When you imagine a first-class watchmaker working at his table, where do you picture him? We know that Switzerland is home to many of the world’s top watchmakers, but that doesn’t mean the best of the best are holed up in workshops high in the Swiss Alps. These four master watchmakers call different places home, but all four of them create some of the most amazing timepieces the world has ever seen.
Switzerland
Swiss watchmakers don’t come much more traditional than Philippe Dufour. Working out of a converted schoolroom in LeSolliat, Switzerland, he creates simple and simply beautiful timepieces by hand. If you would like Dufour to create one of his Simplicity watches for you — he only makes a handful a year — you have patience and deep pockets. His waiting list is long, and the entry level price for one of his watches is roughly $92,000.
From a traditional Swiss watchmaker to a Swiss watch innovator. Francois-Paul Journe‘s breakthroughs in watch design are astounding. So astounding, that other watchmakers don’t even bother to copy his work; they don’t have the skill or the resources to replicate them. An FP Journe Tourbillon Souverain Seconde Morte watch will cost you well over $100,000.
Germany
Although he spent his early years under the Communist rule of East Germany, Marco Lang’s dedication to Dresden’s watch-making history is evident in his work. Lang produces watches with his friend Mirko Heyne under the brand Lang & Heyne in Dresden, Germany. The watchmakers’ timepieces are all named after Saxon rulers depicted on the Fürstenzug mural in Dresden. Lang’s watches sell for $25,000-75,000.
England
The only man ever to be apprenticed to world-class watchmaker George Daniels, Roger W. Smith and his team operate from the Isle of Man using the workshop bequeathed to Smith by Daniels. The team produces just 10 watches per year, but those watches are of the highest quality. Smith’s newest watch design, the Series 4, debuted in November of 2015. Prices begin at over $300,000.
Have you ever heard of these world renowned watch makers? Get on their lists and own some of the finest watches ever made from the world’s best watchmakers.
