Villeret watches

Villeret is a village in the Bernese Jura, and two brands name collections after it: Blancpain with its Villeret line and Montblanc with the Collection Villeret 1858.

Blancpain was founded in Villeret in 1735 by Jehan-Jacques Blancpain, though historians dispute how much watchmaking the early family did. The Villeret line is named after that birthplace and has been a flagship since the 1980s, even though production moved to Le Brassus after Jacques Piguet and Jean-Claude Biver bought the name in 1983. The watches come in red gold, white gold, platinum or steel, from 29 to 45 mm, many with white enamel dials. Blancpain names tourbillon, carrousel, perpetual calendar, traditional Chinese calendar and equation of time among the line's complications, and, as on all its moon phases, gives the moon a face. Alongside the 8 Jours, Quantième Complet and Équation du Temps Marchante sit the Mouvement Inversé and the 45 mm Villeret Manuelle Pièce Unique watches, one-offs with Shakudō, damascened or Grand Feu enamel dials.

Montblanc's owner Richemont bought the watchmaker Minerva in 2006, and Montblanc launched the Collection Villeret 1858 in 2007, the name marking the year and place of Minerva's origin. From June 2026, watches made at the Villeret workshop carry the Minerva name again. The Villeret 1858 pieces are tourbillons and other complications in gold cases, mostly 47 mm and made in runs of 8, 18 or 28: the ExoTourbillon, Tourbillon Bi-Cylindrique, Tourbillon Cylindrique Geospheres, Grand Tourbillon Heures Mystérieuses and the Timewriter II Chronographe Bi-Fréquence 1.000. The Geospheres also exists as a 60 mm pocket watch.