Highlights of Maison Horlogère Courvoisier®, over 200 years of Watchmaking History
-1725: Josué Robert, founder of Courvoisier Watch House, received Prussia´s first watchmaker licence from king Frederick Wilhem I.
-1787: Courvoisier Watch House is founded when Louis Courvoisier joined his father-in-law Josué Robert’s company. The company was based in La-Chaud-de-Fond., Geneva and Paris.
-In the early 19th century Courvoisier established significant International trade relations and became one of the most important manufacturers of travel clocks in the WORLD.
-In the end-19th century, Courvoisier participated to the creation of the first watchmaker school in Besançon France. It established the “Intercantonal Company for Industrial Development of the Jura” together with GALLET, LONGINES and GIRARD-PERREGAUX. This enabled the group to maintain its SALES DOMINANCE in Europe. Courvoisier Watch House was appointed purveyor to the Imperial Houses of Prussia, Russia, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the Ottoman Empire.
-In the early 20th Century (1905) Courvoisier registered the MOBILIS a pocket watch with a visible tourbillon on the dial side, showcasing advanced watchmaking techniques. As this made the tourbillon available to a larger public it was called the “people´s tourbillon”. One of the many other watches that the Courvoisier Watch House also registered was the MODERNISTA Saltarello Jumping Hour pocket watch. This watch indicates the time by means of a disk which moves in rotation under an opening in the dial, while the minutes are indicated by a hand describing an arc of a circle which suddenly returns to zero when she reaches the sixtieth minute.
Courvoisier’s legacy in watchmaking is marked by innovation, quality, and significant contributions to the industry over more than two centuries.
Courvoisier watches can be found in renowned locations such as:
The Metropolitan Museum of Arts, NewYork
The British Museum, London
Le Musée International de l´Horlogerie, La Chaud-de-Fond, Switzerland
Courvoisier watches featured at renowned auction Houses:
Christie´s: London, NewYork, Geneva, HongKong
Sotheby´s: London, NewYork, Geneva
Antiquorum: NewYork, Geneva, HongKong
Bonhams: London
Artcurial: Monaco
and…. in Maison Horlogère Courvoisier® at our locations in Geneva or in the Principality of Andorra
