Encyclopedia of Makers

Watchmakers, clockmakers & manufacturers

Individuals, workshops and companies across nine centuries and four continents — each linked to the objects, mechanisms and innovations attributed to them.

Manufacturer / watchmaker

Breguet

Paris (founded); later Vallée de Joux · 1775

Clockmaker

John Harrison

Barrow upon Humber / London · Active c. 1713–1776

Watchmaker

Thomas Mudge

London · Active c. 1740s–1794

Scientist / horological inventor

Christiaan Huygens

The Hague · 1629–1695

Scholar-official / engineer

Su Song

Kaifeng · 1020–1101

"The Elephant Clock", Folio from a Book of the Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices by al-Jazari MET 57.51.23.jpg

Engineer

Ismail al-Jazari

Diyarbakır · 1136–1206

Manufacturer

Omega

La Chaux-de-Fonds; Biel/Bienne · 1848

Manufacturer

Rolex

London (1905); Geneva (from 1919) · 1905

Manufacturer

Seiko

Tokyo · 1881

WALTHAM WATCH COMPANY FACTORY. WALTHAM IS A BUSY MANUFACTURING CITY ON THE CHARLES RIVER - NARA - 550013.jpg

Manufacturer

American Waltham Watch Company

Waltham, Massachusetts · 1850s (as Boston Watch Co., 1850–54)