The Watch Library opens
The Watch Library, a charitable foundation registered in February 2022 and committed to preserving and promoting the world’s watchmaking heritage, opened on September 1, 2023, with the launch of a digital platform that offers public access to over 320,000 archival documents
The Watch Library project began when watch publishing house Europa Star, established in Geneva in 1927, digitised its own archives. The gradual release of magazine issues spanning nearly a century triggered a broader reflection on the importance of heritage for the world of watchmaking.
In March 2020 the Maillard family – proprietors of Europa Star – joined forces with Martine Depresle (The Talented) to conceptualise, create, and develop the project, conceived as a non-profit foundation to facilitate access to the documents and enable the implementation of open data policies wherever possible. The Watch Library Foundation was established in September 2021 and granted charitable status by the Swiss Confederation in February 2022.
Audemars Piguet and Richard Mille were among the first patrons, and were soon joined by other watchmakers, including TAG Heuer in the summer of 2023, as well as other major industry partners. The platform’s first version already hosts over 320,000 documents and archive pages from a dozen different sources. Initially featuring archives in French and English, the platform will soon be adding documents in German and Spanish, and also watch-related archives from cultural institutions in Asia.
