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  • FHH Academy
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  • Watches and Culture
  • FHH Academy

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

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  • FHH Forum

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

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  • Watches and Culture

    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

    Bulgari Bulgari

    A legendary style, the Bvlgari Bvlgari has the brand's name engraved twice on its bezel.

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  • Famous watchmakers

    Henri Robert Ekegren

    Danish clockmaker and chronometer maker. Watchmaker to the King of Denmark. Worked for Urban Jürgensen, Henry Golay, Joseph-Thaddeus Winnerl and Adolph Lange before setting up his own business in Geneva.

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  • History

    1867

    In La Chaux-de-Fonds, Georges-Frédéric Roskopf set about producing watches, sold for just 20 francs each, that would be "affordable by all purses."

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  • Glossary

    • Aperture

      A small opening in the dial. In an aperture watch, various indications such as the month, moon phase, day, date, hour, minute, etc. are visible through these openings.

    • Brace (Bridle)

      Part that holds or retains. Clamp, Winding-stem brace, Mainspring bridle, Slip spring, pivoting brace

    • Combustion clock

      Graduated candles or oil clocks whose diminishing level of fuel indicates how much time has passed.

    • Dichroism

      The property of certain gemstones that show more than one shade of colour when viewed from different angles. Many gemstones, for example rubies, sapphires and tourmaline, are naturally...

    • Engine turn

      To cut metal with decorative engraving by hand or using an engine turning machine.

    • Fluting

      Grooves cut the length of a rod, pillar or button. Fluting makes it easier to grip the winding-crown.

    • 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,...

    • Hand-setting

      The action of adjusting a watch's hands to the time shown on a reference clock.

    • Inverted calibre

      calibre whose dial is on the side with the bridges and geartrain rather than on the bottom-plate side

    • Jewels

      The international term for the jewels (rubies) in a watch movement that are used as bearings for pivots to reduce friction. The movement of a quality watch has between 15 and 21 jewels.

    • Kunzite

      A transparent pink or light purple gemstone and is a variety of spodumene. The colour of some kunzite can be enhanced by irradiation. Kunzite has a hardness of 6-7 and a specific gravity of 3.1 -...

    • Lunation

      The period of time elapsing between two successive new moons.

    • Marine chronometer

      Traditionally, "marine chronometer" refers to a large watch for keeping time onboard ship. In the latter years of the eighteenth century, the term was extended to mean a...

    • Nacre

      The iridescent substance secreted by molluscs around a foreign object. Pearls and cultured pearls are covered with nacre by certain species of oysters and mussels.

    • Oil sink

      A cavity in bearings for a drop of oil.

    • Planing machine

      Until the end of the eighteenth century, watchmakers would plane teeth and leaves on wheels and pinions by hand, first dividing them with special files. Later, for around a century, a planing...

    • 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...

    • Rhodium plating

      A thin protective coating of rhodium on metal that gives a shiny appearance and hardens the surface.

    • Sodalite

      Sodalite has a dark blue background with inclusions of white, grey, pink or green. It is used as watch dials.

    • Tritium

      A radioluminescent substance containing tritium that is used to coat the indicators on timekeeping devices so they can be read in the dark.

    • Under-dial work

      Collective term for the mechanisms, such as for striking, a calendar or motionwork, between the dial and the dial plate.

    • Vagues de Genève

      Synonym of Côtes de Genève. A decoration of undulating lines, like waves, frequently used to embellish superior quality movements.

    • World time

      Describes a watch that indicates, usually by means of subdials surrounding the main dial, local time (true solar time) in different world cities. Often these cities were chosen for their political...

    • Year

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

    • Zodiac

      At the heart of countless legends and beliefs, since ancient times precious stones have had symbolic value. From the Jews to the Egyptians, each culture and religion has given a different meaning...

    Expand Glossary

Glossary

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