Watches of Switzerland is one of Australia’s leading official luxury Swiss watch retailers with 20 brands and over 4,000 references of Swiss watches. Located in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Cairns, our stunning boutiques feature the world's finest brands including Rolex, A. Lange and Söhne, Jaeger–LeCoultre, IWC, Cartier, Panerai, Hublot, Piaget and Breitling.

watches of switzerland

After 10 years of importing luxury Swiss watches into Australia, Eric van der Griend established Watches of Switzerland in 1996. Watches of Switzerland is an Australian, family owned company. Today, Chairman Eric van der Griend leads a team including his three children.

“We are proud to bring our customers the crème de la crème of Swiss watchmaking, right here to Australia. Although we are far from Europe and traditionally a smaller market, Australian’s are proving sophisticated watch consumers, and it is our mission to provide the widest range of the best brands, including rare limited editions” Sam van der Griend, Managing Director.

In 2012, Watches of Switzerland was appointed the exclusive Australian retailer of A. Lange and Söhne timepieces. A. Lange and Söhne timepieces are produced in Glashütte, Germany and are considered by many to be the pinnacle of watchmaking. A large range of A. Lange and Söhne watches are available in personalised shop-in-shops within Watches of Switzerland Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.

watches of switzerland

Visually stunning, the watch features a huge visible tourbillon cage at 6 o'clock, as well as the beautiful dial craftsmanship that the brand always nails. However, beneath the dial lies some even more impressive technical mastery. The seconds hand (which is also mounted to the tourbillon) has both a stop-seconds function AND a return-to-zero function when the crown is pulled out. This is some serious watchmaking at work, and is incredible to behold in person.

Only official Rolex retailers are allowed to sell and maintain a Rolex. With the necessary skills, technical know-how and special equipment, they guarantee the authenticity of each and every part of your Rolex and help you make the choice that will last a lifetime.

watches of switzerland

A watch is a small timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep working despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn on a wrist, attached by a watch strap or other type of bracelet. A pocket watch is designed for a person to carry in a pocket.

Watches evolved in the 17th century from spring-powered clocks, which appeared as early as the 14th century. The first watches were strictly mechanical, driven by clockwork. As technology progressed, mechanical devices, used to control the speed of the watch, were largely superseded by vibrating quartz crystals that produce accurately timed electronic pulses.[1] Some watches use radio clock technology to regularly correct the time. The first digital electronic watch was developed in 1970.[2]

Most inexpensive and medium-priced watches, used mainly for timekeeping, are electronic watches with quartz movements.[1] Expensivecollectible watches, valued more for their elaborate craftsmanship, aesthetic appeal and glamorous design than for simple timekeeping, often have purely mechanical movements and are powered by springs, even though these movements are generally less accurate and more expensive than electronic ones. Various extra features, called "complications", such as moon-phase displays and the different types of tourbillon, are sometimes included.[3] Modern watches often display the day, date, month and year, and electronic watches may have many other functions. Time-related features such as timers, chronographs and alarm functions are common. Some modern designs incorporate calculators, GPS[4] andBluetooth technology or have heart-rate monitoring capabilities. Watches incorporating GPS receivers use them not only to determine their position. They also receive and use time signals from the satellites, which make them essentially perfectly accurate timekeepers, even over long periods of time.

Developments in the 2010s include smartwatches, which are elaborate computer-like electronic devices designed to be worn on a wrist. They generally incorporate timekeeping functions, but these are only small fractions of what the watch can do.

The study of timekeeping is known as horology

Watches evolved from portable spring-driven clocks, which first appeared in 15th century Europe. Watches weren't widely worn in pockets until the 17th century. One account says that the word "watch" came from the Old English word woecce which meant "watchman", because it was used by town watchmen to keep track of their shifts at work.[5] Another says that the term came from 17th century sailors, who used the new mechanisms to time the length of their shipboard watches (duty shifts).[6]

Diagram of the balance spring ofChristiaan Huygens, published in 1675.

A great leap forward in accuracy occurred in 1657 with the addition of the balance spring to the balance wheel, an invention disputed both at the time and ever since between Robert Hooke andChristiaan Huygens. This innovation increased watches' accuracy enormously, reducing error from perhaps several hours per day[7] to perhaps 10 minutes per day,[8] resulting in the addition of theminute hand to the face from around 1680 in Britain and 1700 in France.

The increased accuracy of the balance wheel focused attention on errors caused by other parts of themovement, igniting a two century wave of watchmaking innovation. The first thing to be improved was the escapement. The verge escapement was replaced in quality watches by the cylinder escapement, invented by Thomas Tompion in 1695 and further developed byGeorge Graham in the 1720s. Improvements in manufacturing such as the tooth-cutting machine

devised by Robert Hooke allowed some increase in the volume of watch production, although finishing and assembling was still done by hand until well into the 19th century.

watches of switzerland

A major cause of error in balance wheel timepieces, caused by changes in elasticity of the balance spring from temperature changes, was solved by the bimetallic temperature compensated balance wheel invented in 1765 by Pierre Le Roy and improved by Thomas Earnshaw. The lever escapement was the single most important technological breakthrough, and was invented by Thomas Mudge in 1759 and improved by Josiah Emery in 1785, although it only gradually came into use from about 1800 onwards, chiefly in Britain.

The British had predominated in watch manufacture for much of the 17th and 18th centuries, but maintained a system of production that was geared towards high quality products for the elite.[9] Although there was an attempt to modernise clock manufacture with mass production techniques and the application of duplicating tools and machinery by the British Watch Company in 1843, it was in the United States that this system took off. Aaron Lufkin Dennison started a factory in 1851 in Massachusetts that usedinterchangeable parts, and by 1861 it was running a successful enterprise incorporated as the Waltham Watch Company.[10]

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