The story of Armand Nicolet begins around 1875 in Tramelan, Switzerland, a town in the Bernese Jura.

At that time, the region of Tramelan was fundamentally agricultural. Armand Nicolet, son of a watchmaker, was passionate for his
father’s vocation and a great admirer of quality. By the end of the 19th century, after a brilliant apprenticeship, he set up his “Atelier d’Horlogerie” and in 1902 he affi rmed his technical maturity producing a pocket watch with “guilloché” rose gold case, enamel dial, single button chronographic function, complete calendar, repeating hours, quarter hours and minutes.

During those years, Armand Nicolet also refi ned his technical skills doing important studies on design and form which were to infl uence his future work. His watches, masterpieces of pure beauty, quality and precision are still to be found in the NICOLET SA’s museum and continue to arouse interest among international collectors.

When he died in 1939 his son Willy assumed the reins of the family enterprise and developed it to be one of the most important
production facilities in the region. During the fi rst half of the 20th century, Tramelan was specialised in the production of movements and complete watches and around 1950 became the third pole of Swiss watch-making industry employing around 800 trained watch-makers in 150 factories. In those years, in the historic head offi ce of Tramelan, the company Nicolet regulated and fi nished practically the whole production of Venus movements, whose components were assembled in different sophisticated calibres with excellent fi nishing: complete calendars, chronographs with “column wheel” including the 175 with split second pusher in the winding crown.

During the 1950s Nicolet produced also the movement with the patented “Ajustor”, an ingenious mechanism, that when applied
to the movement, allowed its regulation without having to open the watch.By the end of the 1970s Nicolet was also hit by the
crisis of Swiss horology industry and was forced to reorganise and to cooperate with prestigious brands for whom it produced sophisticated movements and mechanisms. In this way Nicolet preserved its know-how and production skills.

In 1987 Willy Nicolet by chance met Mr. Rolando Braga, an Italian entrepreneur who had been active in the fi eld of horology for 20 years, with important achievements in design and in the engineering of wrist watches. The encounter proved to be strategic and was the catalyst of the cooperation between the extraordinary Swiss technical skill and Italian creativity.

The business relationship was sealed in 1988 with the sale of the Nicolet factory in Tramelan to enthusiastic fi nanciers, whose commitment was the preservation of Armand Nicolet’s tradition and its re-launching. The management of the new activity was
entrusted to Mr. Rolando Braga.

In 1990 the new NICOLET S.A. was created, a production company in the historic location of Tramelan.

In 1992 NICOLET MD srl was born, a unity located in Brescia, Italy, taking care of design and marketing.

In 1993 the NH S.A. was established, the holding of the group, located in Zoug, Switzerland. This holding detains the control of both Nicolet S.A. and Nicolet M.D. srl and is the owner of the group’s brands, Armand Nicolet and Telda. With the appropriate structure the business was developed and the know-how and production capacity at the factory in Tramelan was recuperated, while the commitment in Italy was to create new lines exalting the extraordinary value of Armand Nicolet craftsmanship with the beauty of design. The worldwide success was the reason for the continuous growth of the group. Today, watchmakers, technicians, commercial and amministrative operators, collaborate with the same enthusiasm of the Braga family.

Armand Nicolet’s values, passed on from generation to generation, together with the special machinery dating back in some cases
to the beginning of the 20th century, are still present and irreplaceable in our factory and continue to be used by our watchmakers for certain precision operations. Our watchmakers, engineers and operators work respecting tradition, adding a soul to our watches. The precious artisan savoir-faire is alive and dynamic in our factory and enables the production of truly valuable watches.

The watch making technology assists every step of the production process, from the research and engineering of details to the tests that are constantly carried out in our atelier. Each component is entirely studied with the use of a brand new 3D system, able to analyse both its functionality and its design.

We use this programme both to engineer movement components and other parts (cases, crowns, pushers, dials, hands, straps, buckles and bracelets) and we can see in the smallest detail both the technique and the aesthetic of the piece in production.

Constantly in search of innovation and perfection, our master watchmakers rigorously pursue the tradition of Armand Nicolet,
developing inside our atelier all the steps of the production process, from creation to the assembly and the fi nal control of the product. Each Armand Nicolet watch is delivered with its own technical control certifi cation, compiled personally by the watchmaker who has performed the fi nal control on the watch.