In 2006, Parmigiani produced the Bugatti 370, a driving watch based on the Bugatti Veyron supercar, which won the 2006 "Watch of the Year Award" from the Japanese...
  
  
• Patek Philippe
• Piaget
  Piaget SA
  Piaget SA is a Swiss luxury watchmakers and jewellers, founded in 1874 by Georges Piaget in the village of La Côte-aux-Fées. The company belongs to the Swiss Richemont group, specialists in the luxury goods industry....
  
  
• Petrodvorets Watch Factory
  Petrodvorets Watch Factory
  The Petrodvorets Watch Factory is the oldest factory in Russia. Founded by Peter the Great in 1721 as the Peterhof Lapidary Works, to make hardstone carvings, since 1962 it has manufactured the Soviet Raketa watches. In almost 300 years of history, the factory has changed name several times...
  
  

R

• Raymond Weil
  Raymond Weil
  Raymond Weil Genève is a Swiss watchmaker, founded in 1976 in Geneva, Switzerland. It is one of the last independent brands in the Swiss luxury watch industry.-History:The company was created by Raymond Weil, now Chairman...
  
  
• Roger Dubuis
  Roger Dubuis
  Roger Dubuis is the brand name of luxury watches and jewellery founded by Carlos Dias and Roger Dubuis.Dubuis, a talented watchmaker, founded his own atelier in 1980 after 14 years of developing complications for Patek Philippe. He took commissions to design new complications for major brands for...
  
  
• Roger W. Smith
  Roger W. Smith
  Roger W. Smith, born 1970 in Bolton, Lancashire, UK, resident in the Isle of Man, is an independent watchmaker. Smith was a Bronze Medallist of the British Horological Institute ....
  
  
• Rolex
  Rolex
  Rolex SA is a Swiss watchmaking manufacturer of high-quality, luxury wristwatches. Rolex watches are popularly regarded as status symbols and BusinessWeek magazine ranks Rolex No.71 on its 2007 annual list of the 100 most valuable global brands...
  
  
• Romain Gauthier
  Romain Gauthier
  -Sources:***...
  
  
• RADO
  Rado (watch)
  Rado is a Swiss luxury manufacturer of watches, with headquarters in Lengnau, Switzerland. It is noted for its use of scratch-proof materials, a field in which it is considered a pioneer...
  
  
• Relic
  Relic
  In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...
  
  

T

• TAG Heuer
  TAG Heuer
  TAG Heuer is a Swiss luxury watchmaker known for its sports watches and chronographs. It is a division of luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton. The company motto is "Swiss Avant-Garde Since 1860"...
  
  
• Titan Industries
  Titan Industries
  Titan Industries is the world's fifth largest wrist watch manufacturer and India's leading producer of watches under the Titan, Fastrack, Sonata, Nebula, RAGA, Regalia, Octane & Xylys brand names. It is a joint venture between the Tata Group, and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation...
  
  
• Timex
  Timex Group
  Timex Group B.V., or Timex Group, is a Dutch holding company headquartered in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands, and the corporate parent of several watchmaking companies around the globe including Timex Group USA, Inc., TMX Philippines, Inc., and Timex Group India Ltd...
  
  
• Tissot
  Tissot
  Tissot is a luxury Swiss watchmaker company founded in 1853 by Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son Charles-Émile Tissot who established the Tissot factory in the Swiss city of Le Locle, in the Neuchâtel area of the Jura Mountains....
  
  
• Traser
• Tudor
• Tutima
  Tutima
  Tutima Uhrenfabrik GmbH is a German watchmaker based in Ganderkesee, Lower Saxony. Tutima was established in 1927 in Glashuette/Sa. by the UROFA and the UFAG . In 1951, it was named Uhrenfabrik Kurtz....