Company profile:
Vulcain began as a workshop founded in 1858 by Maurice Ditisheim, in La Chaux-de-Fonds. He made fine pocket watches, and the workshop expanded to become Manufacture Ditisheim. Its complication watches received prizes at several World Fairs. The brand Vulcain first appeared in 1894, registered by Ditisheim in 1900. The brand’s fame increased considerably from 1953, when they gave one of their Cricket alarm watches – initially presented in 1947 – to President Truman. From then on they have given a Cricket to each American president, some of whom – Eisenhower, Nixon, Lyndon Johnson – have worn them in public, enabling the brand to use the slogan “presidents’ watch.”
In 1961, Vulcain merged with the other watch brands Revue, Buser and Phénix, forming “Manufactures d’Horlogerie Suisse Réunis SA” (MSR). During the quartz crisis of the 1980s, the brand name Vulcain substantially disappeared from the market, though the company was still operating, making watches marketed by the other MSR brands. In the late 1990s, MSR sold the Vulcain manufacture, and in 2001, the brand was purchased by Production et Marketing Horologer, PMH. The company moved from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Le Locle. The first new Vulcain watches appeared in 2002.
The company currently operates in Europe (it opened on the UK market in November 2015), with a strong presence in Switzerland, France, Italy and the Arabic countries. In the USA it has an on-line boutique.
Location:
Manufacture des montres Vulcain S.A.
Chemin des Tourelles 4
CH-2400 Le Locle, Switzerland
Tel. +41 32 930 80 10
http://www.vulcain-watches.ch/
