ARMAND NICOLET JOINS OUR LINE-UP
Armand Nicolet - one of Switzerland’s oldest and most respected watch manufacturers has joined Stewart’s rising collection of unique and specialist watch brands.
Armand Nicolet can be considered as being one of the true hidden gems of the Swiss watch industry, who have manufactured quality mechanical watches throughout even the toughest of times.
Between the 1930s-70s, Armand Nicolet had one of the most specialised ateliers in the T1 process. Particularly focused on the complicated mechanical movements produced at the time, like the Venus Chronographs (including the Rattrappante or Split Second), the Complete Calendar and many other complicated calibers. Through the skill and knowledge of their factory’s master watchmakers, the company would manufacturer and sell these movements to many of the most prestigious Swiss brands. At the end of the 1970s, when financial crisis hit the Swiss Watch Industry from the rise and rise of Japanese quartz movements making their big entrance onto the watch market, unlike other brands which either closed their factories or underwent a conversion process, the Armand Nicolet factory, managed by Willy Nicolet (son of Armand), succeeded to preserve their extraordinary knowledge keeping the atelier open throughout those difficult years.
New management in the 1980s saw the huge potential in the company after finding thousands of un-used vintage mechanical movements and decided to rescue, maintain and continuously develop the company’s know-how by working on these old movements (such as UNITAS, Venus, ETA, Peseux, FHF etc…) and bringing them back to life.
The O.H.M. Series feature original historical movements from the 1950s and 1960s that have been recovered and tuned in their atelier. These pieces are produced only in limited editions because the quantity is determined by the amount of original historical movements still available. Armand Nicolet’s skilled watchmakers manually restore and re-assemble each of these unique pieces. These precious movements are the result of many years of expertise and dedication to the fine art of watchmaking. The year of production of the movement and the number of the series is engraved on the plate, clearly seen through the glass case-back. The uniqueness, beauty and exceptional technical value along with the historical charm are the reasons of the extraordinary success of Armand Nicolet’s O.H.M. Series. These products also place Armand Nicolet in a very unique position within the luxury watch market, offering true collector’s pieces with genuine history.
A special selection of Armand Nicolet watches is now available to view in our Leicester boutique. Come and try on a piece of history!