With hundreds of years of fine watchmaking tradition, Switzerland and Germany are two of the world’s watchmaking hubs. Hence, the world’s biggest watch brands are in their native language – French or German. If you do not speak those languages, then you have probably wondered about proper watch brand pronunciation at some point.
Part of being a seasoned watch collector is knowing a brand inside and out, and that of course, starts with properly pronouncing their names. All of us have stumbled over Audemars Piguet or mumbled our way through Jaeger LeCoultre, but that doesn’t always have to be the case. We’ve compiled a cheat sheet of horology speak for you. Here’s how to pronounce the world’s top luxury watch brands.
A. Lange & Söhne: AH LANG-eh und ZUH-neh
Note the German pronunciation of the ampersand
Audemars Piguet: OOH-deh-maghr Pi-GEH
This is most commonly pronounced as Oh-duh-mars Pi-gay but its syllables are shorter and swifter, with a silent S
Baume & Mercier: BOHM eh Mehr-SYEY
Resist the urge to say Mer-si-yay!
Bedat: bid-UT
Blancpain: Blohng-PAHN
Breguet: BREH-geh
Breitling: BREIHT-ling
Bulgari: bull-gar-EE
Cartier: Cahr-tyeh
Not Car-dee-yay as it’s usually pronounced. Again, the French pronunciation is swift and short.
Chanel: Sha-nel
Chopard: Sho-pahr
Corum: Coh-room
Ebel: Ee-bell
Franck Muller: Fronk Mew-ler
Frederique Constant: Freh-deh-REEK Cohn-STOHN
Girard-Perregaux: Zhi-RAHR Peh-reh-GOH
Glashütte Original: Glahs-OHH-teh Oh-rih-hi-NAHL
The German pronunciation would include “Original” with the G pronounced as H
Hublot: Oo-bloh
The H here is silent.
IWC Schaffhausen: Ee-veet-zee Shaf-HAU-sen
While it is perfectly acceptable to pronounce it as IWC (after all, it stands for International Watch Company) German and French pronounciation would go as above.
Jaeger LeCoultre: Zhe-ZHEH(r) Lih-COULT(reh)
Most people would pronounce this as Yay-ger Le-coolt-re, but the R is in fact, silent.
Longines: Loh-ZHEEN
Montblanc: Mohn-bloh
Omega: Oh-MEH-gah
Panerai: Pah-ne-RAI
Patek Philippe: Pah-TEK Fih-LEEP
Philippe Charriol: Fih-LEEP Shar-yohl
Piaget: PYAH-zhey
Raymond Weil: Ray-mund WHILE
Richard Mille: REE-sharh MEEL
Roger Dubuis: Roh-ZHAY Dub-WEE
Rolex: Ro-lex
TAG Heuer: TAG HOY-eh(r)
Ulysse Nardin: Ooh-LEESE Nahr-DAHN
Vacheron Constantin: VASH-er-AHN Kohn-stahn-tahn
Zenith: Zeh-NITH
There you have it – how to properly pronounce 35 of the world’s top watchmaking brands.
We hope we’ve helped you through the proper pronunciation of Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, and some of the most challenging brands to pronounce. Now you’re ready to flex your watch knowledge!
To learn more about watches, check out the Watch 101 section of our blog, or check out our vast selection of authentic, pre-owned luxury watches at SwissWatchExpo.com.
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