Movement maker / manufacturer
Lemania
Also recorded as: Lémania · Lemania Watch Co. · Nouvelle Lemania · Lugrin SA · Lémania Lugrin
Vallée de Joux chronograph specialist whose movements powered the Omega Speedmaster and many military chronographs.
Alfred Lugrin (1858–1920) began assembling chronographs in the Vallée de Joux in 1884 and built a factory at L'Orient in 1890. His son-in-law Marius Meylan modernised the business, which took the Lemania name (after Lake Geneva, Lac Léman) and in 1932 joined Omega and Tissot in the SSIH group. Lemania supplied chronograph movements to Omega and others; the calibre developed in the 1940s by Albert Piguet became Omega's calibre 321, used in the Speedmaster worn on the Moon.
Lemania also made pilots' and military chronographs, stopwatches and complicated watches. After the crisis of the SSIH group it became independent in 1981 as Nouvelle Lemania, was bought by Breguet in 1992 and came into the Swatch Group with Breguet in 1999, after which the name disappeared into Breguet's manufacture.
- Country
- Switzerland
- City / centre
- L'Orient, Vallée de Joux
- Founded
- 1884
- Status
- Part of Swatch Group (via Breguet)
- Key people
- Alfred Lugrin (1858–1920); Marius Meylan; Albert Piguet (movement designer)
Innovations & specialities
- Chronograph calibre 27 CHRO / Omega 321 (1940s)
- Military and pilots' chronographs
- Stopwatches and timing instruments
Calibres
Works by Lemania in the catalogue
All 72 records →
Pocket Watches · c. 1918
J Auricoste, "Just", Chronograph Marine Pocket Watch, Lemania Movement, circa 1918
Vintage Watch Specialist (dealer), United Kingdom
Wristwatches · 1940s
Lemania 15TL, 1940s
S.Song Watches (dealer), Seattle
Wristwatches · 1940s
Lemania Two-Register Chronograph, 1940s
Bulang & Sons (dealer), Copenhagen
Wristwatches · 1945
Lemania Military Black Unrestored Dial Czech Air Force, 1945
Vintage Portfolio (dealer), Vienna
Wristwatches · c. 1950s
Lemania Automatic Military Style Watch, Stainless Steel, circa 1950s
Vintage Watch Specialist (dealer), United Kingdom
Wristwatches · c. 1954
Lemania TG 195 Swedish Military Issued, Single Pusher Hack Watch, Caseback ref. 54-1027, circa 1954
Vintage Watch Specialist (dealer), United Kingdom
Wristwatches · mid 1960s
Lemania Chronograph Issued to the Royal Air Force Mono Pusher
Bulang & Sons (dealer), Copenhagen
Wristwatches · 1960s
Lemania Monopusher Chronograph Issued to British Armed Forces 6bb, 1960s
Bulang & Sons (dealer), Copenhagen
Wristwatches · early 1960s
Lemania Royal Navy Series 2 Monopusher, early 1960s
S.Song Watches (dealer), Seattle
Wristwatches · c. 1960s-1980s
Lemania wristwatch, ref. 35-64, Series 3 Monopusher Chronograph, circa 1960s-1980s
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Wristwatches · 1965
Lemania Series III, RAF Military Issued Single Pusher Chronograph, 1965
Vintage Watch Specialist (dealer), United Kingdom
Wristwatches · c. 1970s
Lemania wristwatch, Series 2 Monopusher Chronograph, circa 1970s
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Linked through the Atlas maker authority list, which reconciles the spellings used by different institutions. Attributions are as stated by each holding institution or auction house.
Read and see more
Magazine features
- The Wrist Chronograph, 1913–1975: Monopushers, Compax and the Race to the Automatic
How a stopwatch was moved to the wrist, given a second pusher, calendars and slide rules, and finally an automatic winding rotor in 1969 — told through nineteen chronographs in the catalogue, from an Omega sold in 1913 to a Lemania made for the British forces.
- Glashütte: The History of German Fine Watchmaking, from Lange to Today
How a poor mining town in the Ore Mountains became Germany's watchmaking capital: Ferdinand Adolph Lange's workshop of 1845, the three-quarter plate, the watchmaking school, the observation watches of the Second World War, forty years as the state-owned GUB, and the revival of Lange, Glashütte Original and Nomos after 1990 — told through the watches themselves.
