Revue Thommen

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New and vintage Revue Thommen watches: history, models and prices

The Revue Thommen collection

Find a glittering selection of Revue Thommen watches online

Steeped in the fine traditions of Swiss watchmaking, Revue Thommen has been in business since 1853. The beginnings of the company's success story were laid by Gédéon Thommen, who helped Revue Thommen achieve a unique breakthrough in the field of horology.

Since the company was established in 1853, Revue Thommen has designed over a hundred movements in its own workshops.
At Revue Thommen, every single timepiece is painstakingly handmade and characterized by precision and durability.
After changing hands several times, the company reverted to the ownership of the Thommen family in 2014.
While collecting his Nobel Peace Prize, Mikhail Gorbachev wore a watch by Revue Thommen.

A fascinating company history

Based in Waldenburg in Switzerland, Revue Thommen has experienced a long and varied company history. It's hit the heights but also encountered crises, such as the rise of quartz watches in the 1970s. Registered in 1910, the Revue Thommen brand positioned itself not only as a maker of high quality mechanical watches, but also as a strong player in the avionics sector by manufacturing technologically advanced aircraft instruments.

Few watch companies in the Swiss watch industry have lived through such turbulent times and can look back on such as long a tradition as Revue Thommen. In 1853 the watch company “Société d’Horlogerie à Waldenburg” was established in the small Swiss town of Waldenburg. A few years later, Gédéon Thommen assumed control of this fledgling firm, and it was he who led it to world renown. To get a sense of Revue Thommen's rapid rise during this period, you only have to look at its remarkable increase in productivity. Around 4,000 timepieces rolled out of its in its workshops in 1879. Almost a decade later, that figure had leapt to 13,000 watches, and in 1905 it was 100,000. This staggering progress is due to the inventiveness and entrepreneurial drive of Gédéon Thommen, who had a deep understanding both of watchmaking itself and of how to make that process much more streamlined and efficient.

Ups and downs for Revue Thommen watches

Revue Thommen: Further developments at the cutting edge

The ability to make its own, extremely reliable movements is at the heart of the esteem that Revue Thommen has enjoyed with its customers over many decades. Drawing on this expertise, in the 1920s the company decided to produce precise measuring instruments for aviation, and it has continuously expanded this area of operation ever since.

In reaction to the wave of cheap quartz watches from the Far East that plunged the watch industry into tumult in the early 1960s, Revue Thommen merged with several other firms to form Manufactures d'Horlogerie Suisses Réunies SA. This allowed more efficient work practises to be introduced and helped to assure the company's future. To this end, the creation of movements in the original company headquarters in Waldenburg ceased and was relocated instead to Vulcain Studio SA. At the start of the 2000s, Revue Thommen became a subsidiary of the Swiss umbrella company Grovana, with the good news that it was once again able to directly manufacture its own watch movements. These in-house calibres bore the initials of the company founder: GT.

A few years ago, history ran full circle and Revue Thommen returned to the ownership of the Thommen family. Working with a business partner, Andreas Thommen bought the firm with the goal of revitalizing this once treasured watch brand. A range of new and existing models were showcased at the Baselworld watch and jewellery convention in 2015, a clear demonstration that he is well on his way to achieving his aim.

A classic of the 20th century

The legendary Cricket from Revue Thommen

During the height of its battle with cheap quartz imports, Revue Thommen launched one of its most celebrated wristwatches of all time - the Cricket, with its mechanical alarm clock function. A form of this unusual mechanism originally saw the light of day in 1947, and earned its name because its strong chirping sounded eerily like a real insect. The Cricket has a sophisticated system consisting of an acoustic membrane and a sound box, and it was this that allowed it to emit an alarm at such piercing volume.

A sister watch, the Vulcain Cricket, went on to achieve an especially high profile worldwide. It became known as the presidential watch, because it adorned the wrists of a long list of US presidents, such as Harry S. Truman , Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson. Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was clearly impressed too, as he made a point of wearing a Revue Thommen Cricket when he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

Classics – Sport – Lifestyle

Revue Thommen: mechanical watches with a strong sense of tradition

To this day, Revue Thommen timepieces are handcrafted by highly qualified master watchmakers. Over the course of the company's history, over 100 different GT movements have been engineered in its workshops in Switzerland. Without exception, they display the accuracy, reliability and ingenuity that have long been associated with the Revue Thommen brand. And you'll find the same commitment to quality in Revue Thommen quartz watches too.

Revue Thommen's wide-ranging product portfolio is divided into three categories: Classics, Sport and Lifestyle. As its name suggests, the Classic watch line is dominated by timeless designs with clear, simple dials and elegantly understated accents. This collection reflects the firm's deep sense of heritage.

With the the Revue Thommen sport collection, you get exactly what you would expect: ruggedness, precision and dynamic, go-getting looks. The strong stainless steel casings are covered with non-reflective sapphire glass, making them easy to read even in the full glare of competition. You'll discover some great Revue Thommen diver watches in this collection, as well as options suitable for polo, sailing and other daring, adventurous exploits.

Shop from the lifestyle collection, and you can expect a true masterpiece of fine watchmaking. Revue Thommen knows better than anyone how to pack complex, multi-functional movements into cases that ooze style and drip with precious materials. But whether you're looking for something to go with business attire, sports kit or evening wear, all of these timepieces are underpinned by the same meticulously accurate technology and flawless attention to detail.