{"id":10023801,"date":"2026-03-29T19:22:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T18:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/house-of-time\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T19:38:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T18:38:20","slug":"watches-porsche-design-new-watch-manufacture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/watches-porsche-design-new-watch-manufacture\/","title":{"rendered":"House of Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the new Timepieces Manufacture in Grenchen, Porsche Design<\/a> opens a new chapter in its history. As the first automotive manufacturer, the brand now operates its own watch manufacture, bringing together development, design, production, and its own brand experience space under one roof. There is also a historical dimension: the new manufacture is located in the building that once housed the renowned watch brand Eterna<\/a>, and where Porsche Design watches<\/a> were already produced between 1998 and 2014. In a way, this brings the brand full circle.<\/p>\n

Spanning approximately 3,600 square meters, the new manufacture brings together all development, assembly, as well as exhibition and event areas. The building combines historical substance with modern architecture and technology: clear lines, bright spaces, and functional structures are intended to ensure a modern production environment and express the design principles of Porsche Design<\/a>. The so-called \u00bbBrand Experience Space\u00ab will also trace the development of Porsche Design Timepieces. Historical exhibits and curated contemporary documents make the connection between automotive design<\/a> and watchmaking<\/a> tangible, celebrating the models through which the company developed its unique horological language.<\/p>\n

\"Porsche<\/p>\n

Porsche Design first entered watchmaking in 1972 as a design brand. The first watch, the Chronograph I<\/i>\u00a0 designed by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, was manufactured by Orfina and is considered not only the world’s first entirely black wristwatch but also the origin of the entire line. The design clearly followed the logic of the Porsche 911<\/i>\u00a0 cockpit: low reflection, high legibility, and a form developed from function. This model created a unique horological language that also transferred the strong automotive emotion associated with Porsche to the wrist. The Chronograph I<\/i>\u00a0 therefore remains the definitive reference of the house to this day and an early expression of the consistent design language that still characterizes Porsche Design.<\/p>\n

\"Porsche<\/p>\n

In 1978, a twenty-year collaboration with IWC Schaffhausen began. For Porsche Design, this was far more than a licensing phase, as it produced some of the brand’s most technically and formally distinctive models. Particularly noteworthy is the Compass Watch<\/i>, whose hinged double-shell case was designed so that the compass and movement would not magnetically interfere with each other. IWC itself retrospectively describes the model as a risky but pioneering design. The Titan Chronograph<\/i>, introduced by IWC in 1980, also falls into this period, which the company classifies as the world’s first wristwatch with a titanium case and titanium bracelet. With this, Porsche Design introduced a material into watchmaking that came from the automotive and motorsport context and today seems self-evident in the industry.<\/p>\n

\"Porsche<\/p>\n

The Ocean 2000<\/i>, introduced in 1982, is also one of the defining models of these years. Designed by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, it is still considered an exceptional diver’s watch, whose water resistance of 2,000 meters underscored its technical ambition as much as its clear form: an extremely flat, titanium case that translated the functional demands of a diver’s watch into a clear design. These models, in particular, illustrate Porsche Design’s contribution to watchmaking. This refers not to marketing-driven, superficial references to automobiles, but to the transfer of material awareness, ergonomics, and instrument logic into a new product field.<\/p>\n

\"Porsche<\/p>\n

In more recent history, there have also been models that clearly indicate the brand’s future direction. The 1919 Globetimer UTC<\/i>\u00a0 represents an attempt to translate technical complexity into the clearest, most everyday-suitable operation possible. The Monobloc Actuator<\/i>, in turn, translated motorsport motifs more aggressively into an independent case and operating architecture. Both models do not possess the same historical significance as the Chronograph I<\/i> or Ocean 2000<\/i>, but they show how Porsche Design has continued its early design language into the present while cautiously expanding it.<\/p>\n

\"Porsche<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Porsche Design MONOBLOC ACTUATOR<\/p>\n

After the end of the IWC phase in 1998, production shifted to Eterna, and since 2014, Porsche Design has been manufacturing in its own structure in Solothurn. The new manufacture in Grenchen therefore does not mark a new beginning, but the consistent further development of this path. For the first time, development, design, production, and brand space are brought together in a way that corresponds to the brand’s self-image. This is also reflected in today’s focus on custom-built timepieces, which, similar to a sports car, can be individually configured. [Ed.]<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the new Timepieces Manufacture in Grenchen, Porsche Design opens a new chapter in its history. As the first automotive manufacturer, the brand now operates its own watch manufacture, bringing together development, design, production, and its own brand experience space under one roof. There is also a historical dimension: the new manufacture is located in the building that once housed the renowned watch brand Eterna, and where Porsche Design watches were already produced between 1998 and 2014. In a way, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10023787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[471,336,348],"tags":[367,368],"class_list":["post-10023801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-watches","category-articles","category-latest","tag-porsche-en","tag-uhren-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10023801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10023801"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10023801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10023805,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10023801\/revisions\/10023805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10023787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10023801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10023801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10023801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}