| History of Blancpain Founded: 1735 Founding place: Villeret, Switzerland Founded by: Jehan-Jaques Blancpain Current headquarters: Paudex, Switzerland Owned by: The Swatch Group Official name: Blancpain SA  |
The history of Blancpain starts in the 18th century. The company was founded by Jehan-Jaques Blancpain (born in 1693) in 1735, in the Swiss place Villeret. Blancpain built its success by producing a limited amount of watches per year. The company was out of business for a period of time and is now owned by The Swatch Group. So it is older than Vacheron Constantin, but their watches were not in continuous production.
The history of Blancpain:
1693 – Birth of Jehan-Jaques Blancpain
1735 – Founding of Blancpain
1815 – Frédéric-Louis Blancpain (great-grandson of Jehan-Jacques) modernized production
1926 – Partnership with John Harwood (British watchmaker, inventor of the self-winder)
1932 – End of the family’s management of the firm
1932 – Name changes to Rayville S.A., succ. de Blancpain
1971 – Production topped 220,000 watches
1971 – Company becomes part of SSIH (Swiss company for the watch industry, later The Swatch Group)
1983 – SSIH sells Rayville-Blancpain name to Jacques Piguet
1983 – Name changes to Blancpain SA
1984 – Launched the world’s smallest movement at that time
1989 – Launched the world’s thinnest movement at that time
1992 – SSIH purchases Blancpain back
2010 – Frédéric Piguet SA is merged into Blancpain SA
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