Universal Geneve
Encyclopedia
Universal Genève SA is a Swiss
luxury watch
company, founded in 1894 as "Universal Watch".
Since its beginnings, the company has produced complete watches with in-house movements, and throughout the 20th century, distributed many notable and important timepieces. Along with neighboring Geneva companies Audemars Piguet
, Girard-Perregaux
, Patek Philippe and Rolex
, Universal is internationally regarded for its style of craftsmanship and manufacture
. In addition, the brand also makes historical claim for creating the first-ever chronographic wristwatch
in 1917.
, co-founder Ulysse Perret would relocate Universal to Geneva in 1919, solidifying the company's status as a Genève brand. During the company's tenure in much smaller Le Locle (Neuchâtel region), Perret had conceptualized the company as Universal Watch in
1894 with classmate Numa-Emile Descombes, both of whom were horology
students at the time. Although Universal first begun only as a manufacturer and retailer of cases, crowns, dials and movements
, the company whilst under Perret and Descombes had patented the brand's first 24-hour indication watch.
After Descombes' death in 1897 at the age of 34, Perret recruited Louis Edouard Berthoud as a co-manufacturer of complications
, and both briefly operated under the registered name Perret & Berthoud before switching back to Universal Watch Co Ltd. Genève. Under both trademarks, the horologists created various pocket and trench watch
es for both sides fighting during World War I
. By 1925, the duo created the brand's first patented self-winding timepiece called the Auto Rem , an octagon-shaped men's wristwatch with lozenge-styled hands and a 15-jewel
movement.
Following Perret's passing in 1933, his son would take over management, and Universal would remain a family-run business for 30 more years.
. In addition to its automatic "smooth sweep" timekeeping, the Compax was also equipped with a built-in stopwatch
which made it a suitable device for soldiers during training exercises and full-fledged combat operations. The Compax was produced in many variations including the Moon Phase, Medico, Tri-, Uni-, and Master Vortex.
During the same period, Universal briefly collaborated with Parisian high fashion brand Hermès
and designed the Pour Hermès ("For Hermès") chronographs, which featured square button registers, telemeters and tachometers, a movement containing a Breguet
balance spring, and an Arabic-numeral dial.
Universal's popularity with the chronographs caught the attention of high-ranking government officials throughout Europe, including the Dutch Royal Family, who granted the Swiss brand a Royal Warrant
in 1939 to issue a military watch for the nation's army, with then-Queen
Wilhelmina
's initials embossed on the dial. The Dutch army utilized this watch up until Nazi Germany
sacked Rotterdam
in May of the same year and occupied the Netherlands until 1944.
For female civilians during that era, Universal distributed the art deco
"Couture Diamond" watch, which featured a mother of pearl dial rimmed with diamonds and manufactured in either gold, stainless steel or platinum metals. The feminine cuff watch, which earned Universal Geneve the title of "watch couturier", was sold in affluent boutique
s worldwide and was most popular among actresses, socialites and wives of world leaders.
The Martel Watch Company in Les Ponts-de-Martel
had supplied movements for many of Universal Geneve's chronographic timepieces since 1918, with Universal adapting the complications as Cal 285's. However, the mechanisms would be rechristened as Zenith 146's, 146D's and 146H's when competing Le Locle watchmaker Zenith
acquired Martel, and effectively all of its patents, by 1960.
, it was originally produced as the Polarouter in 1954, appearing with a Cal 138SS Bumper movement. The following year it was replaced with the innovative Cal 215 microtor movement which, with minor changes and a name change (from Polarouter to Polerouter, in 1958), was produced until late 1969. In its initial fifteen years of production, the watch was produced in many variations including the Polerouter de luxe, Polerouter Jet, Polerouter Super, Polerouter Genève, Polerouter Compact, Polerourer "NS", Polerouter III, and the Polerouter Sub diver's watch. The Polerouter's durability under extreme temperatures and fluctuating altitudes made it a preferred timepiece among SAS Scandinavian pilots who made flights over the arctic. The worldwide acclaim of the Polerouter Date was comparable to the reputation of similar Geneve automatics like the Rolex Oyster Date and Omega Seamaster Date
.
