DAVOSA

DAVOSA manufactures high‐quality Swiss timepieces and is a long‐established name in the watch industry. The brand is valued by connoisseurs for its high quality, classic design and, certainly in the luxury watch segment, its moderate prices.

DAVOSA watches are characterised by a classical approach throughout. Elegant and sporty watches alike can be found in the current collections. They include pilot‐style chronographs, large regulators with a peripheral hour hand and robust diver’s watches. The collections also feature pocket watches and skeleton watches with an almost entirely visible movement. The latter are available in limited edition series as they feature exceptionally refined movements.

History of DAVOSA Watch brand

The art of watch making first gained a foothold in the mountainous Jura region of Switzerland, which stretches from Basel to Geneva, more than 200 years ago. In those days farmers often learned this craft as a means of filling the long winter months and boosting their meager income. For some of them, this challenging and highly sophisticated craft became a true passion.

The history of DAVOSA Swiss Watches can be traced back to one of these families of farmers and watchmakers from the Jura Mountains.The Hasler family was a family of four brothers. Two of them left their small mountain village in the “valle de Joux” to work in watch factories in Geneva and Biel. The fourth brother, Abel Frederic Hasler (born 1861), began manufacturing small series of silver pocket watch cases with the greatest precision craftsmanship from 1881.

Six of his sons went on to inherit his watch making talent. For one of his sons, Paul Hasler (1883-1977), watch making became both a passion and a vocation. Even as a small child, he was fascinated with the complicated watches he discovered on his father’s work table. Upon completing his watchmaker training, he saved up a little capital and a few years later, was able to found his own business, Paul Hasler Terminages d’horlogerie, which specialized in watch assembly for a range of prestigious watch brands.

Difficult years ensued from 1930 to 1936. It was a time of high unemployment and many companies were forced to close down their operations. Paul Hasler managed to prevail thanks to his high standards of quality, which were greatly valued by his customers. By this stage, he was already employing twelve additional watchmakers.

David Hasler (1897-1951), who had already worked for his brother Paul as technical director for many years, joined the company in 1946. This partnership marked the beginning of Hasler Freres. The company soon began designing their own creations and transforming them into finished timepieces. Their circle of customers was not only limited to Europe; one of their most important export markets was the United States. Licence holders from all over the world without their own production process profited from the services of the Hasler brothers. The company finally moved into its current premises in Tramelan in 1953.

Business continued to prosper. In 1961, a third generation of Haslers, Wilfred and Eric Hasler, joined the business as joint partners after completing their watchmaker training. Kurt Wittwer joined the company in 1964 to support the commercial side of the business. He succeeded in opening up new markets and supervised product development from the initial creative idea to the finished product. The company began specializing in timepieces with sophisticated mechanical clockwork.

During the 1970s, Switzerland started to come under pressure from watchmakers from the Far East. The technical revolution brought about by the introduction of the quartz watch almost succeeded in ousting the traditional mechanical watch from the market. In response to this new market demand, Hasler & Co S.A., a legal entity from 1974, also began incorporating quartz watches into its product range.

1993 marked the beginning of sustainable development of the DAVOSA brand. 1993 was also the year in which Hasler & Co S.A. began cooperating with watch distributor, Bohle GmbH, who had been active on the German market since the 1960s. The mechanical watch was already experiencing something of a renaissance in Germany, where a high-quality, limited collection of mechanical timepieces under the brand name DAVOSA became a resounding success.

This collection included 3-hand automatic chronograph with 7750/7751 Valijoux caliber, as well as power reserve and regulator models and a mechanical alarm watch. Watch retailers and watch aficionados alike appreciated the combination of superior workmanship, high mechanical precision and contemporary design which is classic enough to endure.

The success of this first collection prompted further successful series and the cooperation between Hasler & Co. SA and Bohle GmbH became ever closer over the years. In 2000 Corinna bohle took over responsibility for strategic brand development, and both marketing and distribution are now managed from Germany. The contours of the characteristics DAVOSA design were further honed and brand quality was optimized through the acquisition of new specialist suppliers.

One result of this repositioning and a particular milestone in the brand history was the production of the first limited series can now be found in the portfolios of private watch collectors. Today the DAVOSA brand, carried by an independent, family-run company, has a global presence and is an integral part of the mechanical watch world.

Official website: www.davosa.com