FeatureFriendships In Watchmaking: The Partnerships That Have Endured

Friendship is not exactly among the first things you’d think of when it comes to luxury watchmaking. The industry has long been shaped by celebrated inventors, revered manufacturers, and family legacies that span centuries. However, the interesting part is that several respected watchmaking maisons have a quieter story to tell—one that begins not with strategic planning or an inherited business, but with two individuals whose shared conviction proved stronger than their individual ambitions, resulting in watchmaking friendship. 

These watchmaking friendship stories were built on balance, much like the movement inside the watches they create. Their ideas moved in tandem where one mind imagined possibilities, another found ways to engineer them; one understood design, another understood precision. This Friendship Day, we celebrate those watchmaking friendship stories, as we take a look back at the origings of these partnerships and watches that continue to carry the shared vision. 

Urwerk: When Two Visionaries Reimagined The Telling Of Time 

Unlike traditional independent watchmakers, who are celebrated for the brilliance of a single creator, Urwerk’s story stands apart. Since the brand’s founding in 1997 by master watchmaker Felix Baumgartner and artist-designer Martin Frei, Urwerk have demonstrated how engineering and imagination evolve together. While Baumgartner questioned how time could be displayed mechanically, Frei challenged how a watch should look in the first place. 

This resulted in a collection of timepieces that abandoned traditional hands altogether and replaced them with wandering satellites, orbital indications and futuristic architecture that looked more at home aboard a spacecraft than inside a conventional watch case. The UR-100V remains among the purest expressions of that partnership. Beyond its signature satellite-hour display, the watch visualises the Earth’s rotation and orbital movement, transforming timekeeping into a broader reflection on humanity’s place within the universe. 

Beyond its signature satellite-hour display, the URWERK UR-100V visualises the Earth's rotation and orbital movement, transforming timekeeping into a broader reflection on humanity's place within the universe

The more recent UR-230 collection pushes that philosophy further with its lightweight ceramic composite construction, manually adjustable winding efficiency and advanced shock-protected satellite mechanism

The more recent UR-230 collection pushes that philosophy further with its lightweight ceramic-composite construction, manually adjustable winding efficiency, and advanced shock-protected satellite mechanism. 

Bell & Ross: Built On Complementary Strengths 

Similarly, the founders of Bell & Ross, Bruno Belamich (Bell) and Carlos Rosillo (Ross), brought entirely different strengths to the same ambition. The story started in 1992. Rosillo brought in the understanding of modern luxury brand building, while Belamich, a trained industrial designer, focused on designs combining professional instruments and watchmaking. Their shared fascination with aviation eventually produced one of contemporary watchmaking’s most recognisable identities, one that is guided by a simple philosophy: function creates form. 

This gave birth to one of the most recognisable shapes in the luxury watch market—circle within a square. The BR-03 Diver collection adapts professional diving requirements to the brand’s circle within a square case without compromising legibility or performance. Meanwhile, the BR-05 Skeleton collection demonstrates how Bell & Ross have successfully translated its instrument-watch DNA into the integrated-bracelet sports watch segment, exposing the movement while preserving the geometric clarity that defines the collection.  

The BR-03 Diver collection adapts professional diving requirements to the brand's circle within a square case without compromising legibility or performance

The BR-05 Skeleton collection demonstrates how Bell & Ross have successfully translated its instrument-watch DNA into the integrated-bracelet sports watch segment, exposing the movement while preserving the geometric clarity that defines the collection

Nearly 30 years after its founding, Bell & Ross watches still reflect the balance between technical purpose and industrial design that first united its two founders. 

Jaeger-LeCoultre: One Of Watchmaking’s Most Influential Collaborations 

Moving further back in time, very few collaborations have altered the course of Swiss watchmaking as profoundly as the partnership between Antoine LeCoultre and Parisian watchmaker Edmond Jaeger. In the early 20th century, Jaeger challenged Swiss manufacturers to produce the ultra-thin movements he had conceived. Antoine LeCoultre alone accepted the challenge, beginning a technical partnership that eventually united their names under one manufacture in 1937. 

