The Manufacture traces its origins to the Enlightenment, when the philosopher and brilliant entrepreneur Voltaire opened his watchmaking workshop near Geneva. Almost 250 years later, Manufacture Royale takes the liberty to play with its founder's captivating past, values and horological creation to instil passion and spirit into its timepieces.

Manufacture Royale stands for a specific and different view of watchmaking. Which was already the case when it was founded in 1770. A fervent defender of liberty in all forms, Voltaire was also an entrepreneur. Often overlooked, his business activities led to the establishment of Manufacture Royale in Ferney. Four thousand watches would come out of the Manufacture's workshop, destined for the crowned heads and elite of Europe.

Made by acclaimed master watchmakers, Jean-Antoine Lépine among them, the watches that bore the Manufacture Royale name incorporated the most challenging complications, including striking mechanisms such as repeaters. Their exteriors were equally impressive, with gold cases embellished with elaborate engraving, enamel or set with gems.

Such origins, unique in the history of watchmaking, were enough to spark the manufacture's revival in 2010, again with the ambition to demonstrate a new approach to the art of horology. This reawakening has since been confirmed under the impetus of Alexis Gouten, David Gouten and Marc Guten, partners at the head of Manufacture Royale. Each with the benefit of vast experience in the field of watchmaking, they combine their expertise to imagine timepieces infused with a new spirit, inspired by the personality and values of Voltaire. Creative freedom, the need to show there is more than one way to view the world, the determination this implies, and the courage to take a nonconformist stance forge the way ahead.

Manufacture Royale has the technical and creative capacity to achieve this. Its movements are developed and made in its workshops, in the Swiss Jura. The skills and talent of master watchmakers and craftsmen are the guarantee of mechanical and decorative excellence. Manufacture Royale timepieces contain an original interpretation of watchmaking, and find their balance in daring and beauty, tradition and modernity, passion and humility.