Carl F. Bucherer
Swiss independent luxury watch manufacturer
Carl Friedrich Bucherer founded the company now bearing his name in 1888 in Lucerne, Switzerland. It is among the oldest watch brands with continuous ownership by the founding family with the third generation currently in charge (Jörg G. Bucherer is chairman of the board). The company is lauded as the first to successfully develop and launch a peripheral rotor, which winds the movement with an oscillator at the periphery (instead of on top) that allows for an unfettered view of the mechanics. Introduced in 2008, the caliber CFB A1000 was the first with this groundbreaking new automatic system and the CFB A2000 followed in 2016, bringing a COSC Swiss Chronometer certification. Jörg G. Bucherer assumed control of the company in 1976 and in 2001, changed the brand's name from Bucherer to Carl F. Bucherer in honor of his grandfather. Jörg also took the new brand name international the same year. Sascha Moeri is the current CEO and the company remains fully independent.
Carl F. Bucherer has five main collections in its portfolio. The Adamavi is a men’s classic dress line, the Manero showcases the brands best complications (flyback chronographs, tourbillons, perpetual calendars, etc.), the Patravi is the sportier line with tool and dive watches, and the Pathos and Alacria are women’s lines featuring precious metals and stones.
In 1919, the brand’s first collection started with ladies watches that were among the earliest wristwatches in the industry. Within the next fifty years, the company would produce over 15,000 certified chronometers. In 1969, they joined a Swiss consortium that developed the first Swiss quartz movement, the Beta 21. The brand embraced quartz technology alongside their continuing mechanical advancements, which helped weather the quartz crisis of the 1970’s and 1980’s. In 2007, the company acquired Téchniques Horlogères Appliquées of Sainte-Croix, Switzerland to become a vertically integrated Manufacture. All three of their in-house movements to date are automatics with peripheral rotors (caliber CFB A1000, caliber CFB A2000 and caliber CFB T3000).
The Manero Tourbillon Double Peripheral also launched that year, featuring the caliber CFB T3000 with a peripheral rotor and “floating” peripherally mounted tourbillon. Unlike a flying tourbillon that’s mounted to the movement’s mainplate, the “floating” tourbillon is supported by ceramic ball bearings at its periphery, allowing for an open view from both sides (a flying tourbillon is only fully visible from the front). This watch also started the Heritage Line, which features limited editions among their core lines that highlight technological advancements or design elements from the past (such as the Heritage BiCompax Annual).
In 2014, the brand took a significant step to prevent counterfeiting, working with Swiss company Mimotec SA. A CLR-LIGA process imprints a signature on the movement (using diffractive nano-structuring) that can only be authenticated with a specialized laser scanner. And in 2016, the company partnered with the Swiss national football teams and became the Official Timekeeper for four years. Being both family owned and independent for well over a century, Carl F. Bucherer is among the rarest of Swiss luxury watchmakers and has developed innovations and artistry that few in the industry can match.
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