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso collection was designed for British polo players in India

The restraint profile of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin collection pays homage to the manufacture's decades-long pursuit of refined movement architecture

The significance of that partnership continues to resonate for the maison even today. One of the most iconic watches to emerge from the manufacture created by their partnership was the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, which was designed for British polo players in India. The timepiece combined elegant proportions with ingenious engineering, which, to this day remains one of the most recognisable characteristics of the Reverso collection. The reversible case was created specifically to protect the glass during the playing of polo. Another important collection by Jaeger-LeCoultre watches is the Master Ultra Thin. The restrained profile of the collection pays homage to the manufacture’s decades-long pursuit of refined movement architecture. 

Baume & Mercier: A Legacy Strengthened Together 

While the previous timepiece makers had a story to tell through friendship, Baume & Mercier have a story that includes both inheritance and encounters that change their course forever. Long before the maison carried their present name, the Baume family had already spent generations building a reputation, beginning with brothers Louis-Victor and Célestin Baume. The brand grew into an internationally respected watchmaking business. But history often moves forward when tradition finds the right companion, and for the watchmaker that arrived in the form of Paul Mercier.  

When William Baume, representing the family’s watchmaking legacy, met the visionary businessman in 1912, the relationship quickly evolved beyond commerce. Baume had the knowledge of horology through generations, while Mercier was endowed with a feel for aesthetics and the lifestyle of the changing clientele. Their association resulted in the formation of Baume & Mercier in Geneva in 1920. 

The Riviera collection, with its twelve-sided bezel and sporting elegance, reflects refinement that feels contemporary, a design element that Mercier believed in

Baume brought generations of watchmaking expertise, while Mercier contributed a keen sense of design and evolving customer tastes, leading to the founding of Baume & Mercier in Geneva in 1920

The Riviera collection, with its dodecagonal bezel and sporting elegance, reflects refinement that feels contemporary, a design element that Mercier believed in. Meanwhile, the Clifton Baumatic, with its manufacture movement, long power reserve and understated design, echoes the technical discipline inherited from the Baume family. Together, they represent the same balance that William Baume and Paul Mercier established over a century years ago. 

Armin Strom: Friendship As Stewardship 

A similar story is that of Armin Strom. For decades, Armin Strom were known primarily as being among Switzerland’s finest master engravers, transforming movements into miniature works of art. But by the early 2000s, as retirement approached, the future of Strom’s life’s work remained uncertain. 

In 2006, the Armin Strom story found its next chapter. Long-time admirer Serge Michel acquired the company with a simple ambition to evolve what Armin Strom had stood for. Joined by his friend and master watchmaker Claude Greisler, whose relationship with Michel had grown from a shared fascination for independent horology, the two gradually transformed the atelier into a brand honouring traditional craftsmanship while constantly innovating with new ways of mechanical watchmaking. 

Serge Michel and Claude Greisler transformed the atelier into a brand those honour traditional craftsmanship while constantly innovating new ways of mechanical watchmaking

Timepieces such as the Mirrored Force Resonance demonstrate how Michel's entrepreneurial vision and Greisler's engineering expertise have allowed Armin Strom to explore resonance in unique ways

Timepieces such as the Mirrored Force Resonance demonstrate how Michel’s entrepreneurial vision and Greisler’s engineering expertise have allowed Armin Strom to explore resonance in unique ways. At the same time, watches like the Gravity Equal Force Ultimate Sapphire Blue retain the brand’s signature open-worked architecture, ensuring that every movement remains visually expressive while being mechanically sophisticated. 

Watchmaking Friendship That Continues To Tick 

Luxury watches often celebrate the individual whose name appears on the dial. Less visible are the conversations, disagreements, encouragement and shared ambitions that allowed those names to become enduring institutions. The watchmaking friendship stories of these masions portray the very fact that the finest watches are rarely the product of a single mind, but rather an outcome of collaboration—a collaboration where different talents move together with the same precision as the gears beneath a dial. Perhaps that is why these watchmaking friendship stories feel especially relevant on Friendship Day.