Introducing DeWitt’s incredible Watchmaking masterpieces

There are two reasons why a watch brand is very appreciated: it is appreciated for its history, which represents its heritage, and through which a brand, who boasts a (generally) good marketing strategy and a good product, perpetuates its success on the market. Secondly, it is appreciated for its vision, above and beyond the brand, which makes it and its creations so unrivaled and ready to open a whole new segment, as never seen before.

When you step in the ground floor of DeWitt‘s 5000sqm headquarters located in Meyrin, near Geneva, you immediately access a straight and long aisle full of historical tooling and machinery; all of a sudden you feel uneasy. It looks as if you walked into a two century old manufacturing museum. Later, you realize it is only eleven years old.

Jerome De Witt, an inventor (as well as an entrepreneur), and a direct descendant of European Emperors and Kings (such as Napoleone Bonaparte), decided to start making watches in 2003. Some of them were powered by the most renowned mechanical complications, and some other watches, known as the Concept watches, were simply considered avant-garde. He then started collecting an endless series of machinery dating back to the 18^th and 19^th century and, driven by his visionary spirit, he created for example, this timepiece:

A concept watch that just a dreamer could think of, and create a futuristic time machine that best represents DeWitt‘s spirit: a vertical flying tourbillon with five barrels and a 5 day power reserve. Completely hand made by master watchmakers in DeWitt‘s workshops, and staying true to classical watchmaking pillars, this timepiece raises the bar high for the idea of “complication”:

High end watchmaking is usually compared to building hyper cars: the DeWitt WX-1 reminds us of the fascinating Pagani Huayra. Both brands, in their own segment respectively, have carved out an important position for themselves in the hyper car and hyper watch industry. And they both make even the smallest components (screws included) in-house. Even now, at DeWitt, some operations are carried out only by historical machinery that has been reconditioned, as it is regarded to be the only one capable to perform those tasks.

DeWitt‘s trademark? The case. It is round with imperial columns engraved on both the bezel and the carrure which resemble the W logo on the dial. The calibers (and dials) align very wide so to cover any kind of mechanical complication, ranging from the chronograph to the tourbillon: DeWitt is a manufacture that can construct any kind of complication and production. This is proven by the WX-1 Concept watch which justifies our next in-depth post.

(Photo credit: courtesy of DeWitt; Horbiter’s proprietary photo shooting)

Gaetano C. @Horbiter®

@Gaetano Cimmino