Watch Brands - Which Watch When...

Just how many watch brands are there? And how many watch brands are really worth knowing about? Are they just synonyms for companies, or do they have more fanciful origins? More...

But what are Watch Brands? A Clarification

Before we go further, a certain amount of clarification is necessary. Though people often speak of "watch brands" as though they were synonymous with watchmakers or watch manufacturers, they are not. A brand is distinct from a maker or manufacturer - one manufacturer may produce several brands, and a watch brand may even be sold or acquired by another manufacturer through a merger. Not every manufacturer even has a brand, and not every brand actually belongs to any one manufacturer.

Now that the issue is both clarified and confused, some concrete examples may help to understand the issue.

The King of Watch Brands

Interestingly, Rolex, perhaps the most famous of all watch brands, has its origins in a watchmaking operation that actually produced white label watches that were then "branded" by other makers or indeed jewelers who actually put the finishing touches on and sold the watches. Wilsdorf and Davis, the founders of Rolex, got their start importing Swiss movements to England, mounting them in high-quality cases from other makers, and then selling these assemblies to London jewelers where they were sold as products of the jewelers. With experience making, or at least assembling quality watches, the company then set out to create a brand under which it could own the entire chain, including the lucrative last step, the final sale.

In keeping with the assemblage at the heart of the king of all watch bands, the very brand itself, the name Rolex, is itself an assemblage - perhaps it comes from the French horlogerie exquise (exquisite clockwork), but most likely it is just an invention with the goal of being a watch brand that, in time, everyone, around the world, would be able to recognize, value and, of course, actually pronounce.

Concrete Examples of Watch Brands

TAG Heuer, Patek Philippe & Co., Audemars Piguetand Vacheron Constantin are all examples of entities that are watch manufacturers and watch brands. Swatch, on the other hand, is a brand name for watches produced by the Swatch conglomerate. Glasshütte Original is another manufacturer/brand that is part of the Swatch empire - its watches are Glashütte Originals, not Swatches, though in the final analysis, they're coming from the Swatch parent company. Bovet Fleurier was and continues to be an independent Swiss brand.

Thus, the larger the manufacturer or conglomerate, the more likely it is that it will have several watch brands in its portfolio (often without buyers being aware of the fact). Smaller, more refined manufacturers, on the other hand, usually have just one brand that is synonymous with the company. These watch brands focus on quality, not quantity, and rely on their reputations, which means that having just one brand means that they have to strive that much harder to function at their very highest levels or risk acquiring a bad reputation that cannot easily be shed.