The Golden Shadow and White Shadow were first produced in 1965 and were the thinnest automatic watch
movements at the time, with a thickness of only 2.3mm. This record was held until 1978.
The Shadows were also designed by Genta and were available in 18K yellow and white gold
as the Golden Shadow, and in stainless steel
as the White Shadow. Both watches contained the Caliber 2-66 micro rotor movement up until the late 1960s.
". While the company continued to use silver
, gold
, platinum
and diamond
s for its dials, cases, bands and bracelets, the switch to quartz oscillators was a cost-efficient alternative to automatic complications, which were considerably more expensive and more time-consuming to produce, and could not compete with the mass-produced growth of electronic movements. In particular, the Golden and White Shadows, which previously contained microtors, would be replaced with unisonics and accutrons.
Since the innovation of quartz technology had originated in Japan, Universal began to focus most of its attention on the Asian watch market, since a significant portion of company revenue was already centered in Hong Kong. Although Forbes still ranked Universal (in price) to Corum
, IWC
and Rolex, and as being more expensive than Omega, Longines
and Baume et Mercier
, the international marketing strategies and venture to quartz proved economically devastating for the brand, causing loss of capital
among its holding companies, and in effect, the popularity of the brand itself.
-based
investment firm Stelux Holdings International, Ltd., which also owns Cyma
, another high-end Swiss watchmaker. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Universal had been owned by New York
-based Bulova
, an acquisition which expanded the manufacture's namesake in Japan
ese and North American
markets, and lead to stylistic collaborations with other watch or jewelry firms such as Tiffany's
, Cartier SA
and Movado
.
As of 2011, Universal is an active member of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH
, maintains three offices in Switzerland and oversees La Chaux-de-Fonds
-based watchmaker Cyma.
watches were named after late Formula One
race car driver Ayrton Senna da Silva. As the limited edition watch bares Senna's name, proceeds from sales were to endow Instituto Ayrton Senna
, an anti-poverty charity started by his sister, Vivianne.
owned a Universal Geneve Senna watch before donating the timepiece to Antiquorum
for charity. In the late 1990s, Playboy illustrator Leroy Neiman
appeared in a print campaign promoting Universal Geneve, with Neiman pictured in his studio wearing a Universal Geneve Golden Janus and his oil paintings displayed in the foreground.
In his book, "Marking Time: Collecting Watches and Thinking about Time", Simon & Schuster
editor-in-chief Michael Korda
recalled receiving a pink gold Universal Geneve Tri-Compax from his uncle while attending Le Rosey
boarding school in Switzerland, and cited the brand as piquing his interest in watches.
, who donned the popular Tri-Compax model at the Potsdam Conference
.
Because of Switzerland's neutrality during World War II, Swiss goods had been exported to international buyers with no basis on their country's alliance, reputation or political standing in the world. Although Hermann Göring
owned many different brands of watches, the Reichsmarschall
had given his 18k gold Universal Geneve Compax to Nuremburg Trial guard Lt. Jack Wheelis the night before his scheduled execution. While Wheelis' family maintained that the gift was a friendly gesture, historians have long attributed the wristwatch as being a bribe for the cyanide
pill Göring ingested to escape the hangman
.
writer, poet, filmmaker and one-time Cannes Film Festival
president Jean Cocteau
was an outspoken fan of Universal Geneve's style of manufacture, and a limited line of Universal tourbillon
s had etched verses of Cocteau's poetry.
Jon Voight
owned a personalized Compax and Joan Rivers
owned a Golden Shadow before both actors donated their watches to Antiquorum.
cited the market value of most Universal Geneve watches from the 1960s as approximately ranging between $2500-$3500 (figures adjusted to 2010 inflation)
Among the rarest and most expensive of Universal Geneve timepieces includes the Golden Janus, a 1994 centennial of the 1930s Cabriolet, which were limited to 10 in number and have realized at an upwards $50,000 (43,700 CHF) at auction.
