68 Maurice Lacroix Watches

Tracing The Roots of Maurice Lacroix Watches

Almost a hundred years before the birth of Maurice Lacroix, its parent company saw the light of the world. Founded in the Swiss city of Zurich in 1889, Desco von Schulthess Holding AG (now commonly called Desco) was the brainchild of Eduard Sulzer-Frizzoni for the trade of raw silk from the continent of Asia to Europe. The establishment soon rapidly increased, with Desco now opening offices and trading centres in different parts of the world, including Tokyo, Lyon, London, New York, Shanghai, Milan, Yokohama, and Hong Kong.

With such a strong network in the far-east, the company decided to expand their business operations to other goods and services. At this time, many Swiss watchmaking companies were looking for trade partners, especially for assisting in the far east that was becoming a booming market for luxurious watches. Desco saw this as the perfect opportunity and entered into an association with several watch companies, including the likes of Jaeger-LeCoultre, Audemars Piguet, Eterna and Heuer (now known as TAG Heuer).

From 1946 to the next few years, the company was only involved in overseeing the distribution and operations of their partner companies. However, this changed in the early 1960s when Desco opened its own manufacturing unit in the town of Saignelégier. This beautiful town was located in the region of Jura in Switzerland, with the iconic Jura Mountains enclosing the area. For the next decade and a half, Desco produced watches for third parties in this manufacturing facility in Saignelégier.

With their increased interest in the watchmaking industry and around 30 years of involvement in the industry, it was only natural for Desco to open up their own watch brand.  This led to the formation of Maurice Lacroix in the year 1975 as a separate entity working under the parent organisation of Desco. Interestingly, some reports suggest that the name Maurice Lacroix comes from a board member of Desco who went by the name of Mr Lacroix.

Maurice Lacroix Watches Motto - Success Is A Journey

The brand value of Maurice Lacroix can be easily interpreted by its motto: Success is a journey, not a destination. Not one to rush designs into the market, every Maurice Lacroix is carefully crafted to precision by their watchmakers in the state-of-the-art manufacturing unit in Saignelégier.

Although founded in 1975 by the Desco board president Peter Brunner, it wasn’t until 1980 that the company stopped making and crafting watches for other third-party watchmakers. For the next two decades, Maurice Lacroix enjoyed phenomenal growth. The company is one of the few luxurious watchmakers in the world that makes in-house cases, with the company owning this ability to the purchase of case-makers Queloz S.A. in 1989.

The company’s meteoric rise gained even more momentum with the launches of the Calypso and the Masterpiece (formerly called Les Mécaniques) in the early 1990s. During this time, the brand with its iconic ‘M’ signet became part of the Swiss watchmaking elites due to their fine craftsmanship and design abilities in producing unique luxury timepieces.

The turn of the new century saw the company become an independent legal entity, with Desco holding a majority stake in it, and this new era was marked by the production of the first mechanical in-house calibre, the ML-106. Since then, the company has broken new grounds with the watch models such as the Masterpiece Square Wheel, the Masterpiece Mysterious Second, and the AIKON collection!

The Time Is Now For Maurice Lacroix Watches

Maurice Lacroix continues to make news with their innovative wristwatches with current collections: the iconic Masterpiece, AIKON Quartz, AIKON Mechanical, Euros, Fiaba, and Pontos. In addition, the company has collaborated with superstars such as badminton player Carolina Marin, FC Barcelona, and the Mahindra Formula-E Racing Team.

The commitment and desire coupled with technology and craftsmanship shown by Maurice Lacroix declare to the world that there are even more extraordinary watchmaking achievements down the line for this company.