Famous watchmakers

This classification of important watchmakers in chronological order by year of birth places them in the context of their era and how research, discoveries and inventions responded to the needs of science, industry and trade at that time. It intentionally ends in the mid-twentieth century, when traditional watchmaking was forced to accept its limits faced with the needs first of aerospace and later telecommunications. This is, of course, by no means an exhaustive list. Dates and inventions are those generally accepted on the basis of current knowledge.