Haute-Rive Watches

HAUTE-RIVE is named after the historic atelier of Irénée Aubry — the brand's founding ancestor — situated on higher ground above the rivers flowing from the Swiss Jura to Lake Neuchâtel (Haute-Rive means 'high bank'). Irénée Aubry was no ordinary watchmaker; his neighbours called him simply 'the inventor.' His obsession: the power reserve. On 10 January 1889 he obtained patent no. 88 for a pocket watch that ran eight straight days on a single winding — a sensation. Graizely Frères acquired his patents and registered the brand name Hebdomas, one of the great watchmaking successes of 1890–1930, manufactured in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Irénée's crowning achievement: commissioned by the canton of Jura in 1887 for presentation to Pope Leo XIII on his Jubilee, the 'Montre du Pape' ran for 40 uninterrupted days on a single winding — an unprecedented feat. The gold case bore a portrait of Pope Leo XIII and the Franches-Montagnes coat of arms; Irénée was decorated with the Croix Pour l'Église. He stole the show at the Paris World's Fair in 1889. Stéphane von Gunten, a La Chaux-de-Fonds native and watchmaking engineer from a three-generation watchmaking lineage, grew up hearing this family story. It became his Proust's madeleine — the emotional spark for creating HAUTE-RIVE.

After nearly twenty years at prestigious maisons, he chose total freedom of expression. Stéphane and Irénée together hold some thirty patents.

The debut Honoris I — in yellow or white gold with Grand Feu enamel dial and a mysterious flying tourbillon, with all finishes by hand — achieves a 1,000-hour power reserve with a single winding barrel: a new world record for autonomy in a wristwatch tourbillon, echoing the spirit of the Pope's Watch across 135 years. Tradition, high watchmaking, and innovation — finally on an equal footing.