Accurist Accurist is a family-run British wristwatch and watch manufacturer. The company was founded in 1946 in Clerkenwell, London, by Asher and Rebecca Loftus. Today, the company has offices in West Hampstead, London and La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. The company is run by Andrew Loftus (Chief Executive), and his brother, Richard. The Loftus family also owns a range of property in the Baker Street area of London. Accurist is estimated to be worth around £20 million. In the 1960s, Accurist sponsored the variety show Sunday Night at the London Palladium on ITV, and the company's watches were worn by celebrities such as Princess Anne, Twiggy and The Beatles, gaining worldwide publicity. In the 1970s, the company signed a deal for their watches to be worn by pilots of Concorde. In 1978, John Cleese featured in a well-remembered British television advertising campaign.
Adriatica Adria and Adriatica are parent Swiss Watch Brands specialised in making quality watches at affordable prices for the Eastern European Markets. The name originates from the Etruscan city of Atria or (Adria) that also gave its name at a much earlier period to the Adriatic Sea. It has not yet been clearly established as from when the company started dedicating the names of their watches to that enchanted area, but it is generally admitted that it was at some time earlier than 1931. The History of Adria & Adriatica as watch trade marks for Swiss Watches is closely associated with the Belle Epoque period through the Montilier Watch Co, established in 1852 in Montilier, close to Morat / Murten, at the foot of the Watch Valley, Switzerland. During and after World War II the brands remained dormant until 1949.
Alba Alba is a wristwatch sub-brand of Seiko Watch Corporation which appeared first in 1979. Using Seiko's own family of movements but with modern styling designed to appeal especially to younger customers, Alba watches are primarily aimed at Asian markets in the hope of creating longterm loyalty to the Seiko group when these customer's purchasing power increases. Many of its cleaner designs appeal to existing traditionalists alike.
Alpina Watches Alpina Watches International SA is a manufacturer of wrist watches based in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, Switzerland. The company was founded in 1883 by Gottlieb Hauser, watchmaker in Winterthur, who founded the Swiss Watchmakers Corporation ("Union Horlogère Suisse"). A number of watchmakers joined to purchase watch components and organized their manufacturing. All representatives of Union Horlogère depended on the Association, which aimed to sell high quality watches under the Alpina brand. Quickly, the new concept gained acceptance. Together with qualified manufactures, the Association started to develop its own calibres and to enlarge its distribution network. Everything ran well until the seventies, when the quartz crises violently crushed the Swiss watch-industry. Alpina was powerless to counter the overwhelming emergence of electronic watches.
Audemars Piguet Audemars Piguet is a manufacture of expensive Swiss watches which compete with Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Vacheron Constantin. The roots of Audemars Piguet date back to 1875, when the 23-year-old Jules-Louis Audemars met Edward-Auguste Piguet, then only 21, at Vallée de Joux, which is considered to be the cradle of prestige watch-making. Their hometown was Le Brassus. When they graduated school they went to Vallée de Joux to start working in their favorite field of watch manufacturing. Thus Audemars started producing component parts for movements and Piguet got the job of a repasseur, whose job it was to make the final regulation of the timepiece. They founded a firm later known as Audemars, Piguet et Cie. Since 1882, members of the Audemars and Piguet families have always been on the board of directors and have thus directly or indirectly run the company.
