Industry | Watchmaking |
---|---|
Founded | 2017 |
Founder | Rodolfo Festa Bianchet, Emmanuelle Girodet Festa Bianchet |
Headquarters | Switzerland |
Products | Watches |
Website | bianchet |
Bianchet is a Swiss luxury watchmaking company known for creating tonneau-shaped skeleton tourbillon watches. [1]
Bianchet was founded by Rodolfo Festa Bianchet and Emmanuelle Festa Bianchet in 2017 when Rodolfo was a successful entrepreneur in the Fintech sector, and Emmanuelle Festa Bianchet was a journalist and artist. [1] [2]
Bianchet is the first watchmaking company to have developed its entire watch movement architecture and watch cases using the golden ratio of 1.618 and the Fibonacci sequence as a design basis. It is also the first company to have developed a tonneau-shaped watch in carbon capable of resisting a pressure of 10ATM or 100 meters of water depth, for which the company uses a proprietary high-density carbon composite infused with titanium dust. [1] [3]
After founding the company in 2017, Bianchet presented its prototype at Baselworld in 2019. Two years later, the company released its first watch, the Tourbillon B 1.618 Openwork, at the Geneva Watch Days and participated in the Grand Prix D'Horlogerie de Genève. [4] [5] [6] The same year, Bianchet opened its first showroom in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. In 2022, Bianchet presented the Tourbillon B 1.618 new limited editions at the Geneva Watch Days. As of 2023, Bianchet is an Associated Brand of the Geneva Watch Days, and the its timepieces are distributed in 22 countries. [7] [8]
Bianchet won a Swiss Watch award in October 2023 as its Flying Tourbillon Grande Date has been named the Best Start-Up Watch at the Temporis International Awards in Zurich. [9] [10] [11] [12] The watch was selected by a jury of industry experts from across the world, including notable watchmakers Philippe Dufour, Kari Voutillainen, and Romain Gauthier, along with specialist journalists, retailers, and influencers. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]
On the occasion of Geneva Watch Week 2024, Bianchet introduced its Flying Tourbillon Sport GMT, which allows simultaneous reading of two time zones. Equipped with an in-house titanium flying tourbillon, the watch movement is adorned with a rotating Earth dome synchronised with the hour hand. [18] [19] [20]
In June 2022, Bianchet became the first official watch and timing partner of the Polo Rider Cup in Chantilly. Bianchet continued to be the official watch and timing partner in 2023 in Saint-Tropez. [21]
Since 2022, Bianchet has been a business partner with Big Blue Ocean. [22] Both organisations contribute to cleaning oceans, protecting vulnerable marine animals, and providing free educational resources.
In 2023 and 2024, Bianchet signed several public figures as its brand ambassadors, including tennis player Grigor Dimitrov, [23] [24] racing driver Stefano Costantini, [25] big wave surfer Francisco Porcella, [26] [27] and tennis player Alexander Bublik. [28] [29]
In 2024, Bianchet became the Official Timekeeping Partner fo Formula E team Maserati MSG Racing. The partnership was inaugurated with a limited edition of the brand's signature Flying Tourbillon B 1.618 Grande Date in collaboration with the racing team; the launch happened during 2024 Monaco ePrix. [30] [31] [32]
IWC International Watch Co. AG, founded International Watch Company, better known as IWC Schaffhausen, is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer located in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Originally founded in Switzerland by American watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones in 1868, the company was transferred to the Rauschenbach family in 1880 after bankruptcy and has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Richemont Group since 2000.
Patek Philippe SA is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer, located in the Canton of Geneva and the Vallée de Joux. Established in 1839, it is named after two of its founders, Antoni Patek and Adrien Philippe. Since 1932, the company has been owned by the Stern family in Switzerland and remains the last family-owned independent watch manufacturer in Geneva. Patek Philippe is one of the oldest watch manufacturers in the world with an uninterrupted watchmaking history since its founding. It designs and manufactures timepieces as well as movements, including some of the most complicated mechanical watches. The company maintains over 400 retail locations globally and over a dozen distribution centers across Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania. In 2001, it opened the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.
Piaget SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker and jeweller. Founded in 1874 by Georges Piaget in the village of La Côte-aux-Fées, Piaget is currently a subsidiary of the Swiss Richemont group.
In horology, a tourbillon is an addition to the mechanics of a watch escapement to increase accuracy. Conceived by the British watchmaker and inventor John Arnold, it was developed by his friend the Swiss-French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet and patented by Breguet on 26 June 1801. In a tourbillon the escapement and balance wheel are mounted in a rotating cage, with the goal of eliminating errors of poise in the balance giving a uniform weight.