Universal's A. Cairelli chronograph - an aviator wristwatch exclusive from the Compax - consists of a 24-hour dial with a 16-minute register. Manufactured in nominal quantities, it was originally meant for the Italian military but ceased production during the 1930s when Italy signed the Pact of Steel
with Axis Germany. At auction houses such as Sotheby's
and Christie's
, the A. Cairellis have closed between an estimated $30,000 and $70,000.
Swiss Made
Swiss Made is a label used to indicate that a product was made in Switzerland.-Overview:The wording was formally adopted in the late 19th century and is unique in that most other countries use the phrase "Made in ". The most obvious place where the label is found is on Swiss watches...
luxury watch
Watch
A watch is a small timepiece, typically worn either on the wrist or attached on a chain and carried in a pocket, with wristwatches being the most common type of watch used today. They evolved in the 17th century from spring powered clocks, which appeared in the 15th century. The first watches were...
company, founded in 1894 as "Universal Watch".
Since its beginnings, the company has produced complete watches with in-house movements, and throughout the 20th century, distributed many notable and important timepieces. Along with neighboring Geneva companies Audemars Piguet
Audemars Piguet
Audemars Piguet is a manufacturer of prestige Swiss watches which compete with Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Vacheron Constantin.-Foundation:...
, Girard-Perregaux
Girard-Perregaux
Girard-Perregaux is a high-end Swiss watch manufacture with its origins dating back to 1791. It is situated in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland and is a part of the Sowind group, a subsidiary of PPR.- History :...
, Patek Philippe and Rolex
Rolex
Rolex SA is a Swiss watchmaking manufacturer of high-quality, luxury wristwatches. Rolex watches are popularly regarded as status symbols and BusinessWeek magazine ranks Rolex No.71 on its 2007 annual list of the 100 most valuable global brands...
, Universal is internationally regarded for its style of craftsmanship and manufacture
Manufacture d'horlogerie
Manufacture d'horlogerie is a French horological term of art that is also used in English. In horology, the term is usually encountered in its abbreviated form manufacture. This term of art is used when describing either a wrist watch movement/watchworks fabricator or its products...
. In addition, the brand also makes historical claim for creating the first-ever chronographic wristwatch
Chronograph
A chronograph is a timepiece or watch with both timekeeping and stopwatch functions as well as other functions. Pocket watch chronographs were produced as early as the 18th century but did not become popular until the 1820s...
in 1917.
1894-1930s: Beginnings
Initially started and briefly based in Le LocleLe Locle
Le Locle is a municipality in the district of Le Locle in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.It is situated in the Jura mountains, a few kilometers from the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds....
, co-founder Ulysse Perret would relocate Universal to Geneva in 1919, solidifying the company's status as a Genève brand. During the company's tenure in much smaller Le Locle (Neuchâtel region), Perret had conceptualized the company as Universal Watch in
1894 with classmate Numa-Emile Descombes, both of whom were horology
Horology
Horology is the art or science of measuring time. Clocks, watches, clockwork, sundials, clepsydras, timers, time recorders and marine chronometers are all examples of instruments used to measure time.People interested in horology are called horologists...
students at the time. Although Universal first begun only as a manufacturer and retailer of cases, crowns, dials and movements
Movement (clockwork)
In horology, a movement is the internal mechanism of a clock or watch, as opposed to the case, which encloses and protects the movement, and the face which displays the time. The term originated with mechanical timepieces, whose movements are made of many moving parts...
, the company whilst under Perret and Descombes had patented the brand's first 24-hour indication watch.
After Descombes' death in 1897 at the age of 34, Perret recruited Louis Edouard Berthoud as a co-manufacturer of complications
Complication (horology)
In horology , complication refers to any feature in a timepiece beyond the simple display of hours, minutes, and seconds.A timepiece indicating only hours, minutes, and seconds is otherwise known as a simple movement...
