Department: Management Sciences

Course: Strategic Business Policy

Assignment: 2
Topic: Top 10 watch companies of the world
Submitted To: Sir Umair Waqqas
Submitted by: Nawaal Nazim
Roll No: BBA-F-19-14
 WORLD’S TOP TEN WATCH BRANDS
PATEK PHILIPPE

In 1839, Antoine Norbert de Patek, a former polish cavalryman, established a factory of watch with his friend Francois Czapek who was a
watchmaker. Their partnership ended due to some disagreements and liquidated on April 18, 1845. After that Patek did partnership with a
French watchmaker Adrien Philippe, inventor of keyless winding mechanism. On January 1, 1851, the company’s name was officially set as
Patek Philippe.

The core competency of the company of the company is its best craftsmanship, heritage, and design such as engraving on difficult metal canvus.
Some of their popular models include

• Nautilus
• Aquanaut
• World Time
• Twenty-4
• Calatrava and more.

Patek Philippe’s fame also includes its creation of most complicated watch known as Patek Philippe Calibre 89 with 33 complications present in
it. The company is as the cream of the crop for buyers who prefer luxurious watches to wear. The company is basically famous for creating
luxurious and complicated watches and has created most exclusive watches. The market share of Patek Philippe is 5.8%. (1) (2) (15)

VACHERON CONSTANTIN

In 1755, the business was started by Jean-Marc Vacheron an independent watchmaker in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1770, the company created
the world’s first horological complication, after 9 years it designed the first engine-turned dials. In 1810 the grandson of Vacheron, Jacques-
Barthelemy who was the current owner of the company initiated company’s exports to France and Italy. Later Jacques-Barthelemy realized that
he was not able to run the company alone, in 1819 he decided to make partnership with Francois Constantin and the new name of the company
VACHERON & CONSTANTIN was introduced. In 1970 the company officially changed its name to Vacheron Constantin. The five famous
watches of Vacheron Constantin are:

• FIFTYSIX
• PATRIMONY ULTRA-THIN CALIBRE 1731
• OVERSEAS WORLD TIME
• TRIPLE CALENDAR
• HARMONY CHRONOGRAPH

Vacheron Constantin is known as the oldest watch manufacturing company dated back to the mid- 1700s. It is also a part of holy trinity of
watches, and this luxury watchmaker brand has set the standard in innovative complications and style. It pushes the idea of longevity and
dependability. The market share of Vacheron Constantin is 1.5%. (1) (3) (15)

AUDEMARS PIGUET

The company was started manufacturing since 1875 by the partnership of two childhood friends Jules Louis Audemars (complex watch
movement creater) and Edward Auguste Piguet (specialized in the regulation of watch movements). The name of the company was officially
announced in 1881 as Audemars Piguet based in Le Brassus a village inside Vallee de Joux in Switzerland. Audemars Piguet is famous for:

• Royal Oak series an iconic watch collection that was a major game-changer for Audemars Piguet who was the first to use a non-
precious metal, stainless steel in the latest sports watch design, and charged luxury prices.
• Royal Oak Offshore series that were in demand for wearing while diving.

Audemars Piguet is also one of the Holy trinity watch manufacturing companies. And is a luxurious watchmaker whose name is worthy of
being in your horology history because of using unique work of jewellery art and using non-precious metal in sports watch design and making
them worthwhile more then gold. The market share of Audemars Piguet market share is 4.3%. (1) (4) (15)

BLANCPAIN

In 1735, Jehan-Jacques Blancpain started making watches in his shop set on the upper floor of his house at Villeret, Switzerland and setup his
business named officially as Blancpain. In 1815 his grandson Frederic-Louis-Blancpain modernized the craft workshop to industrial and serial
production. And replaced the crown-wheel mechanism with a cylinder escapement and made a great innovation in the watch making world. It is
famous for:

• Villeret collection which includes wristwatches with simple and elegant designs also watches with complications such as triple
calendar, moon phase, and carousel.
• Fifty-Fathoms a water-resistant watch up to 91 meters level. Used by navy.
• 1735 Grande Complication is a true grand complication (Tourbillon, minute repeater, perpetual calendar, split chrono), a limited
edition of 30 pieces only and production of just one piece per year.
This company is famous for being the creator of one of the most complicated mechanical watches ever and the production of the company is
uninterrupted from its start and has built its success by producing a limited amount of watches per year. It is also considered as oldest watch
manufacturing company. The market share of Blancpain is 1.1%. (1) (5) (15)

ULYSSE NARDIN

In 1846, at the age of 23, Ulysse Nardin, a trained apprentice horologist, made his own company in Le Locle where its headquarters are still
located. He was fascinated by the sea and produced nautical timekeeping instruments.

• The company became one of the first to manufacture marine chronometers and high-precision seafaring instruments for commercial
ships and navies throughout the world.
• The pocket and marine chronometers became reference products in civil, military and scientific realms.
• Ulysse Nardin acquired a high-precision astronomical regulator, built by Jacques-Frederic Houriet in 1768.

