A Trip into the Past with Glycine Watches
Monday - 06 June 2016
Just this month we revealed that we are now the official UK distributor of Glycine watches and we thought it was only right to delve a little deeper into our new timepiece partner. When we began to dig further into the brand’s eventful past, we were amazed by some of the incredible innovations and breathtaking developments that the brand have been a part of, so we thought it was only fair to share all the details with you.
The brand was first founded in 1914 by Eugene Meylan, a genius, engineer and innovator who begun to produce watches in a small factory in Bienne Switzerland. He quickly came to realise that there was a market for accurate and durable watches, and with the new possibilities offered by technological inventions, Meylan began to create extremely high precision timepieces. In particular, Glycine became known for designing some of the finest miniature movement within ladies watches, and by combining these movements with gold, platinum and diamonds, they brought their name to the forefront of the watch industry.
During the 1930’s, Eugene Meylan invented one of the very first well-functioning self-winding watches, a creation that completely blew the minds of Glycine’s competitors and then in 1934, the brand continued to impress by launching a chronometer range, a collection of timepieces that met the exacting tests of the Official Swiss Quality Control. Even during the depression era of the 1930’s which took its toll on many other Swiss watchmakers, Glycine came through and was even one of just 29 exhibitors at the Basel fair in 1938.
1953 was the time that really made the difference for Glycine since it was the year when they released their Airman collection. The brand partnered up with a new generation of professional pilots who shared their dream of having both the regular local time alongside a world time function on a watch. They designed a timepiece that was perfect for the growing class of pilots, jet setters and travellers who had fantasied about having two time zones on their wrist for the last few decades. Although this watch is no longer available to order, the brand have released the Glycine Airman No.1, a design that is incredibly close to the original.
During the following decades, the brand continued to bring out exquisite timepieces including several additions to the Airman collection which remained one of their most popular ranges. During the period where Quartz movements dominated the watch industry, two Airman Quartz were released and continued to impress all Glycine enthusiasts. But it was in 1998 when the brand brought out their first three time zone timekeeper, a unique watch on all accounts, which carried the brand onto a whole new level of innovation.
In 2002, Glycine reached a new pinnacle of modernisation when they designed the Airman 7, a breathtaking timepiece which boasts three mechanical movements simultaneous displaying the time in four different time zones as well as the Airman Airfighter in 2014, a pilot chronograph watch. Every single innovation that has come from the brand has just gone to show how willing Glycine are to step outside of the boundaries of watch design and try something new, and their fresh releases from 2016 Baselworld continue to prove this. You can find all the new 2016 Baselworld releases on our website ready to order.