, and both briefly operated under the registered name Perret & Berthoud before switching back to Universal Watch Co Ltd. Genève. Under both trademarks, the horologists created various pocket and trench watch
Trench watch
The Trench watch was a type of watch that came into use by the military during World War I, as pocket watches were not practical in combat. It was a transitional design between pocket watches and wrist watches, incorporating features of both....
es for both sides fighting during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. By 1925, the duo created the brand's first patented self-winding timepiece called the Auto Rem , an octagon-shaped men's wristwatch with lozenge-styled hands and a 15-jewel
Jewel bearing
A jewel bearing is a plain bearing in which a metal spindle turns in a jewel-lined pivot hole. The hole is typically shaped like a torus and is slightly larger than the shaft diameter. The jewel material is usually synthetic sapphire...
movement.
Following Perret's passing in 1933, his son would take over management, and Universal would remain a family-run business for 30 more years.
1930s-1949: The Chronograph and "Watch Couturier" era
After the pocketwatch started to lose usefulness in favor of the more convenient wristwatch during the first world war, Universal seized the opportunity by creating the Compur in 1933 and the Aero Compax ("Aviator's Compact Chronograph") in 1936, shortly before the start of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In addition to its automatic "smooth sweep" timekeeping, the Compax was also equipped with a built-in stopwatch
Stopwatch
A stopwatch is a handheld timepiece designed to measure the amount of time elapsed from a particular time when activated to when the piece is deactivated. A large digital version of a stopwatch designed for viewing at a distance, as in a sports stadium, is called a stopclock.The timing functions...
which made it a suitable device for soldiers during training exercises and full-fledged combat operations. The Compax was produced in many variations including the Moon Phase, Medico, Tri-, Uni-, and Master Vortex.
During the same period, Universal briefly collaborated with Parisian high fashion brand Hermès
Hermès
Hermès International S.A., or simply Hermès is a French high fashion house established in 1837, today specializing in leather, lifestyle accessories, perfumery, luxury goods, and ready-to-wear...
and designed the Pour Hermès ("For Hermès") chronographs, which featured square button registers, telemeters and tachometers, a movement containing a Breguet
Breguet (watch)
Breguet is a manufacturer of luxury watches, founded by Abraham-Louis Breguet in Paris in 1775. Currently part of The Swatch Group, its timepieces are now produced in the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland...
balance spring, and an Arabic-numeral dial.
Universal's popularity with the chronographs caught the attention of high-ranking government officials throughout Europe, including the Dutch Royal Family, who granted the Swiss brand a Royal Warrant
Royal Warrant
Royal warrants of appointment have been issued for centuries to those who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, so lending prestige to the supplier...
in 1939 to issue a military watch for the nation's army, with then-Queen
Queen regnant
A queen regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right, in contrast to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning king. An empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right over an empire....
Wilhelmina
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Wilhelmina was Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1890 to 1948. She ruled the Netherlands for fifty-eight years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War I and World War II, the economic crisis of 1933, and the decline of the Netherlands as a major colonial...
's initials embossed on the dial. The Dutch army utilized this watch up until Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
sacked Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
in May of the same year and occupied the Netherlands until 1944.
For female civilians during that era, Universal distributed the art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
"Couture Diamond" watch, which featured a mother of pearl dial rimmed with diamonds and manufactured in either gold, stainless steel or platinum metals. The feminine cuff watch, which earned Universal Geneve the title of "watch couturier", was sold in affluent boutique
Boutique
A boutique is a small shopping outlet, especially one that specializes in elite and fashionable items such as clothing and jewelry. The word is French for "shop", via Latin from Greek ἀποθήκη , "storehouse"....
s worldwide and was most popular among actresses, socialites and wives of world leaders.
The Martel Watch Company in Les Ponts-de-Martel
Les Ponts-de-Martel
Les Ponts-de-Martel is a municipality in the district of Le Locle in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.-Geography:Les Ponts-de-Martel has an area, , of . Of this area, or 59.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 30.5% is forested...
had supplied movements for many of Universal Geneve's chronographic timepieces since 1918, with Universal adapting the complications as Cal 285's. However, the mechanisms would be rechristened as Zenith 146's, 146D's and 146H's when competing Le Locle watchmaker Zenith
Zenith (watchmaker)
Zenith SA is a Swiss watch manufacture started in 1865 by Georges Favre-Jacot at the age of 22, in Le Locle in the canton of Neuchâtel.Zenith has a long reputation for the quality and precision of their watches, with 1,565 1st-place precision awards to date...
acquired Martel, and effectively all of its patents, by 1960.