Minute repeaters, complicated watches and pocket chronometers carried the reputation of the company. The market share of Ulysse Nardin is
0.2%. (1) (6) (15)

JAEGER-LECOULTRE

The business started in 1833 by Antoine LeCoultre in a small watchmaking workshop by honing his skills to create high quality timepieces. In
1844, he invented Millionometre, the most precise measuring instrument of the world at that time. In 1847 he created a keyless system to
rewind and set watches. In 1870 Antoine and his son developed the first partially mechanized production processes for complicated movements
in the factory where they were operating. In 1903.Edmond Jaeger who was a watchmaker himself and provides watches to Navy, he challenged
Swiss manufacturers to develop and produce the ultra-thin movements that he had invented. Antoine's grandson who was responsible for
production at LeCoultre, accepted the challenge and gave rise to a collection of ultra-thin pocket watches, including the thinnest in the world in
1907, equipped with the LeCoultre Calibre 145. The company collaborated for many years and the name of the company Jaeger-LeCoultre was
officially renamed in 1937. The famous products or series of Jaeger-LeCoultre are:

• Reverso
• Grande Reverso Ultra-Thin Duoface series.
• AMVOX3 Tourbillon
• Master Control
• JLC Geophysics
• Master Compressor
• Master Ultra-Thin collection which included several models with super-thin perpetual calendars one of which was recently featured in
the Marvel film titled Dr. Strange.
• Atmos Clocks, high-end torsion pendulum clocks which requires no winding rather it gets its energy from atmospheric pressure and
temperature.

The company is believed to be one the best vertically integrated luxury watch manufacturers of the world because of producing their own
movements with many other components in-house and therefore controlling the quality and craftsmanship down to the finest detail. These are
also the reasons for its presence at the sixth position in the top ten best watchmakers of the world’s list. The market share of Jaeger-LeCoultre is
2.1%. (1) (7) (15)

OMEGA

Omega was a brand of La Generale Watch Corporation which was founded by Louis Brandt in 1848. In 1894 his sons developed a
manufacturing and total production control system in-house. Watches developed with these techniques were marketed under the Omega brand.
In 1903 Omega was switched officially from brand to a company of La Generale Watch Corporation. Some of the famous products of the
company’s are:

• Seamaster
• Omega Speedmaster pro also known as moon watch.
• Apollo 11

Omega is considered as a designer watch brand with their entry-level watches starting at a much lower price point than some of the previously
mentioned top watchmaking brands but they also have watches that run into the six figures price point such as Omega Speedmaster Professional
Moonwatch. It is a second most recognized Swiss watch brand with approximately 70% international brand recognition. The market share of
Omega is 8.8%. (1) (8) (15)

GLASHUTTE ORIGINAL

Glashutte Original was founded in 1994 by Heinz W. Pfeifer in Germany, named after the German town Glashutte in Saxony where the first
watchmakers came to manufacture watch parts and watches in the small town in 1845 and where the watch factory is based. Glashutte Original
is descended from this tradition of precise and elegant craftsmanship. Some of Glashutte Original's most popular collections includes:

• Sixties Senator watches

• Seventies Senator watches
• PanoGraph
 • PanoMatic
• PanoMaticLunar ladies collection.

Glashutte Original got fame in making luxurious complicated watches including tourbillons, chronographs, perpetual calendars, and many
more. The market share of Glashutte Original is 0.2%. (1) (9) (15)

ROLEX

Rolex was founded by Hans Wilsdorf who founded a company Wilsdorf and Davis with his friend Alfred Davis in London in 1905 specializing
in the distribution of timepieces. He wanted to manufacture the watches worn on the wrist. These early wristwatches were sold to many
jewelers, who then put their own names on the dial. And these wrist watches were hallmarked “W&D” inside the caseback. In 1908, Rolex was
registered by Wilsdorf as a brand name and trade mark of the watches of Wilsdorf and Davis and was officially set as Rolex in 1920. Famous
products of Rolex are:

• Daytona
• Submariner
• GMT Master II
• Datejust
• Yacht-Master
• Yacht-master II,
• Day-Date
• Sky-Dweller

The watches of the Rolex are in most demand and more famous than other watch brands, with 100% brand recognition and higher average
resale value than any other watch brand on the market because of accuracy of their watches as many of them hold a Superlative Chronometer
designation meaning that they have an accuracy of +2/-2 seconds per day where a regular COSC certified chronometer which is considered an
impressive watch movement has an accuracy of +6/-4 seconds per day. The approximate production Rolex’s watches is 2000 per day. The
market share of Rolex is 24.9%. (1) (10) (11) (15)

JAQUET DROZ

The company was founded by Pierre Jaquet-Droz and his two sons in 1784. Pierre died in 1790 and the company lasted another decade or so
and was closed but in year 1990 it was reemerged and was acquired by The Swatch Brand in 2000 and is currently present in Switzerland.
Jaquet Droz famous products and collections includes

• Grande Seconde
• Petite Heure Minute
• Les Ateliers D'Arts
• Grande Seconde SW
• Lady 8
• Grande Heuer
• Astrale Collections

Pierre’s ability to combine his art with precision micromechanics and produce timepieces that were both mechanically complicated and as
aesthetically pleasing as fine art made his company Jaquet Droz so unique from other watchmaking companies. The market share of Jaquet
Droz is 1.28%. (1) (12) (13) (14) (17)

REFFERANCES
(1) https://www.prestigetime.com/blog/images/ochri/3665e13d2bb96e37c33df7cf08363bee-575px.jpg
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patek_Philippe_SA
(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacheron_Constantin
(4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audemars_Piguet
(5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blancpain
(6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysse_Nardin
(7) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaeger-LeCoultre
(8) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_SA
(9) https://www.glashuette-original.com/en/the-brand-glashutte-original/manufactory/history/
(10) https://www.rolex.com/about-rolex-watches/1905-1919.html
(11) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolex
(12) https://www.jaquet-droz.com/en/the-extraordinary-history-jaquet-droz
(13) https://history-computer.com/pierre-jaquet-droz-complete-biography/
(14) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Jaquet-Droz
(15) https://monochrome-watches.com/top-50-swiss-watch-brands-2020-market-share-sales-editorial/
(16) https://www.statista.com/statistics/940579/market-share-of-swiss-watch-brands-worldwide/
(17) https://www.allbrands.markets/brand/price-share-stock-market-jaquet-droz-20050922400-ch0012255151/