Remember the Tri-Compax we mentioned? That’s basically a non-perpetual calendar Patek Phillip 1518 (it looks strikingly similar). Essentially, Universal Geneve became the “poor man’s Patek Philippe,” and so it remains today the poor man’s vintage Patek Philippe.

But, when Patek was brought over, it was sold as a “sister” brand alongside Universal Geneve. the Agency is perhaps most famous for bringing Patek Philippe to the United States in 1935 and eventually being folded into the larger Patek Phillipe entity. You may now know Henri Sterm as Patek Philippe U.S.

By this time, the Henri Stern Watch Agency was an authorized dealer of Universal Geneve watches in North America. As such, Hermes became the major sales center for Universal Geneve watches. Perret’s son would then take over the business, leaving it a family-run enterprise for the next thirty years.Īround this same time, Universal Geneve briefly collaborated with Hermes, designing its Pour Hermes line of chronographs. By this time, one of Universal Geneve’s founders had already died the second founder, Ulysee Perret, died within years of the Auto Rem’s launch. The watch had a distinct octagonal shape. By 1925, the brand had moved on to patent and produce its first automatic watch, the Auto Rem. During World War I, the brand produced both pocket watches and trench watches for both sides of the conflict (very Swiss of them). The brand was founded by two horology students, and while its roots were in manufacturing, the two founders soon patented their first 24-hour indication watch. By 1919, the brand had officially moved most of its operations to Geneva, completing the transition to Universal Geneve. At this time in history, this meant taking delivery of ebauches (movements produced by a third party), inspecting these movements, then fitting the dial, hands, and cases with the movement before packaging the watch up for shipment. The brand began as an establissage, a fancy French work for a workshop that assembled the various parts of a watch. Universal Geneve was founded in 1894 in Le Locle, Switzerland as Universal Watch. Here, we go in-depth into the brand’s rise and fall, and feature a few of our favorite watches.

This means that long-extinct brands like Universal Geneve have seen a renaissance of sorts as a new generation of enthusiasts discover what made them so endearing the first time around. As the vintage boom has reached far and wide, collectors have dug deeper into the archives to find reasonably-priced vintage pieces. A history of Universal Geneve, a cult-like brand to collectors everywhereįor an extinct brand, Universal Geneve has been awfully hot the last few years. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for exclusive content, events, vintage watches for sale, and other cool shit you won’t find anywhere else - not even our website.

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