So, the other day I was digging around for some info on old-school watchmakers, and I stumbled upon this name, Gay Freres. Sounds kinda funny, right? But these guys are no joke. Turns out, they’ve been around since, like, forever – 1835 to be exact.
Started digging into their history. I found out the whole thing kicked off with two dudes, Jean-Pierre Gay and some guy named Gaspard Tissot. Not the Tissot you’re thinking of, though. They set up shop in Geneva, which is basically the holy land for watch stuff.
What Did They Do?
These guys, Gay and Tissot, they were all about the chains. You know, the ones for pocket watches and fancy jewelry. They made these chains by hand, can you believe it? Talk about old school craftsmanship. I spent hours just looking at pictures of their work. Intricate stuff, let me tell you.
Getting Famous
- They started small, just making these chains, but word got around.
- Seems like they were pretty good at what they did because they started getting known for quality.
- Over the years, they just kept at it, making a name for themselves. I found this old forum post talking about Gay Freres and it was full of people gushing about how great their stuff was.
I kept reading about them and it seems like they were really well-respected. I guess when you do something well for a long time, people start to notice. I fell down this rabbit hole of reading about their history, looking at photos of their work, all that. I was captivated, frankly, by how these two guys started this company in the 19th century. They just kept working hard, and building a reputation. I gotta give props to them.
It’s pretty cool to think about how much history is packed into something as simple as a watch chain. Makes you appreciate the things you own a little bit more, you know? Anyway, that’s my little deep dive into the world of Gay Freres. Hope you found it as interesting as I did.