News The watch manufactory Swiza SA, in Delémont, has acquired the L’Epée brand, the former flagship of Franche-Comté watchmaking. Founded in 1839 in Sainte-Suzanne, L’Epée left its mark on French watchmaking with its high quality mechanical clocks which can be found in the most prestigious places, such as the cabinet room of the Elysée Palace in Paris. L’Epée became the benchmark for officer’s clocks, named as such after an historical anecdote. It is said that Napoleon, having almost lost a battle as a result of the late arrival of one of his senior officers, demanded that all of them should carry a travel clock at all times, which then became known as the officer’s clock. The clocks made by L’Epée are faithful replicas of timepieces of the 18th and 19th centuries, from miniature clocks to monumental clocks. They are available in numerous collections, the most well known among which are the Corniche, the Vénitienne and the Anglaise. All are equipped with exclusive mechanical movements and some with complications, including striking-mechanism, repeater, alarm, date and phase of the moon. The history of the L’Epée manufactory came to an end on French soil in 1997 and it was taken over in 1999 by the English clockmaker F.A. Gluck Ltd which has just sold the firm to Swiza. L’Epée is always well represented among specialist watch and jewellery retailers.
Founded in 1904, Swiza is Switzerland’s largest manufacturer of miniature clocks and alarm clocks. It produces top of the range Swiss-made timepieces under its Swiza and Matthew Norman brands, as well as for prestigious international firms under private labels. Working alongside L’Epée, Matthew Norman is and will remain the flagship brand of Swiss watchmaking in terms of high quality mechanical miniature clocks. The firm continues to produce its exclusive quartz miniature clocks under the Swiza brand. With the acquisition of L’Epée, Swiza continues a strategy of medium and long term retrenchment based on the keen interest felt all over the world for mechanical watches and clocks.
With this takeover, the L’Epée brand returns in a sense to its Swiss origins, since the founder Auguste L’Epée travelled initially from the Neuchâtel region to set up his company in Sainte-Suzanne in France. The transfer of production from F.A. Gluck workshops to those of the Jura manufactory will take place shortly and the firm will be represented on the Swiza stand at the International Watch and Jewellery exhibition in Basel next spring.
November 11, 2008
