Schwarz Etienne

Schwarz Etienne - an independent watch brand to watch out for

The origins of the Schwarz Etienne watch brand date back to the turn of the century and Paul Arthur Schwarz and Olga Etienne, who created a watch movement factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Revived only relatively recently, the Schwarz Etienne watch brand already has its own watch movement and the capacity to produce watch components for Schwarz Etienne watches, including the balance spring (produced by sister company E20) that is crucial to the operation of a mechanical watch movement, but which very few watch brands are capable of producing. This puts the Schwarz Etienne watch brand on an equal footing with some of the gold standard watch brands in the Swiss watch industry with its so-called “manufacture” watches.

Since the Schwarz Etienne watch brand’s experienced founder is a big fan of the extra-terrestrial, it’s not surprising to find the name Roswell among the Schwarz Etienne watches. The Schwarz Etienne Roswell watches have a case in steel and a dial that is opened up to reveal the key components of the Schwarz Etienne in-house automatic movement, drawing attention in particular to the “SE” letters on the balance wheel, referring, of course, to original founders Paul Arthur Schwarz and Olga Etienne.

Time for a Schwarz Etienne tourbillon

Schwarz Etienne also masters the tourbillon, with a particularly distinctive Schwarz Etienne PSR (“petite second rétrograde” or retrograde small seconds) watch in steel. The signature features of this Schwarz Etienne tourbillon watch in steel are its off centre dial for the time, its inverse micro rotor powering the automatic movement, visible on the black dial side, the retrograde small seconds at 11 o’clock and the tourbillon at 1 o’clock. The Schwarz Etienne automatic tourbillon movement inside the case has a power reserve of 70 hours.

A Schwarz Etienne movement especially for women

Schwarz Etienne presented a new concept for its first collection of ladies’ watches when it presented the Schwarz Etienne Fiji watch with a delightful “floral seconds” animation on the dial. Time is seen in constant flow on the subsidiary seconds dial, which accompanies the sweep of the seconds hand with a kaleidoscopic display on the dial produced by layered discs. Schwarz Etienne took the bold step of presenting these ladies watches in a steel case without any diamonds and in some unusual dial colours, including an all black version. The steel case of this automatic Schwarz Etienne watch keeps the price reasonable and the presentation case takes the form of a leather handbag produced locally in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The Schwarz Etienne Fiji watch collection uses the new ASE 200.00 automatic movement with micro-rotor and has a power reserve of 86 hours.

Schwarz Etienne limited edition

Schwarz Etienne tourbillon watches have also been produced as a limited edition. The Schwarz Etienne “Ode to the Seasons” capsule collection featured designs inspired by the world of bees, with honeycomb patterns on the dial and an animation of a bee feeding on a flower on the dial side micro rotor of the automatic movement. In a more recent example, the Schwarz Etienne “Ode to the Seventies” watch harks back to the time of peace and love with a psychedelically coloured dial and an original denim strap made from the jeans of Schwarz Etienne CEO Mauro Egermini.

Schwarz Etienne Roma – classic mechanical watchmaking

The configuration of Schwarz Etienne movements and the radical design of the Schwarz Etienne watches may not be to everyone’s taste. But the Schwarz Etienne Roma watch in steel offers a classic watch design from the avant-garde watch brand with black or silver dial and a sober black leather watch strap. The Schwarz Etienne Roma watches are available as a power reserve watch, a small seconds watch or a GMT watch, all with central time indication.

Selected models

Schwarz Etienne reference WCF22TSE06RB21AA. Case material: rose gold. Manufactured tourbillon automatic movement. "Irreversible" model with micro rotor.

Schwarz Etienne reference WCF09TSE06RB21AA. Case material: rose gold. Manufactured flying tourbillon movement. "Irreversible" model with with micro rotor.

Schwarz Etienne reference WRO16MS31RB01AA. Case material: rose gold. Black dial. Manufactured manual movement. Model with double barrel.