Revue Thommen is a timepiece company founded in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

which produces luxury

wristwatch A watch is a timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or another type of ...

es and aircraft equipment.Revue Thommen Aircraft Equipment
/ref>

History

In 1853 Société d' Horlogerie à Waldenbourg was founded as a

Swiss watch Swiss made is a label or marking used to indicate that a product was made on the territory of Switzerland. It is also a geographical indication protected under different Swiss and international laws and treaties. According to the Swiss Federal ...

manufacturing company by the community of

Waldenburg, Switzerland Waldenburg () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland, and the capital of the district of the same name. Geography Waldenburg has an area, , of . Of this area, or ...

(

Basel-Landschaft Canton of Basel-Landschaft or Basel-Country, informally known as Baselland or Baselbiet (; ; ; ; ), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital city is Liestal. It is traditional ...

). It began to manufacture

pocket watch A pocket watch is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popula ...

es in order to create work in the Waldenburg valley whose location at the route

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

had become insignificant due to the newly established train connection Basel - Olten - Geneva. In 1859 Gédéon Thommen and Louis Tschopp acquired the company and privately restructured it. Gédéon Thommen was also the founder and promoter of the Waldenburgerbahn, a steam train connecting the valley's villages. Tschopp left the company, which was renamed ''Gédéon Thommen's Uhrenfabriken''. From 1905, the company was commercially registered as ''Revue Thommen AG'', a

joint-stock A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholder ...

company. Revue had been used earlier as a

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

of the company's wrist watches, after they had been marketed as "GT" watches (GT standing for Gédéon Thommen) before. In 1916, the first aircraft chronograph for the

Swiss Air Force The Swiss Air Force (; ; ; ) is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on 31 July 1914, three days after the outbreak of World War I, as a part of the Swiss Army, army and in October 1936 as an independent service. In peaceti ...

was created and laid the foundation for the company's success as an aircraft instrument supplier. From 1936 – 1943, the company produced cockpit instrumentation for the Swiss Air Force. Revue Thommen developed and supplied

altimeter An altimeter or an altitude meter is an instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. The measurement of altitude is called altimetry, which is related to the term bathymetry, the measurement of depth under water. Ty ...

airspeed indicator The airspeed indicator (ASI) or airspeed gauge is a flight instrument indicating the airspeed of an aircraft in kilometres per hour (km/h), knots (kn or kt), miles per hour (MPH) and/or metres per second (m/s). The recommendation by ICAO is to u ...

s, vertical speed indicators, clocks, and the

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

for the Swiss multifunction biplane

EKW C-35 The EKW C-35 was a 1930s Swiss two-seat reconnaissance biplane aircraft built by the Swiss Federal Construction Works (Eidgenoessische Konstruktionswerkstaette, K+W), Thun. Development Two aircraft were designed by the Eidgenössische Konstrukti ...

. From 1939 - 1944, commissioned by the German government, the company produced watches for the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

, and

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

under the brand Revue-Sport. In 1945 Revue Thommen commercialized its technical capabilities in the aviation sector by launching a pocket altimeter for alpinists. Derivations like altimeters for parachutists followed, and were produced well into the Internet age.

Recent history

In 2000 Revue Thommen AG granted a license to the Swiss company

Grovana Grovana is a Swiss watch manufacturer, originally established in 1924 in Tenniken (Basel-Landschaft), Switzerland, about south of Basel. Grovana is a private and family-owned company. Overview In 2001, Grovana received a licence to produce Revu ...

Ltd. for the manufacturing and marketing of the Revue Thommen wristwatch brand products, so Revue Thommen AG could focus on its aircraft instrument business. After the wristwatch business was spun off, the company began expanding its mechanical cockpit instrument business through the introduction of electronic aircraft equipment, including air data systems and helicopter searchlights. In 2012 "GT Thommen Watch AG", the

joint-venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

partnership of Andreas Thommen, Roland Buser and Christopher Bitterli, bought the

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

rights for the watch business from Revue Thommen AG and began revitalizing the brand in the Swiss wristwatch business. They appointed Swiss Initiative Limited (SIL) as sole license holder for production and worldwide distribution in 2015. Now being solely an aviation industry supplier, Revue Thommen was acquired by Transas Group in 2012, a Russian technology company, which handed over its shares to the Russian private investor

Sistema AFK Sistema PAO is a large Russian conglomerate company, founded by Vladimir Yevtushenkov, who was chairman of the corporation's board of directors until 2022. In April, Yevtushenkov's shareholding in Sistema has decreased to 49.2%, and he also ...

on October 4, 2015. The decline of demand for mechanical aircraft instruments in the aviation industry and economical pressure also led Revue Thommen AG to restructure. Revue, the former brand name of wrist watches, was removed from the company name in order to clearly identify the company as supplier to the aviation industry. In 2015 it was rebranded as Thommen Aircraft Equipment AG, and it sold its mechanical aircraft instrument business to Sathom, a subsidiary of the French aircraft component MRO company

Satori Sarl ''Satori'' () is a Japanese Buddhist term for "awakening", "comprehension; understanding". The word derives from the Japanese verb ''satoru''. In the Zen Buddhist tradition, ''satori'' refers to a deep experience of ''kenshō'', "seeing into ...

, in June 2016. Sathom stays at the original location of Revue Thommen and was granted a license to continue the production and sale of mechanical aircraft instruments under the Thommen brand name. In 2016, Thommen Aircraft Equipment moved from Waldenburg to a modern location in

Muttenz, Switzerland Muttenz is a municipality with a population of approximately 17,000 in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. It is located in the district of Arlesheim and next to the city of Basel. History Under the Roman Empire a hamlet called Montetum ...

, closer to Basel, where it focuses on development of electronic aircraft clocks, air data systems and helicopter searchlights, and cabin emergency flashlights.

References

External links

*{{official, https://www.thommenwatches.com/
Revue Thommen Aircraft Equipment website
Manufacturing companies of Switzerland Companies based in Basel-Landschaft Swiss watch brands