Excelsior Park: A masterpiece that tickles the hearts of watch enthusiasts

 

So far, we have introduced some of Switzerland's finest watches.

Patek Philippe Universal Geneve

Among the many Swiss watch manufacturers, those who respond to Excelsior Park are probably big watch enthusiasts.

Excelsior Park is a fairly niche manufacturer in Saint-Ymer, a mountain town in the Alps that is home to many watch manufacturers.



Because the company no longer exists.



Even today, there is a constant stream of fans searching for watches equipped with the Excelsior Park movement, precisely because it is a legendary chronograph manufacturer.



Let's take a look at this company that has disappeared into history.

Excelsior Park is a Swiss watch manufacturer specializing in chronographs.

 

Its history began in 1866 .

 

It began as a family business that made its living from watchmaking.

 

The watchmaking family, Jeanneret, has deep ties to four watch manufacturers in Saint-Ymer, Switzerland.

 

Moeris​​

Leonidas​​

Jules - Fred

Excelsior Park​

 

Among them, Excelsior Park is a popular manufacturer among enthusiasts as a company that specializes in stopwatches and chronographs.

 

 

The origins of Excelsior Park are a little confusing.

 

This is because there was a company with a very similar name in Saint-Ymer at the same time. The two companies, "Jeanneret" and "Jeanneret & Frères", had the same founding date and specialized in chronographs, so it is easy to get confused when reading the documents. The two companies, which later became Excelsior Park and Julesfred, went their separate ways shortly after their founding.

 

The advertisement above is for Jeanneret, later known as Julesfred.

The advertisement above is for Jeanneret & Freres, or Excelsior Park.

In 1894 , under the name Jeanneret & Frères, the company began developing a sporty watch that was slightly different from previous watches. The patented watch was called "Excelsior". The movement of this watch had a bridge shaped like the letter " J ", which later became the trademark of Excelsior Park.

 

In 1902 , the company name was changed to Jeanneret - Brheme and the first model, 13 chronographs, was released. In 1918, Excelsior Park was officially named the brand. At that time, the manufacturer was directed by an expert in time measurement in racing. This was the opportunity to provide watches that could keep accurate time in sports to various places.

 

In 1922 , they produced 32 different types of stopwatches. These stopwatches were used in a variety of sports, including football, rugby, hockey, water polo, and boxing. On May 24th of the same year, they obtained a patent for a part of the movement. This part was revolutionary and became synonymous with Excelsior Park.

 

The big turning point for the company was in 1938. That was the year they started to make chronographs for wristwatches. The movements they made for the next 40 years were beautiful to look at and had excellent functionality. This movement was commonly called 12/13 or Caliber 42. The small and elegant chronograph was designed with simplicity in mind .

 

 

 

 

 

  

Like many other prestigious watch manufacturers, Excelsior Park was hit hard by the quartz crisis of the 1970s . The company fell into financial difficulties and the remaining shares were purchased by Garrett. The prestigious watch manufacturer's name was then passed on to the German company, but it never made a comeback and closed its doors in 1984.


Unfortunately, Excelsior Park is a manufacturer that no longer exists .
However, since the movements were supplied to various manufacturers, it is still possible to obtain them.

From 1918 to 1983, the company supplied its movements to Gallet, Girard-Perregaux, and Zenith. Even among current watch collectors, Gallet watches equipped with Excelsior Park movements are said to be highly popular.


Now, here's a little story.
Among the watch makers that used the Excelsior Park movement, Gallet is one that is highly popular among collectors.

Galrett is a watch manufacturer known only to those in the know, and is known among collectors for its masterpieces.

Galette was founded in 1862 by Julien Galette in La Chaux-de-Fonds, where watch manufacturing was thriving. The company gained fame when it expanded into the United States earlier than other manufacturers.

There are people who say that "Garrett means chronograph" and that it is a manufacturer with a strong image of chronographs. Since the 1910s, they have been developing push chronographs. This chronograph was a groundbreaking product that had a push button on the same axis as the crown. Breitling is famous as a manufacturer that actively worked on the development of this mechanism.

One of the suppliers of chronographs that supported Garrett was Excelsior Park. In particular, the oval-shaped Excelsior Park Caliber 42 watches from the 1940s are still very popular today and are said to be very difficult to obtain.

(The image shows a Garrett movement equipped with Caliber 40 in the Excelsior Park, from the 1960s.)

There are collectors all over the world who are fascinated by this legendary machine.
If you're interested, why not go on an adventure to find Excelsior Park?