1950s-1969: Microtor automatics
Arguably the most well-known Universal watch of the post-war era was the Polerouter. Designed by Gérald GentaGérald Genta
Charles Gérald Genta was a Swiss wristwatch designer and company of the same name. In addition to his own line of time pieces, Genta had contributed to the designs of Swiss luxury watch firms including IWC, Universal Geneve, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet, among several others...
, it was originally produced as the Polarouter in 1954, appearing with a Cal 138SS Bumper movement. The following year it was replaced with the innovative Cal 215 microtor movement which, with minor changes and a name change (from Polarouter to Polerouter, in 1958), was produced until late 1969. In its initial fifteen years of production, the watch was produced in many variations including the Polerouter de luxe, Polerouter Jet, Polerouter Super, Polerouter Genève, Polerouter Compact, Polerourer "NS", Polerouter III, and the Polerouter Sub diver's watch. The Polerouter's durability under extreme temperatures and fluctuating altitudes made it a preferred timepiece among SAS Scandinavian pilots who made flights over the arctic. The worldwide acclaim of the Polerouter Date was comparable to the reputation of similar Geneve automatics like the Rolex Oyster Date and Omega Seamaster Date
Omega Seamaster
The Omega Seamaster is an automatic winding chronometer and quartz watch that Omega has produced since 1947. An Omega Seamaster typically has a stainless steel case and bracelet , screw-in crown and caseback, engraved with the Omega hippocampus logo, up to 1200 metre water resistant, phosphorescent...
.
The Golden Shadow and White Shadow were first produced in 1965 and were the thinnest automatic watch
Automatic watch
An automatic or self-winding watch is a mechanical watch, whose mainspring is wound automatically by the natural motion of the wearer's arm, providing energy to run the watch, to make it unnecessary to manually wind the watch. A watch which is not self-winding is called a manual watch...
movements at the time, with a thickness of only 2.3mm. This record was held until 1978.
The Shadows were also designed by Genta and were available in 18K yellow and white gold
White Gold
White Gold is a 2003 Russian action film directed by Viktor Ivanov from a screenplay by John Jopson and Viktor Ivanov. The story begins with the actual events of 1919 when a White Army train carrying the bulk of Czar Nicholas' gold reserves arrives empty at Siberia's Irkutsk station...
as the Golden Shadow, and in stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
as the White Shadow. Both watches contained the Caliber 2-66 micro rotor movement up until the late 1960s.
1970-1980s: Decrease in automatic and mechanical wind production
During the 1970s, Universal had been one of the few Swiss watch brands to introduce a quartz movement and phase out automatics, coinciding with an era now known as the "quartz crisisQuartz crisis
The Quartz Crisis, also known as the Quartz Revolution is a term used in the watchmaking industry to refer to the economic upheavals caused by the advent of quartz watches in the 1970s and early 1980s, which largely replaced mechanical watches...
". While the company continued to use silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
, gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, platinum
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...
and diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
s for its dials, cases, bands and bracelets, the switch to quartz oscillators was a cost-efficient alternative to automatic complications, which were considerably more expensive and more time-consuming to produce, and could not compete with the mass-produced growth of electronic movements. In particular, the Golden and White Shadows, which previously contained microtors, would be replaced with unisonics and accutrons.
Since the innovation of quartz technology had originated in Japan, Universal began to focus most of its attention on the Asian watch market, since a significant portion of company revenue was already centered in Hong Kong. Although Forbes still ranked Universal (in price) to Corum
Corum (watchmakers)
Corum is a Swiss watchmaker based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Canton of Neuchâtel. Founded in 1955, it makes high-quality and high-price watches, many of which are limited editions and thus especially pricey...
