Top Austrian Watch Brands
Throughout its history, Austria, where the world’s most famous and qualified artists have been trained, has also hosted important watch craftsmen. The country may have few well-known watch brands, but each one is of a quality that can compete with well-known brands. Here are the best Austrian watch brands.
1. Jacques Lemans
The Jacques Lemans watch brand was founded by Alfred Reidl, who has served as CEO of the brand since the mid-70s until today. Although it has a very serious production capacity of approximately one million pieces per year, it still continues its activities as a family company.
It carries out all aspects such as branding, design, production, marketing and sales from within the company. For this reason, Jacques Lemans watches are able to offer high quality designs at an affordable price scale.
The Jacques Lemans watch brand is currently sold globally in many countries of the world. To increase its popularity, the brand has been serving as the official timekeeper at the EuroLeague Basketball Final Four and the STIHL Timbersport world championship since 2010. It has also been the sponsor of the Austrian Football Federation from 2009 to 2018.
2. Pierre Petit
Originally a French watch brand, Pierre Petit became an Austrian watch brand when it was purchased by Jacgues Lemans founder Alfred Reidl in 2011. The brand became an important brand for the group after joining the Jacques Lemans group.
The partnership between the two brands actually goes back much further. Pierre Petit has been producing watches for Jacques Lemans since the 80s. Therefore, this acquisition is a formality between the two companies.
Pierre Petit later moved its headquarters to Austria and offered timepieces of superior quality and classical design to users at affordable prices.
3. Habring
Habring, a fairly young watch brand, was founded in 2004. But as the founder of the brand, Richard’s experience is very old and goes back to his time as a technical developer for the IWC and Lange & Söhne brands. Richard later produced various complications for both luxury watch brands. He also produced special Tourbillon watches for some collectors.
By partnering with his wife in 2004, Richard had the opportunity to showcase his talents in his own brand. Habring watches are produced today only from high-quality materials and are completely hand-assembled.
10 years after its establishment, the brand succeeded in launching its self-developed caliber (A11). This investment brought the company first place in the Grand Prix d’horlogerie de Geneve for three years. This win made this small and modest brand famous in the industry.
To maintain the premium quality of its watches, the Habring company has limited its production to just 250 pieces per year.
4. Carl Suchy & Söhne
Traveling to Germany and Switzerland at a young age, Carl Suchy learned the craft of watchmaking and returned to his hometown and opened his first watch store at the age of 26. The history of Carl Suchy, which is a very well-established brand, dates back to the 1800s.
In 1822, his watch store in Prague had customers from the Royal and Imperial families. Later, Carl’s sons also entered the family business and they changed the name of the company to Carl Suchy & Söhne.
Visitors and intellectual elites, especially from Austria, were in great demand for the company’s watches. Carl Suchy & Söhne came to an end with the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914, but until then it was shown among the world’s leading watch brands.
The brand was re-founded in 2016 by Robert Punkenhofer.
5. LAX
The name of the LAKS watch company is formed from the initials of Lucas Alexander Karl Scheybal, the brand’s founder. LAKS is an Austria-based family business founded in 1986.
Since its establishment, LAKS has been working to produce watch models that combine modern trends with advanced and innovative technologies. Moreover, LAKS has expanded its trendy modern designs with necklaces, bracelets, spare parts and rings.
You can also review our website for the Best Watch Brands.
