Tavannes

 By Bruce Shawkey

Tavannes was founded in 1891 by Henri-Frédéric Sandoz in Le Locle, Switzerland. 

Tavannes was an early producer of wristwatch-specific movements, introducing small calibres in the 1910s just for this purpose. It supplied many major manufacturers, including Jaeger-LeCoultre, Dunhill, Hermes, and Cartier. Tavannes' movement manufacturer was called Lisica SA, and many watches use this name instead.

In 1917, the company was approached by two British submarine commanders to consider the construction of a watch suitable for work on submarine decks awash in water. This watch was supposed to be water-tight, non-magnetic, and the balance wheel had to be of a material which shows a minimum of expansion and contraction with variations in temperature. The face had to be legible at all times. The result was the "Submarine" (left).

Tavannes' next achievement occurred in 1928 when the company introduced the belt buckle watch (right).  The company was approached by English King Edward VIII to design a watch he could wear when golfing. By glancing down at his belt buckle, he could tell the time by depressing a button that would release a lid, revealing the watch. 

A third Tavannes innovation occurred in 1930, the Driver's watch, which was curved to fit the side of the wrist (left).

By 1966, Swiss watch giant ASUAG took over Tavannes. The brand languished until it was revived in 2008 by Florin Niculescu. Niculescu sought to revive the company by re-introducing Tavannes' most famous watch, the Submarine. I had the great pleasure of working with Bruce Cummings, head of Tavannes' U.S. operations, in designing the watch. The result is seen below:

Niculescu also sought to re-introduce the Belt Buckle watch (below):

It has a titanium case and suposedly can be ordered frr $5,750

An attempt was made to re-introduce the Drivers' watch, but the market would simply not support it. Instead, Tavannes introduced more conventional models, including the Ocean Edge, the Fluted Edge, and the Thinline.

                    Fluted Edge

Ocean Edge

Thinline

The company has introduced the avante-garde model, the Buggy Quartz, with composite case:

Tavannes states the Buggy watch is made by young people FOR young people. I personally dislike the model because of its radical departure from the company's rich heritage and Niculescu commitment to keeping Tavannes watches mechanical.