Collection: Schwarz Etienne

Schwarz Etienne is an independent Swiss watch manufacture founded in 1902 in La Chaux-de-Fonds by Paul Arthur Schwarz and his wife, Olga Etienne, who combined their surnames to name the company. Originally a movement manufacturer supplying calibers to other watchmakers — and later doing private-label work for names like Chanel and Dunhill — Schwarz Etienne evolved into a fully independent manufacture, producing nearly every component in-house, including its own hairsprings, one of the rarest capabilities in watchmaking. Today, Schwarz Etienne is known for genuine haute horlogerie craftsmanship, including proprietary tourbillon movements. King Jewelers is proud to carry Schwarz Etienne for collectors seeking true manufacture-level Swiss watchmaking with over a century of history behind it.

Schwarz Etienne was founded in 1902 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, by Paul Arthur Schwarz and his wife, Olga Etienne, who combined their surnames to name their new movement-making business. For decades, the company built its reputation as a manufacturer of mechanical movements, supplying calibers under names like Venus and Alpha and eventually doing private-label work for prestigious houses including Chanel, Dunhill, Mauboussin, and Caran d'Ache. The founders' sons took over the company in 1940, expanding the business into Europe, Asia, and the Middle East; by the 1960s, the company's clients reportedly included the Vatican and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Like many Swiss watchmakers, Schwarz Etienne was forced to diversify during the Quartz Crisis of the 1970s and 80s, but in 1985 the company returned to its roots, developing its own branded watch collection for the first time. In 2007, entrepreneur Raffaello Radicchi acquired Schwarz Etienne, ushering in a new era focused on transforming the company into a fully independent manufacture. Since then, Schwarz Etienne has developed a family of proprietary in-house movements — including manual, automatic, and tourbillon calibers — and even produces its own hairsprings, a level of vertical integration achieved by only a handful of watchmakers in the world. Today, Schwarz Etienne continues to build genuine haute horlogerie watches in La Chaux-de-Fonds, carrying forward more than 120 years of Swiss watchmaking expertise.