Schwarz Etienne takes its name from its founders, Paul Arthur Schwarz and his wife Olga Etienne, who established the company in 1902. For over a century, the company has been a major supplier of watch movements and components to the biggest names in the industry, an activity that still continues to this day. After diversifying its activities as a result of the watch industry crisis in the 1970s, the company decided to develop its own brand in 1985, progressively becoming a watch manufacturer in its own right. After being acquired by a passionate local entrepreneur in 2007, the brand has evolved within a watchmaking group that now gives it an unparalleled level of vertical integration.
Schwarz Etienne
Based in traditional Swiss watchmaking country in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Schwarz Etienne has a century of history in watchmaking but chooses to look to the future rather than the past.
About
1902
Paul Arthur Schwarz and Olga Etienne establish the Schwarz Etienne company in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
1940
The company is taken over by the family’s sons.
2007
Raffaelo Radicchi, an entrepreneur based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, acquires Schwarz Etienne.
2013
The company presents three new in-house mechanical watch movements.
2015
Schwarz Etienne launches a fourth and unique in-house calibre, the ISE (Irreversible Schwarz Etienne).
Philosophy
Although Schwarz Etienne can look back on over a century of experience in the production of watch components, the company’s focus is firmly on the future. As part of a group that masters the entire value chain, from the production of components such as movement main plates, the crucial “assortment” (the escapement assembly) and the rare mastery of balance spring production right up to watch assembly and logistics, Schwarz Etienne has a level of independence that will allow the brand to develop for years to come.
Collections
La Chaux-de-Fonds Tourbillon
The perfect showcase for the expertise of its sister company E20 innovations, the La Chaux-de-Fonds Tourbillon incorporates a dial-side micro rotor, visible retrograde seconds function and an off-centred dial. The tourbillon escapement and regulating organ visible on the dial are also produced in house.
Roswell
The Schwarz Etienne Roswell collection was built to showcase the brand’s unique “irreversible” movement design, whose construction has been reversed so that all key components are on the dial side. The micro rotor that winds the in-house movement is visible at 9 o’clock, with the regulating organ and its elegant bridge visible in the unusual position between 1 and 2 o’clock on the dial.
Roma Manufacture
Schwarz Etienne’s expression of classic watchmaking elegance comes with an in-house self-winding movement with micro rotor that offers a four-day power reserve and is available in a variety of styles and case materials.
Watches
Schwarz Etienne - an independent watch brand to watch out for
The origins of the Schwarz Etienne watch brand date back to the turn of the century and Paul Arthur Schwarz and Olga Etienne, who created a watch movement factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Revived only relatively recently, the Schwarz Etienne watch brand already has its own watch movement and the capacity to produce watch components for Schwarz Etienne watches, including the balance spring (produced by sister company E20) that is crucial to the operation of a mechanical watch movement, but which very few watch brands are capable of producing. This puts the Schwarz Etienne watch brand on an equal footing with some of the gold standard watch brands in the Swiss watch industry with its so-called “manufacture” watches.
Since the Schwarz Etienne watch brand’s experienced founder is a big fan of the extra-terrestrial, it’s not surprising to find the name Roswell among the Schwarz Etienne watches. The Schwarz Etienne Roswell watches have a case in steel and a dial that is opened up to reveal the key components of the Schwarz Etienne in-house automatic movement, drawing attention in particular to the “SE” letters on the balance wheel, referring, of course, to original founders Paul Arthur Schwarz and Olga Etienne.
Time for a Schwarz Etienne tourbillon
Schwarz Etienne also masters the tourbillon, with a particularly distinctive Schwarz Etienne PSR (“petite second rétrograde” or retrograde small seconds) watch in steel. The signature features of this Schwarz Etienne tourbillon watch in steel are its off centre dial for the time, its inverse micro rotor powering the automatic movement, visible on the black dial side, the retrograde small seconds at 11 o’clock and the tourbillon at 1 o’clock. The Schwarz Etienne automatic tourbillon movement inside the case has a power reserve of 70 hours.
A Schwarz Etienne movement especially for women
Schwarz Etienne presented a new concept for its first collection of ladies’ watches when it presented the Schwarz Etienne Fiji watch with a delightful “floral seconds” animation on the dial. Time is seen in constant flow on the subsidiary seconds dial, which accompanies the sweep of the seconds hand with a kaleidoscopic display on the dial produced by layered discs. Schwarz Etienne took the bold step of presenting these ladies watches in a steel case without any diamonds and in some unusual dial colours, including an all black version. The steel case of this automatic Schwarz Etienne watch keeps the price reasonable and the presentation case takes the form of a leather handbag produced locally in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The Schwarz Etienne Fiji watch collection uses the new ASE 200.00 automatic movement with micro-rotor and has a power reserve of 86 hours.
Schwarz Etienne limited edition
Schwarz Etienne tourbillon watches have also been produced as a limited edition. The Schwarz Etienne “Ode to the Seasons” capsule collection featured designs inspired by the world of bees, with honeycomb patterns on the dial and an animation of a bee feeding on a flower on the dial side micro rotor of the automatic movement. In a more recent example, the Schwarz Etienne “Ode to the Seventies” watch harks back to the time of peace and love with a psychedelically coloured dial and an original denim strap made from the jeans of Schwarz Etienne CEO Mauro Egermini.
Schwarz Etienne Roma – classic mechanical watchmaking
The configuration of Schwarz Etienne movements and the radical design of the Schwarz Etienne watches may not be to everyone’s taste. But the Schwarz Etienne Roma watch in steel offers a classic watch design from the avant-garde watch brand with black or silver dial and a sober black leather watch strap. The Schwarz Etienne Roma watches are available as a power reserve watch, a small seconds watch or a GMT watch, all with central time indication.
Selected models
Schwarz Etienne reference WCF22TSE06RB21AA. Case material: rose gold. Manufactured tourbillon automatic movement. "Irreversible" model with micro rotor.
Schwarz Etienne reference WCF09TSE06RB21AA. Case material: rose gold. Manufactured flying tourbillon movement. "Irreversible" model with with micro rotor.
Schwarz Etienne reference WRO16MS31RB01AA. Case material: rose gold. Black dial. Manufactured manual movement. Model with double barrel.