Luxury, custom and handcrafted watch and jewellery safes

As the designers of home safe models and craftsmen of luxury watch displays that we are, in this article we will share with you some interesting facts about the reference watch brands in the market. Patek Philippe, Rolex, Longines and Tissot are just some of the most exclusive brands that every collector aspires to acquire.

At Armando-G we are lovers of fine Swiss watchmaking, and we offer different models of home safes in our catalogue, which are ideal for treasuring watches and other jewellery and valuables. We would therefore like to show you how these luxury watch manufacturers, who exude technical excellence and superlative quality in materials and workmanship, have become the market leaders in the world’s most exclusive timepieces.

For our part, we have been designing and manufacturing luxury watch displays for many years, completely handcrafted and customized for each client. Their unique and elegant designs, their detailed manufacturing, their versatility, as well as the long list of possible combinations and customizable elements, make Armando-G displays unique products in Spain and the whole world. They are the perfect packaging for the type of watches we will show below.

Here are some of the most renowned Swiss watch brands with the longest track record in the world of haute horlogerie.

When we talk about Patek Philippe, we are talking, in a nutshell, about watchmaking excellence. Founded in 1839 by Antoine Norbert de Patek and François Czapek, this watchmaking company is today the most popular and iconic Swiss reference watch company in Switzerland and the world.

Let’s take a look at its history. In its early years, the company started off strong by manufacturing and patenting the 1845 keyless winding and time-setting system, but it was not until 1868 that it produced its first Swiss wristwatch for the Hungarian Countess Koscowicz.

The truth is that this is a company with a long list of patents, thanks to its permanent commitment to innovation and excellence in fine watchmaking, as evidenced by some of its most important milestones and historical advances, such as the perpetual calendar, the chronograph, the minute repeater in watches or the first sapphire watches. 

Today, the company is in the hands of the Stern family. Its watches, timepieces and collections are symbols of high purchasing power, sophistication and technical virtuosity. It is one of the world’s most expensive watch manufacturers and a mirror for all watchmakers and lovers of fine watchmaking. 

Apart from its usual and most representative collections such as the “Grandes Complications” series or the historic “Calatrava” series, among others, the company also designs customised watches for specific clients, which makes these watches exclusive and unique pieces, within the reach of a select few. 

It is worth noting that Patek Philippe watches have been sold for stratospheric sums of money, such as the 5002P Sky Moon Tourbillon model, purchased at auction in Hong Kong by millionaire Henry Graves in 2008 for close to twelve million dollars.

Patek Philippe manages to convey passion in each of its timepieces. And this is in line with one of the strongest convictions held by its president, Thierry Stern: “The essential value of any company is passion”. 

As the brand itself says on its website, “For more than a century, Rolex watches have accompanied explorers and achievers around the world, from the highest mountaintops to the deepest points of the ocean”. The truth is that this is one of the best known and most representative brands of Swiss watchmaking, founded in London by Hans Wilsdorf in 1905. This passionate watchmaker thought he could develop much more reliable wristwatches by incorporating a small, high-precision movement manufactured by a watchmaker’s workshop in Bern, Switzerland.

In 1926, with the company already established in Geneva, he launched the first water-resistant watch on the market, the revolutionary and popular “Oyster” model, which was equipped with a hermetically sealed case capable of guaranteeing a degree of protection and resistance for the watch never seen before.

One of their most representative models is the well-known “Submariner”, not to mention their latest new edition of their extreme diving model “Deepsea”. This brand-new version of their iconic model is dedicated to film director James Cameron and is featured in the documentary “Deepsea Challenge 3D” at the Museum of Natural History in New York.

The film depicts James Cameron’s historic dive into the Mariana Trench, a feat accomplished with the support of Rolex and National Geographic. The aim of the expedition was to reach and explore the deepest point of the ocean, some 11 kilometres below. This fabulous timepiece withstood the challenge flawlessly and set new standards in terms of endurance and precision.

Rolex is also one of the world’s largest watch brands in terms of production capacity, making an average of more than two thousand watches every day. 

Longines is a brand founded in 1832 by August Agassiz. It is known and famous throughout the world for its lines and designs of aviator watches. It supports numerous sporting events around the world and has become a true symbol of passion and the pursuit of excellence. As a curious fact, we would like to mention that Albert Einstein owned both a pocket watch and a wristwatch from this brand.

Other historical milestones are that they were the first to launch a digital watch with LCD screen in 1971, which has subsequently been used and copied by an infinite list of brands up to the present day. 

In the 1980s, they launched their Longines VHP model, the first thermo-compensated quartz watch, which was set back or forward by less than one second per month.

Other curious facts that demonstrate the experience and greatness of this Swiss brand are to be found in the fact that it has almost 190 years of history and, at the beginning of the 21st century, it had already produced more than thirty million units of its watches.

Today it has several collections, both for men and women. Some of its most popular and best-selling watches are the Lindbergh, Weems, Legend Diver, Conquest, Hydroconquest and Flagship models.

Tissot is a Swiss luxury watchmaking company that started manufacturing watches in 1853 and belongs to the Swatch group. It was founded by the watchmaker Charles-Felicien Tissot in 1853, and it was his son Charles-Emile who was responsible for the international expansion of the brand and for moving its initial facilities to a modern factory in the Swiss town of Le Locle, which is the current location. In 1930 he launched the first anti-magnetic watch and in 1944 his first self-winding watch. 

During the 1970s, it became the leading Swiss watch manufacturer and the third largest in the world. As a differentiating factor, in recent years it has developed the “T-Touch technology”, characterized by the incorporation of a touch-sensitive sapphire-coated crystal in some of its watches.

One of its latest innovations is the “Gentleman” model. A beautiful and elegant watch that incorporates its automatic Powermatic movement with a silicon hairspring with a power reserve of up to 80 hours and inspired by the aesthetics of the 1960s. 

Tissot is also well known for being the official timekeeper of Moto GP and various cycling world championships, among other major events.

These are just four examples of the list of brands that make up what is known as Swiss haute horlogerie. Ideal pieces to be stored in our luxury watch displays.

Our models of home safes and display cases are ideal for watch collectors. Because we know that each collection is unique, we create customized designs for each of our customers, considering their tastes and needs.

As an example of our innovative and original designs, we can mention the Ursus Glass model, a small display safe for storing your automatic watches. In addition to this one, we have many more models, which we invite you to see on our website.

If you would like more information or a detailed quote, just take a few seconds to fill in the contact form on this website, send us an e-mail to info@armando-g.com, or call us on +34 93 636 14 16.