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A guide to five newly revived brands that you should know

Quality alone cannot explain the astonishingly high prices of luxury watches. Prestige, brand recognition, and heritage are integral parts of a watch brand's value. A brand is more than just a name and some products. Brand ownership normally entails access to a large archive of past designs. More importantly, a brand name also gives a company legitimacy. A customer is far more willing to pay a large sum of money for a watch if they trust and respect the business that makes it. Given this unavoidable fact, many watchmakers and entrepreneurs have realized that defunct but once-great brands offer a lucrative business opportunity. As a result, the last few years have seen a flurry of brand revivals. Here are five that you should have on your radar.

Universal Genève

There are few defunct watchmakers as admired as Universal Genève. Founded in 1894, the brand found success in the early-to-mid twentieth century with its now-famous line of Compax chronographs. In the mid 1950s, Universal Genève introduced its most iconic watch: the Polerouter. Designed by Gerald Genta, the model was a hit, propelling the company to new heights. That would soon change when quartz technology first began threatening Swiss watchmakers' traditional craft in the early '70s. In the chaos of the quartz crisis, Universal Genève decided to replace its mechanical movements, which were once an integral part of the brand's winning formula, with cheaper quartz calibers. This shift coincided with an unsuccessful expansion to the Asian market, leading to a massive decline in sales. Despite continuing to produce watches under new ownership, the brand had long been defunct in the eyes of collectors. However, on December 12th, 2023, Breitling announced it had purchased the company.

Given the freshness of the acquisition, fans still have many questions about how Brietling will go about reviving the long-admired brand. These include when the first watch will debut and what price segment the brand will land in. According to The New York Times, Breitling CEO Georges Kern has suggested a two-year time frame for the development of new designs and movements. Kern has also indicated that the brand will occupy a price segment above Breitling's. It remains to be seen which historical models the new brand will prioritize, though the Polerouter and Compax are fairly safe bets. The brand's continued popularity in collector circles will no doubt aid the revived company in acquiring new customers, but this admiration will also bring scrutiny. Breitling must now work to create a new image for Universal Genève without tarnishing its revered status among vintage collectors, a tall order with no shortage of pitfalls, but one that may eventually reap rewards if done correctly.

Gerald Genta

Gerald Genta is well known for his iconic designs, including the Royal Oak, Nautilus, and aforementioned Polerouter. Less known are the watches he produced under his own name. Beginning in 1969, Genta used his eponymous brand to design and produce very low volumes of high-end sonneries (complex chiming watches). He also created more playful timepieces featuring illustrations of Disney characters. Bulgari, which is owned by LVMH, acquired the brand in 2000 and began marketing Genta designs. In Spring 2023, LVMH decided to reposition Gerald Genta with an emphasis on higher end timepieces. To do so, the luxury conglomerate is harnessing the expertise of La Fabrique du Temps, its specialist watchmaking manufacture.

In June, the new Gerald Genta released its first watch: the Oursin. An avant-garde timepiece inspired by sea urchins, the Oursin can be viewed as a statement of intent by the brand. All three versions of the model are priced above $25,000, setting an unsurprisingly high precedent for pricing. As predicted, the release revives a past Genta design—the original is from 1994. The Oursin is one of Genta's more polarizing designs thanks to its highly idiosyncratic case which is pebble shaped and set with solid-gold studs. The choice indicates that the brand will not shy away from the designer's penchant for quirky case shapes and daring aesthetic choices. Genta's widow, Evelyne Genta, has granted the company access to his lengthy archive of sketches and designs, so more revivals of past models will likely follow.

Daniel Roth

The recent history of Daniel Roth roughly mirrors that of Gerald Genta. Former Breguet watchmaker Daniel Roth founded his eponymous brand in 1988. The original company specialized in complications, including the tourbillon and perpetual calendar. Before Bulgari acquired the brand in 2000, Roth established a unique design language which included his signature double-ellipse cases and traditionally styled dials. Bulgari continued to market watches under the Daniel Roth label until 2015. Although the original company has not produced watches in over two decades, there is still a substantial appetite for pre-Bulgari Daniel Roth models. This existing demand will likely help fuel the brand's rebirth.

Like Gerald Genta, Daniel Roth relies on LVMH-owned La Fabrique du Temps to produce its watches. Early this year, the brand released its first model: the Tourbillon Souscription. The release approximates the very first watch the brand produced, a tourbillon from 1989. Last month, the brand introduced a rose gold iteration of that model. The company has access to many more historical designs that are still prized by collectors. It remains to be seen whether Daniel Roth will continue to reproduce watches from the brand's heyday in the '90s or create entirely new designs and complications.

Vulcain

If you have heard of Vulcain, you will likely know the brand because of a single watch: the Cricket. Upon its debut in 1947, the Cricket became one of the first wristwatches to feature an alarm function. Although Vulcain had been operating since 1858, the Cricket was its first major success. The popularity of the watch was also elevated by a presidential tradition. In 1953, Harry S. Truman received a Cricket from the White House News Photographers Association when he left office. One has been presented to almost every president since then. However, the company's success would be short-lived. Vulcain was unable to weather the quartz crisis of the '70s and '80s. After its parent company went bankrupt in the late '90s, the brand was acquired by Production et Marketing Horloger SA. Despite relaunching the Cricket in 2002, the newly revived brand failed to gain significant traction and once again floundered. Aided by Guillaume Laidet, the serial entrepreneur behind the revivals of Excelsior Park and Nivada Grenchen, Vulcain is attempting another resurgence.

The company currently offers several variations of the Cricket, including the Tradition, Classique, President, and Nautical Heritage. Vulcain has also attempted to reduce its dependence on the model by diversifying its offerings. In 2023, the company released the Skindiver Nautique, a vintage-inspired dive watch, and several re-editions of heritage chronograph designs. Vulcain has likely been aided by increased demand for vintage designs and reissues in recent years, but it remains unclear whether this attempt to revive the brand will be fruitful in the long run.

Nivada Grenchen

Founded in 1926, Nivada Grenchen released several successful models in the mid-twentieth century before being gutted by the quartz crisis. Until recently, the brand has been exclusively marketed in Mexico as "Nivada." In 2018, French entrepreneurs Guillaume Laidet and Remi Chabrat acquired the license to the Nivada Grenchen name and its back-catalog. Two years later, the pair released the new brand's first watches: the Chronomaster, Antarctic, and Depthmaster.

Access to the brand's extensive archives has allowed the company to revive Nivada Grenchen's most famous designs. Released in 1950, the Antarctic was the company's first waterproof automatic watch. Famously, the explorer-style field watch accompanied explorers on the 1955/56 American Navy Deep Freeze 1 expedition to the South Pole. The Chronomaster, a waterproof chronograph from 1961, later became one of the company's most popular models. Soon after, Nivada released the Depthmaster, a dive watch with a depth rating of 1000 meters. In addition to these three models, the brand has also reissued the F77, a '70s sports watch, and the Chronoking, a sporty chronograph once worn by Paul Newman. Nivada Grenchen's loyalty to heritage designs has been widely praised by enthusiasts, and if interest in vintage watches continues to rise, the company is well positioned for future success.