BWC SWISS WATCHES

BWC Swiss (BWC Fabrique d’Horlogerie S.A.) is a traditional Swiss watch brand based in Biel/Bienne in Switzerland.

The Buttes Watch Company was founded in 1924 by Mr Arthur Charlet, at his birth place in Buttes (Canton Neuchatel).The “Val de Travers” an aesthetic high-lying valley in Switzerland near the French border, is well known for watch making during the 18th century.

During the economic crisis in 1923, in which Switzerland was also oppressively affected, he found the courage to become a watch manufacturer. The company first started off producing a wide variety of pocket watches. The first markets were initially launched in Germany and then expanded to England, Spain, Poland and Hungary.

Later, sales areas were opened to the most important trading countries in Europe at that time like Greece and Turkey. The main overseas markets were USA, Cuba and Canada. Mr Arthur Charlet’s son in law, Mr Edwin Volkart took over the company in 1953 and continues to operate with alacrity. BWC Swiss quickly developed state of the art watch technology.

By 1967, electro mechanical watches were also part of their watch collection. Thus by 1972 the collection of the BWC already included the first quartz digital display and in 1975 the first fully developed quartz analogue watch.

With the lack of competent workers in the Val de Travers Valley and the changing ownership in 1991, the company moved the manufacturing plant at Canton Solothum. All commercial activities of the BWC Fabrique d,Horologerie SA/Bienne then was perceived by Reinhold Reek GmbH in Pforzheim, Germany.

In 2000, the 75th anniversary watches designed by Mr Alexander Schnell Waltenberger from Pforzheim, won Good Design Award. In 2003, Starck-Watches in Pforzheim, Germany took over the responsibility for BWC Swiss. In 2009, the brand celebrated its 85th anniversary.

Official website: http://www.bwc-swiss.de/