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  • The Academy
  • The Watch Forum
  • The Gate
  • The Academy

    Train and Certify, The Academy masters, delivers and measures watchmaking knowledge worldwide.

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  • The Watch Forum

    The Watch Forum provides a platform for debate to help craft the industry of tomorrow.

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  • The Gate

    Attract new audiences and present watchmaking in a new light.

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Who are we

A not-for-profit foundation set up under private law in 2005 by Audemars Piguet, Girard-Perregaux and Richemont, the objective of the FHH is to promote and spread the reputation of watchmaking excellence around the world.

It provides information on the latest news, history and skills within the watchmaking professions. It trains, assesses and certifies horological knowledge. It organises events and encounters intended for both the general public and professionals. A creator of content, competencies, connections and experiences, the FHH is supported by leading names in the watch industry and independent creators, all actively contributing to its activities.


Head office

Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie

Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie

Pont de la Machine 1

1204 Geneva | Switzerland

T +41 22 808 58 00

Watches and Culture: Did you know?

  • Timepieces

    L.U.C Collection

    The L.U.C collection tastefully embodies a refined blend of contemporary design, innovative technology and traditional craftsmanship. Entirely conceived, developed and crafted in the Chopard workshops in Fleurier and in Geneva,...

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  • Famous watchmakers

    Antide Janvier

    French clockmaker. Clockmaker of Louis XVIII. Manufactured astronomic and planetary clocks. RestorationAntide Janvier became clockmaker of King Louis XVIII and won a gold medal at the 1823...

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  • History

    Around 1720

    George Graham built a device with pendulum and weights, and a hand that indicated the quarter-second and which could, theoretically, also divide the second into sixteenths.

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  • Glossary

    • Atmos

      A clock, made by Jaeger-LeCoultre, driven by variations in temperature or atmospheric pressure and invented by Jean-Léon Reutter. The original Atmos, made in 1926, was presented to...

    • Brilliant cut

      A round diamond that is cut with 57 or 58 facets or 32 facets + plus the largest facet called the table, 24 are below. The 58th facet is optional and is polished at the point of the diamond.

    • Case

      Container that protects the watch movement from dust, damp and knocks. The case is part of the watch's appearance and, influenced by fashions and buyers' personal taste, must have visual...

    • Daylight Saving Time

      Legal time in certain countries that is one hour ahead of winter time, itself one hour ahead of solar time.

    • Exterior

      The different parts (case, dial, hands, crystal, crown, etc.) that help to give the watch its finished and functional appearance.

    • Foliot

      An oscillating bar with a weight at each ends used as a regulator in the first mechanical timepieces.

    • Gold

      Gold has seduced the world with its beauty, but also because not even acid can alter its natural properties. An estimated 130,000 tons have been extracted from the earth since prehistoric times,...

    • Horn

      That part of a watch case to which the strap is attached. Horns come in various shapes and are attached to the case middle.

    • Isochronal (Isochronous)

      Recurring at regular intervals. The oscillations of a pendulum or balance are isochronal when their duration is the same regardless of their amplitude.

    • Jewels

      International term for the rubies in a watch movement.

    • Knot

      A raised mineral inclusion in a diamond found at the surface.

    • Legal time

      The time which is, by law, that of all the inhabitants of a country.

    • Manufacture

      The Swiss watch industry uses this term to differentiate between a company that manufactures a watch almost in its entirety as opposed to finishing shops which only assemble and time the watch,...

    • Niello

      An enamel-like alloy of lead, copper, silver, sulphur and sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride). Niello paste is applied over incised gold or silver then fired in the enamellist's furnace. Excess...

    • Onyx

      A black agate that is often found as watch dials.

    • Poinçon de Genève

      A distinctive hallmark depicting the Geneva coat of arms, granted by an official body at the Ecole d'Horlogerie de Genève and placed on movements whose quality and finish conform to precise...

    • Quartz

      Silicon dioxide. Also called rock crystal. Quartz has the specific property of vibrating at a very high frequency (32 MHz) placed under electric current. Under certain conditions, it...

    • Repair

      To restore a watch to a functioning state.

    • Set (to)

      To secure a stone of any cut or size in metal. The stone and the metal are generally precious. The jeweller prepares the hole in which the stone is seated.

    • Tooth

      A projection on the edge of a gear, escapement wheel, ratchet wheel, etc.

    • Ultra-complicated watch

      Any function other than the indication of hours, minutes and seconds, regardless of whether the mechanism is hand-wound or self-winding, mechanical or electronic, and of movement height. The...

    • Vibration

      Movement of a pendulum or oscillating body between two extreme positions (A' and A''). The balance of a mechanical watch generally makes five vibrations per second, equivalent to 18,000...

    • Watchmaker's cabinet

      A small chest of drawers for storing the watchmaker's tools and often part of the bench. A cabinet can also be a separate piece of furniture with any number of drawers for sorting and...

    • Year

      A four-digit indication of the current year that changes automatically at midnight on December 31st.

    • Zinc

      A metal applied by electrodeposition (electroplating) to protect iron and steel.

    Expand Glossary

Glossary

From A to Z, we've got watchmaking covered!