Stührling Original is a brand whose rich historical roots date back centuries, and whose timepieces are as popular as ever due to the renaissance of the mechanical self-winding watches among discerning style-conscious gentlemen along with the explosion of electronic media into the world of merchandising in the 21st Century.
It began in the 1800's, when master watchmaker Max Stührling, rendezvoused with horologic history at the period when the lore of the Swiss watch-making legend was still in its infancy. Many of the famous names and great brands appeared for the first time: Perrelet, Breguet Girard-Perregaux, LeCoultre, Phillipe, Audemars, Patek, Nardin, Chopard, Heuer, Piguet, and Breitling among others.
By the time of the mid-19th Century, watches had become generally usable instruments, and there was increasing public demand. Switzerland had silently become the leader, a position that had formerly been held by France and England; the "Swiss Watch" was on its way to become a legend and a guarantee for quality that few products or product categories have achieved since then.
Swiss Folklore
The social and political conditions that had made it possible for such a small and sparsely populated country to become the world leader in precision watch-making are indeed fascinating and somewhat difficult to quantify. However from a technical standpoint, what had happened to watch precision in Switzerland to account for such acclaim is well documented.
Around 1860, the days of the verge escapement were counted - cylinder and lever escapements had taken over. Crown winding, probably invented by Louis Audemars in Le Brassus around 1837 and made popular by Adrien Philippe (author of "Les montres sans clef," i.e., "Watches without key," in 1863) was used increasingly often since about 1860-1870. Complicated watches with perpetual calendars, moon phase indications, and chronographs were the pride of all major manufacturers (although the movements were often made by some anonymous genius in an obscure village in the Vallée de Joux). It was during this period that Max Stührling became renowned among the "Swiss Masters" as the "ghost watchmaker" in one of those obscure villages who most often produced the finest and most precise movements for the most noted watchmakers of the day. Stührling had by then become notorious as the "silent protégé" of Louis Audemars years earlier.
It was throughout this period of Max Stührling's calling, that he grew bitter about his own toils with watch-making. Stührling's love of horology and genius was never an issue with the Masters that hired him to produce the movements for the timepieces that bore their names. However, Stührling had expressed his frustration over the financial arrangements many times, including an infamous scrap one night with one of his unnamed "partners" over money. During that brawl, Stührling was rumored to have broken his hand. The news spread all over the Vallée de Joux about the struggle, and the whispers were that Stührling could not continue making the movements with his hand injured. The unnamed partner that fought with Stührling that night actually helped Max to conceal his injury from the other "Masters" as a way of allowing him to continue to earn a living. But Stührling still had the problem of producing the hand-made complicated movements that he was legendary for. Unbeknownst to his "partners" that gave him orders for his movements, Stührling had quietly trained his son, Max, Jr. to build the movements; Max, Jr. was only 11 years old at the time!
Family Ties
Max Stührling, Sr. had made it through his broken hand period, but the injury to his pride and sense of righteousness never did heal. Despite all of his brilliance in watch-making, Max Stührling died before his 50th birthday a pauper while the men for whom he produced the movements were royalty. It ate away at Max that only the aristocrats could afford his multi-complication creations and that they were not attainable by the commoners. In the mid-19th Century the cost of such timepieces was almost equivalent to the annual income of the average working man. Stührling himself could not afford the very pieces that he produced.
And that sentiment was passed down in the Stührling family from one generation to the next until finally in the mid 20th Century there were no Stührling ties remaining to the very same Swiss legend of watch-making that Max Stührling certainly had a hand in creating.
It was in the late 1990's when Max Stührling IV, the great grandson of Max Stührling and the last Stührling to be involved in watch-making more than 30 years earlier, was finally able to carry out his pursuit of his dream of continuing the legacy of his forefathers. Max III kept an eye on the industry at an arms-length distance and saw many changes through the 60's, 70's & 80's including the extinction of many of the major Swiss brands in the 70's. But Max IV never lost his passion for fine timepieces and continued to attend the major trade shows and important events of the industry. Over the years, he had been presented with opportunities to get back into the business, but he chose to stay true to his dream which was to not only establish the Stührling name as a brand with the same attention to detail and craftsmanship that the Stührling legacy invokes, but equally as important was to be able to bring his timepieces to a broader audience, not just the rich. This was his great grandfather's wish and it had been passed down to Max IV.
Stars Align
In 1999, still enamored with the Swiss watch-making tradition and with his vast knowledge accrued in his own forty years of watch-making, Max Stührling IV founded his company adhering to the strictest principles of excellence and technological prowess with concept drawings and spec sheets for would-be investors. And in true Stührling fashion, Max IV insisted on creating only the most uniquely distinctive timepieces; masterpieces truly, utilizing cutting edge technology. The struggle that ensued over the next two to three years with his financiers was making him literally ill and he had almost given up hope until fate stepped in at the Basel Fair in 2002.
Purely by chance just walking around, Max IV met Mr. Fischer who had been discussing a similar venture with George J. Von Burgh (a third generation Swiss watch-maker and a legend in his own right) and that fluke meeting was a perfect marriage of parties and the point of conception for Stührling Original as we know it today. Thus, the born again Stührling Original rediscovers a master watch-making heritage; the reconnection of today's timepieces with glorious pieces of time in watch-making history is now attainable to a broader audience thanks to the commitment of all the parties.
The Stührling Original brand is an intimately exclusive brand, intended for seekers of originality and individuality. Every sublime Stührling Original timepiece boasts the singular watch-making tradition of technique, technology and craftsmanship, yet sports an artistic edge that redefines perfection.
