News To mark the fifteenth anniversary of its Empire watch, Century Time Gems has donated a platinum model to each of the two watchmaking museums in the Neuchâtel region. On 5 March, Hans Ulrich Klingenberg, founder of the company and father of the Empire, handed one of these richly symbolic watches personally to Claude-Henri Chabloz, Chairman of the Board of the Château des Monts Watchmaking Museum (Le Locle) and to Ludwig Oechslin, curator of the International Watchmaking Museum (La Chaux-de-Fonds).
Since its launch in 1988, the Empire model has achieved distinction across the globe, to the extent that it has become the symbol of the Century Time Gems brand. Grandeur, brilliance and prestige are the overwhelming impressions generated by this watch, its dial nestling in a sapphire case. The model is available in three sizes, in black, onyx or emerald green, and comes with a leather strap or a metal bracelet in yellow or white gold or platinum. The horns are decorated with four brilliant diamonds of exceptional purity.
Established in 1966 in Biel by Hans Ulrich Klingenberg, Century Time Gems is today managed by Philip W.A. Klingenberg, son of the founder. Producing between 10,000 and 12,000 watches each year, the firm employs 45 people. Represented in 200 points of sale, mainly in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, it opened its first store at the end of November 2000 in Tokyo's famous Ginza district. All its timepieces have an indestructible synthetic sapphire case, so hard it can only be worked using diamond-tipped tools. Through a chemical process, a sapphire ring and a transparent sapphire crystal are joined to a case, the megalith, which is then faceted and polished by hand to extremely high technical and artistic specifications at the firm's workshops in Nidau.
March 27, 2003