Girard-Perregaux SA is a luxury Swiss watch manufacture with its origins dating back to 1791. In 2022, then-owner French luxury group Kering sold its stake in Sowind Group SA, the parent company of Girard-Perregaux, via management buyout. Headquartered in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, the company opened the Girard-Perregaux Museum near its headquarters in Villa Marguerite in 1999. It is best known for the historic Tourbillon with three gold bridges, which was awarded a gold medal at the 1889 International Exposition in Paris soon after the launch of the watch. Other notable models from the company include the collection 1966, Vintage 1945, and models such as Tri-Axial Tourbillon and Laureato, an icon inspired from the 1970s.
Breguet is a Swiss luxury watch, clock and jewelry manufacturer founded by Abraham-Louis Breguet in Paris in 1775. Since 1999, it has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group. Headquartered in L'Abbaye, Switzerland, Breguet is one of the oldest surviving watchmaking brands and a pioneer of numerous watchmaking technologies such as the tourbillon, which was developed into a practical solution by Abraham Breguet in 1801, after having been invented by his friend John Arnold. Abraham Breguet also invented and produced the world's first self-winding watch in 1780, as well as the world's first wristwatch in 1810.
Franck Muller is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer named after its founder. The company's estimated total sales were €290 million in watches with an average unit price of €38,000. Franck Muller's watches are worn by various celebrities, among them Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elton John, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Kanye West, Conor McGregor, Floyd Mayweather, Paris Hilton, and Chris Brown.
Jacob Arabo is an American jewelry and watch designer who founded Jacob & Company in 1986 and grew it to become an international luxury brand. He began strictly as a jeweler with bold designs that appealed to celebrities who became regular customers.
Roger Dubuis is a Swiss watch manufacturer of luxury watches based in Geneva, Switzerland. The company was founded by Roger Dubuis and Carlos Dias in 1995.
Blancpain SA is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer, headquartered in Paudex/Le Brassus, Switzerland. It designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells prestige and luxury mechanical watches. Founded by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain in Villeret, Switzerland in 1735, Blancpain is the oldest registered watch brand in the world. Blancpain has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group since 1992, and is regarded as a top-tier watch brand.
F. P. Journe, legally Montres Journe SA, is a Swiss-French high-end watch Manufacture d'horlogerie founded in 1999, June 27th by François-Paul Journe. The only three-time winner of the Aiguille d'Or grand prize from the Fondation du Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève, Journe focuses on complex precision chronometers with a production of around 800 watches per year. 20% of the company was acquired by Chanel in 2018 for an undisclosed amount.
Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre SA, or simply Jaeger-LeCoultre, is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer founded by Antoine LeCoultre in 1833 and is based in Le Sentier, Switzerland. Since 2000, the company has been a fully owned subsidiary of the Swiss luxury group Richemont.
Greubel Forsey is a Swiss watchmaking company specializing in complicated, high-end timepieces. It was launched in 2004 by Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey and is based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.
Maîtres du Temps is a Swiss watch company. Founded in 2005 by Steven Holtzman, the brand is based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. The brand launched in Geneva in 2008 with Chapter One, a watch developed by Christophe Claret, Roger Dubuis and Peter Speake-Marin.
Y. Arpa is a Swiss watch designer. He started his career as a mathematics professor who, after participating in professional martial art combats in Thailand and crossing Papua New Guinea by foot, came back to his roots in Switzerland.
Richard Mille is a Swiss luxury watch company founded in 2001 by Dominique Guenat and Richard Mille, based in Les Breuleux, Switzerland. The brand specialises in very high-priced clockwork watches which have been criticised by some as "ridiculous" and "unnecessarily extravagant."
Jacob & Co. is an American privately held jewelry and wristwatch retailer founded in 1986 by diamond designer Jacob Arabo. Its flagship boutique and corporate headquarters are located in Manhattan, New York City.
Konstantin Chaykin is a Russian watchmaker and inventor. He started as an independent watchmaker in 2003, establishing a workshop in St. Petersburg, Russia. In the interests of the business, in 2012 he transferred production to Moscow, Russia, where his company currently resides. He completed his first clock in 2004. and in 2008 Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants accepted him as a candidate. Since 2010 he has been a member of the AHCI, while in 2016 he was elected by AHCI members as the President, a position held until 2019. In October 2022, the jury of the Temporis International Awards included Konstantin Chaikin in the Temporis Hall of Fame.
Purnell is a Swiss watch manufacturer. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered on Rue du Rhône 80 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Gerald Charles SA is an independent family-owned watch company based in Switzerland, founded by Swiss watchmaker and artist Gérald Charles Genta.