, IWC
International Watch Company
International Watch Co, also known as IWC, is a high-end Swiss watch manufacturer located in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. IWC is an active member of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH....
and Rolex, and as being more expensive than Omega, Longines
Longines
Longines is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. The company was originally founded by Auguste Agassiz in 1832 and it currently holds the oldest registered logo for a watch company . Longines is currently owned by the Swatch Group.Longines is known for its 'Aviators' watches...
and Baume et Mercier
Baume et Mercier
Baume et Mercier is a Swiss luxury watchmaking company founded in 1830. It is owned by Richemont, and with Cartier and Piaget they make up the core of the group. This company is represented in 75 countries and produces around 200,000 watches a year. The most important markets are in Europe,...
, the international marketing strategies and venture to quartz proved economically devastating for the brand, causing loss of capital
Financial capital
Financial capital can refer to money used by entrepreneurs and businesses to buy what they need to make their products or provide their services or to that sector of the economy based on its operation, i.e. retail, corporate, investment banking, etc....
among its holding companies, and in effect, the popularity of the brand itself.
1990s-present: Comeback
After a difficult period in the 1980s and 1990s, Universal Genève recently released a series of watches with a new micro-rotor caliber which revisited the company's earlier success. Although still headquartered in Geneva, Universal's namesake was purchased in 1989 by Hong KongHong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
-based
investment firm Stelux Holdings International, Ltd., which also owns Cyma
Cyma Watches
Cyma SA is a Swiss manufacture of upscale and high-quality wristwatches, founded by brothers Joseph and Theodre Schwob in 1862. With equal emphasis for their accuracy and visual aesthetic, Cyma's automatic timepieces have been long reputable for their resilience to electricity, magnetism and...
, another high-end Swiss watchmaker. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Universal had been owned by New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
-based Bulova
Bulova
Bulova is a corporation making luxury watches and clocks. It has its headquarters in Woodside, Queens, New York City.Bulova was founded and incorporated as the J. Bulova Company in 1875 by Joseph Bulova , an immigrant from Bohemia...
, an acquisition which expanded the manufacture's namesake in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese and North American
North American
North American generally refers to an entity, people, group, or attribute of North America, especially of the United States and Canada together.-Culture:*North American English, a collective term used to describe American English and Canadian English...
markets, and lead to stylistic collaborations with other watch or jewelry firms such as Tiffany's
Tiffany & Co.
Tiffany & Co. is an American jewelry and silverware company. As part of its branding, the company is strongly associated with its Tiffany Blue , which is a registered trademark.- History :...
, Cartier SA
Cartier SA
Cartier S.A., commonly known as Cartier , is a French luxury jeweler and watch manufacturer. The corporation carries the name of the Cartier family of jewellers whose control ended in 1964 and who were known for numerous pieces including the "Bestiary" , the diamond necklace created for Bhupinder...
and Movado
Movado
Movado is a Swiss luxury watch company whose name is Esperanto for "continuous movement". Movado was founded in 1881 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland by Achilles Ditesheim....
.
As of 2011, Universal is an active member of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH
Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH
The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH is the Swiss watch industry's leading trade association.-History:...
, maintains three offices in Switzerland and oversees La Chaux-de-Fonds
La Chaux-de-Fonds
La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss city of the district of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometres from the French border. After Geneva and Lausanne, it is the third largest city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of...
-based watchmaker Cyma.
Notable wearers
Many celebrities, writers, business executives and diplomats from around the globe have owned both contemporary and vintage Universal Genève watches:Athletes
The 1997 and 1998 Universal Ayrton Senna sports chronometerChronometer
Chronometer may refer to:* Chronometer watch, a watch tested and certified to meet certain precision standards* Hydrochronometer, a water clock* Marine chronometer, a timekeeper used for celestial navigation...
watches were named after late Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
race car driver Ayrton Senna da Silva. As the limited edition watch bares Senna's name, proceeds from sales were to endow Instituto Ayrton Senna
Instituto Ayrton Senna
The Instituto Ayrton Senna or IAS is a Brazilian NGO founded by Ayrton Senna's family in November 1994, six months after Senna's death...
