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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

    Opus 2

    In 2002, the New York jeweller Harry Winston called on Antoine Preziuso to make the Opus 2. 

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  • Famous watchmakers

    Frédéric Louis Favre-Bulle

    Swiss clockmaker and chronometer maker. Brother-in-law of Jacques Frédéric Houriet. Uncle of Sylvain Mairet and Louis Richard known as Bressel, renowned manufacturers of precision watches and chronometers. Pioneered...

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  • History

    1858

    Foundation by Henri Grandjean of the Observatoire de Neuchâtel whose role was to transmit the exact time by telegraph.

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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.

    • Briolette

      A drop shaped gemstone cut that has many triangular facettes.

    • Count wheel (Locking plate)

      A wheel with alternating notches and raised portions which controls the number of hours struck.

    • Direct-drive seconds (Trotteuse)

      A hand that moves forward in small jumps, each of which corresponds to one vibration of the balance.A distinctive feature of a mechanical watch indicating the seconds.

    • Exterior

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

    • Fresh water cultured pearl

      A cultured pearl that was formed in a freshwater mussel.

    • Girdle

      The girdle is the widest perimeter of a gemstone that separates the top (crown) and the bottom (pavilion) of a cut gem.

    • Hessonite

      A brown to orange gemstone variety of grossular garnet. This transparent stone has a hardness of 6.5 - 7 and a specific gravity of 3.6. This stone is not enhanced.

    • Imperial jade

      An emerald green variety of jadeite, Imperial jade is very sought after in Asia. It comes from one mine in Myanmar (Burma).

    • Jeweller

      In its original, eighteenth-century meaning, a jeweller is an expert in the art of mounting precious stones in gold, silver and, later, platinum so as to bring out their full beauty and sparkle....

    • Karrusel

      A device similar to the tourbillon, the difference being that the cage is driven by the third wheel. Invented by Bonnicksen, a Danish watchmaker established in London.See complication.

    • Labradorite

      A variety of plagioclase feldspar that has a greyish background with flashes of colour called labradorescence. It is used as watch dials. Labradorite has a hardness of 6 to 6.5 and a specific...

    • Micron

      A metric unit of length equal to one thousandth of a millimetre or one millionth of a metre. The watch industry often expresses tolerances in microns.

    • Nephrite

      A family of the jade group of ornamental gemstones. Nephrite is slightly softer that jadeite and is often veined.

    • Observatory chronometer

      A chronometer which has received an official rating certificate from an observatory.

    • PVD

      Physical vapour deposition, a technique for coating metal.See electroplating and plating.

    • 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...

    • Rotor

      A semi-circular disc that freely rotates with each movement of the arm to automatically wind the mainspring. Its own weight returns it to a vertical position.A specific system multiplies...

    • Spinel

      A gemstone found in every pastel colour. The red variety was often mistaken for ruby. It has a hardness of 8, a specific gravity of 3.58-4.06, and a refractive index of 1.72.

    • Terminal coil

      The incurved ends of the balance-spring to improve isochronism. Invented by Breguet and perfected by Phillips and others, hence often referred to as a "Phillips curve" or "Breguet overcoil".

    • Universal Time (UT)

      Since 1972, a continuation of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) which is mean solar time at the Greenwich meridian. Universal Time (UT) is a measurement of time based on the Earth's...

    • Vermeil

      Silver covered with a thin layer of gold.

    • Wheel-cutting engine

      A machine for cutting the required number of teeth into an unfinished gear after marking the position of each tooth with a dividing plate.

    • 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!