Richemont Group Watch Brands

Browse our stocked Richemont Group watches
A. Lange & Sohne The German watchmaker Ferdinand Adolph Lange founded A Lange and Sohne in Glashutte, German, in 1845 after apprenticing with master watchmaker Johann Christian Friedrich Gutkaes in Dresden. This first Glashutte workshop was staffed by stonemasons, farmers, and others with little to no technical skill but, under Lange's leadership, the company still produced precision pocket watches and helped start the Glashutte watchmaking industry. The company's main facility was destroyed in the final days of World War II and Soviet expropriation removed the name of A Lange and Sohne from the dials of watches in 1948. Walter Lange, great-grandson of the company's found, was forced to wait until 1990 and the fall of the Berlin Wall to restore his ancestor's company to its former glory. He, along with watch industry executive Gunter Blumlein, has now recreated one of the great German watch brands, carrying its illustrious lineage into the 21st century. The watch lines carried by A Lange and Sohne -- the Zeitwerk, the Richard Lange family, the 1815 line, Saxonia, and Lange 1 --are made from gold and platinum, with rare exception, and the movement of each watch is developed, produced, and assembled by the company. In addition, each movement is made from "German silver," an alloy of copper and nickel that gives the piece a very particular sheen and color.
Founded: 1845
Official Site: www.alange-soehne.com
Baume Mercier The two Baume brothers setup their first watchmaking house in the Swiss Jura mountains in 1830. In 1918, William and Paul Mercier entered into a partnership. Years later, in 1999, Baume et Mercier joined the prestigious Richemont group, along with such notable brands as Cartier, Piaget, and Jaeger-LeCoultre. With such good company, it is no wonder Baume & Mercier is well established as a contemporary brand that is not afraid to take risks. They have been one of the fastest growing high-end brands in the United States in the past decade.
Founded: 1830
Cartier Cartier, as part of the Richemont group, could easily refer to themselves as jewelers first, and watchmakers second. This can be attributed to their large line of rings, necklaces, purses and charms that carry the same characteristics as their watches: elegant and refined without being over-the-top. Don't get the wrong idea, however, because while Cartier watches are stylish, their functionality is akin to the caliber of other leading brands today.
Founded: 1847
Official Site: www.cartier.com
Stocked Styles: Santos : Roadster : Tank : Calibre de Cartier
IWC

The International Watch Company was established in 1868 by Florentine Ariosto Jones, an American engineer and watchmaker, in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, with the assistance of manufacturer and industrialist Johann Heinrich Moser. Its location in Schaffhausen makes the IWC the only major Swiss watchmaker to set up shop in eastern Switzerland.

Their Ingenieur model of watches -- a design based on the classic IWC Pilot Watch, a line made for the British Royal Air Force in the 1940s -- are specifically designed to counter the effects of external magnetic fields, making them ideal for pilots. The company's Portuguese line is designed for the avid boater; the Da Vinci family of watches pays tribute to the Renaissance inventor; the classic lines of the Portofino line recall Hollywood of the 1950s and movie stars' love for the Italian fishing village; and the IWC's Aquatimer series, along with their support of the Charles Darwin Foundation's preservation efforts, shows the company's history and respect for the diving community.

Founded: 1868
Official Site: www.iwc.com
Jaeger-LeCoultre Part of the Richemont group's Haute Horlogerie division, Jaeger Le Coultre is a fully fledged Manufacture, whose in-house movements grace not only their own prestigious timepieces, but often lend their prestige to other high-end brands. Antoine LeCoultre founded the brand in 1833 but it was not until 1866 that his son would transform the workshop into a manufacture. Paris watchmaker Edmond Jaeger did not join his name to the company until 1903. He brought with him ultra-thin movement calibers as well as a prestigious customer for the movements, Cartier. Today, the company is well known for a number of achievements, including the Reverso, the Memovox automatic alarm watch and the Atmos clock.
Founded: 1833
Stocked Styles: Master : Reverso
MontBlanc

Montblanc, which was established as a manufacturer of writing instruments in 1906, introduced their first line of Meisterstuck watches in 1997 at the Salon International de Haute Horlogerie. Designed for an energetic lifestyle in robust stainless steel cases, the Sport line was unveiled in 2000.

In a move by Richemont, the owner of Montblanc, the company was annexed in 2006 with Minerva, a watchmaker established in 1858, to create Montblanc Villeret. Shortly after this merger, the company proudly introduced the MB R100, their first caliber manufactured in-house, at the 2008 SIHH. The new division truly made its mark on the haute horlogerie world in 2010 with the introduction of their limited edition Metamorphosis timepiece, a wristwatch that converts between two faces, one a classical dial and the other a chronograph, at the push of a button. Like Montblanc's other watches, the Metamorphosis combines an elegant design and aesthetics while utilizing a creative approach to watchmaking.

Founded: 1906
Panerai

Officine Panerai Firenze started supplying the Italian Navy with precision instruments such as calculators, fuses for torpedoes, depth meters, and compasses in the 19th century. The demand for an extremely waterproof timepiece with luminous hands for legibility, led them into the world of horology. Over the past 145 years, the company has evolved from basic blunt instruments into one of the most sought after brands.

Panerai was very quiet through the second half of the 20th century, until the Richemont Group (then Vendome Luxury Group) bought the company in 1997. Richemont relaunched many of the models and they were an immediate international hit.

Founded: 1860
Official Site: www.panerai.com
Piaget  
Founded: 1874
Official Site: www.piaget.com
Ralph Lauren
Roger Dubuis

Roger Dubuis is a growing young Manufacture, begun in 1995 with the partnership of Roger Dubuis and Carlos Dias. 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 several years before finally drawing designer Carlos Dias away from Franck Muller to launch his own brand. Roger Dubuis was born in Geneva and all of his watches, strongly associated with that culture, are submitted to the quality hallmark of the Poinçon de Genève as well as receiving chronometer certification. Looking at the off-beat models designed by Carlos Dias one can easily lose sight of the watchmaking prowess involved. The limited edition pieces and flamboyant designs are all based on a foundation of solid watchmaking skill and in-house complications.

Roger Dubuis was recently brought into the Richemont group.  In addition to improving the availability and distribution of Roger Dubuis timepieces for sale, Richemont has opened a Roger Dubuis repair facility in the U.S. reducing the turnaround time for regular service and repair.

Founded: 1955
Official Site: www.rogerdubuis.com
Vacheron Constantin Another very old and respected watchmaker, Vacheron & Constantin have been creating fine timepieces since their inception in 1755 by Jean-Marc Vacheron. The watchmaking business stayed in the Vacheron family exclusively for several generations, until 1819; as the company began exporting its watches to other European countries, and continuing to gain the attention of the watch community, current owner Jacques-Barthelemy Vacheron partnered with Francois Constantin, and the pairing was complete. Constantin began travelling abroad, further increasing visibility and notoriety of their brand. Vacheron & Constantin have been behind some notable moments in watchmaking history. The company was instrumental in the development and creation of timepieces that resisted magnetic fields, or were even entirely nonmagnetic themselves. They are also the brand behind one of the most expensive wristwatch ever made, the Kallista, as well as the world’s most complicated mechanical watch, the Reference 57260; this privately commissioned piece hosts 57 complications in total and took 8 years to complete. Today, Vacheron & Constantin is a member of the Richemont Group, standing with many other proud and storied names in watchmaking including Panerai, A. Lange & Söhne, and Jaeger-LeCoultre among others.
Founded: 1755
Stocked Styles: Historiques : Overseas
Van Cleef & Arpels
Founded: 1906
Official Site: www.vancleefarpels.com