IWC
In the 1870's, American-born Florentine Ariosto Jones, who had been appointed director of the E. Howard & Co. watchmaking factory in Boston at the age of 27, decided to manufacture highquality movements and watch parts for the American market using American technology and skilled labor from Switzerland, where wages were comparatively low. In 1868, Jones created the International Watch Company. Schaffhausen had long been a watchmaking town, with a clockmaker's guild since 1583. The town was also home to the famous Habrecht family of clockmakers, who built the impressive astronomical clock for the Strasburg cathedral. Jones was both an entrepreneur and a talented watchmaker. The first pocket watches produced in Schaffhausen with the Jones caliber had a wealth of advanced technical features. A year after its foundation, the "American" watch factory passed into Swiss hands, but its philosophy - "Probus Scafusia" (good, solid craftsmanship from Schaffhausen) - has remained unchanged. In recent years, IWC have enlarged their horological scope by a close cooperation not only with Jaeger LeCoultre, but also with A. Lange & Söhne in Glashütte.