The watch industry runs on heritage, but it is largely organized by holding companies. A handful of conglomerates and private entities control the majority of recognizable names in horology, from entry-level mechanical watches to six-figure grand complications. The family trees below map six of those corporate structures, from the deep bench of Richemont’s specialist watchmakers to the newly formed House of Brands taking shape around Breitling.
Of course, there are brands outside of these corporate structures. Patek Philippe has belonged to the Stern family since 1932 and operates with the insularity of a private bank. Audemars Piguet remains in the hands of descendants of its two founding families, a governance structure nearly as old as the Vallée de Joux workshops where its watches are still made. Chanel, controlled by the Wertheimer family, runs its own manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds and occupies a seat on the board of the Watches & Wonders Geneva Foundation alongside Rolex and Richemont. It also holds minority stakes in F.P. Journe (20%, acquired in 2018), MB&F (25%, acquired in 2024), Bell & Ross, and Romain Gauthier. In each case, the founders retain creative control; Chanel functions as a long-term partner rather than a parent company. Hermès builds watches through its La Montre Hermès subsidiary with the same quiet vertical ambition it brings to leather.
Further still from the org chart are the true independents: individual watchmakers working at the bench, producing dozens or low hundreds of watches a year entirely under their own names. Philippe Dufour, Kari Voutilainen, and Rexhep Rexhepi represent a tradition in which the watchmaker is the brand, the manufacturer, and in some cases the sole finisher of every component. There is no corporate structure to diagram. Their influence on what collectors value and what the larger houses aspire to has become impossible to ignore.
The graphics below offer a comprehensive, though not exhaustive, look at who owns what across the industry, and a starting point for understanding the business behind the watches.
(Illustrations by Katherine Galiste)