, an anti-poverty charity started by his sister, Vivianne.
Business and Media
Property magnate and The Apprentice host Donald TrumpDonald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
owned a Universal Geneve Senna watch before donating the timepiece to Antiquorum
Antiquorum
Antiquorum Auctioneers, based in Geneva, Switzerland and founded in 1974, established the modern auction market for watches. Antiquorum is the world’s leading auction house specializing in the field of horology...
for charity. In the late 1990s, Playboy illustrator Leroy Neiman
LeRoy Neiman
LeRoy Neiman is an American artist known for his brilliantly colored, pseudo-expressionist paintings and screen prints of athletes and sporting events.- Early years :...
appeared in a print campaign promoting Universal Geneve, with Neiman pictured in his studio wearing a Universal Geneve Golden Janus and his oil paintings displayed in the foreground.
In his book, "Marking Time: Collecting Watches and Thinking about Time", Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
editor-in-chief Michael Korda
Michael Korda
Michael Korda is a writer and novelist who was editor-in-Chief of Simon & Schuster in New York City.-Early Years:...
recalled receiving a pink gold Universal Geneve Tri-Compax from his uncle while attending Le Rosey
Institut Le Rosey
Institut Le Rosey, commonly referred to as Le Rosey or simply Rosey, is a school, in Gstaad, Switzerland. It is described as one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the world. The school was founded by Paul-Émile Carnal in 1880 on the site of the 14th-century Château du Rosey near the town...
boarding school in Switzerland, and cited the brand as piquing his interest in watches.
Diplomats and Politicians
29th and 41st Argentine President Juan Perón was a wearer of a Universal, as was 33rd U.S. President Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
, who donned the popular Tri-Compax model at the Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 16 July to 2 August 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States...
.
Because of Switzerland's neutrality during World War II, Swiss goods had been exported to international buyers with no basis on their country's alliance, reputation or political standing in the world. Although Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
owned many different brands of watches, the Reichsmarschall
Reichsmarschall
Reichsmarschall literally in ; was the highest rank in the armed forces of Nazi Germany during World War II after the position of Supreme Commander held by Adolf Hitler....
had given his 18k gold Universal Geneve Compax to Nuremburg Trial guard Lt. Jack Wheelis the night before his scheduled execution. While Wheelis' family maintained that the gift was a friendly gesture, historians have long attributed the wristwatch as being a bribe for the cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
pill Göring ingested to escape the hangman
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
.
Film
FrenchFrench people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
writer, poet, filmmaker and one-time Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
president Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
was an outspoken fan of Universal Geneve's style of manufacture, and a limited line of Universal tourbillon
Tourbillon
In horology, a tourbillon is an addition to the mechanics of a watch escapement. Developed around 1795 by the French-Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet from an earlier idea by the English chronometer maker John Arnold a tourbillon aims to counter the effects of gravity by mounting the...
s had etched verses of Cocteau's poetry.
Jon Voight
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
owned a personalized Compax and Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...
owned a Golden Shadow before both actors donated their watches to Antiquorum.
Price and Value
BusinessWeekBusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...
cited the market value of most Universal Geneve watches from the 1960s as approximately ranging between $2500-$3500 (figures adjusted to 2010 inflation)
Among the rarest and most expensive of Universal Geneve timepieces includes the Golden Janus, a 1994 centennial of the 1930s Cabriolet, which were limited to 10 in number and have realized at an upwards $50,000 (43,700 CHF) at auction.
Universal's A. Cairelli chronograph - an aviator wristwatch exclusive from the Compax - consists of a 24-hour dial with a 16-minute register. Manufactured in nominal quantities, it was originally meant for the Italian military but ceased production during the 1930s when Italy signed the Pact of Steel
Pact of Steel
The Pact of Steel , known formally as the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy, was an agreement between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany signed on May 22, 1939, by the foreign ministers of each country and witnessed by Count Galeazzo Ciano for Italy and Joachim von Ribbentrop...
with Axis Germany. At auction houses such as Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
and Christie's
Christie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
, the A. Cairellis have closed between an estimated $30,000 and $70,000.