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A century of watchmaking means one thing above all: a house has had a hundred years to get it wrong, learn, and get it right. That is what you are really paying for when you buy a watch from a heritage maison — not nostalgia, but accumulated judgement.
“Since 18-something” appears on dials, boxes and adverts everywhere, so it is fair to ask what it is actually worth. The honest answer is that heritage only matters when it shows up in the watch on your wrist: in the design, the engineering, the servicing, and the value it holds years after you buy it. Here is how it does.
The names collectors trust most have all been making watches for well over a hundred years. Several were already established when the wristwatch itself was still a novelty.
| Maison | Founded | Years of watchmaking (2026) | A defining icon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vacheron Constantin | 1755 | 271 | Overseas |
| Longines | 1832 | 194 | Conquest |
| Jaeger-LeCoultre | 1833 | 193 | Reverso |
| Patek Philippe | 1839 | 187 | Calatrava |
| Cartier | 1847 | 179 | Tank |
| Omega | 1848 | 178 | Speedmaster |
| TAG Heuer | 1860 | 166 | Monaco |
| IWC Schaffhausen | 1868 | 158 | Portugieser |
| Audemars Piguet | 1875 | 151 | Royal Oak |
| Breitling | 1884 | 142 | Navitimer |
| Rolex | 1905 | 121 | Submariner |
What these houses share is not age for its own sake. Each survived world wars, the quartz crisis of the 1970s and 80s, and countless changes in taste — by building watches people kept wanting to own.
Heritage houses refine their great designs rather than replace them. A Cartier Tank from today is unmistakably related to the 1917 original; a Rolex Submariner still follows the template set in 1953.
That restraint is a feature, not a lack of imagination. Each generation brings better materials, tighter tolerances and improved movements, while the silhouette you fell in love with stays put. The result is a watch that looks right in any decade — and that never feels dated a few years after you buy it.
It also means every model carries a lineage. When you buy a Speedmaster, you are buying into the story of the watch NASA flight-qualified for its astronauts and that went to the Moon in 1969. That story is part of why these pieces remain so sought after.
A century of practice shows most clearly in what you cannot see. Many of the features we now take for granted in a luxury watch were pioneered by these houses:
Each of these advances built on decades of in-house testing. That depth of know-how is hard for a newer brand to replicate, however good its marketing.
Heritage pays off long after the purchase, in three practical ways.
Your watch can be serviced for decades. Established maisons maintain parts, archives and trained watchmakers for models going back generations. A well-kept mechanical watch from a heritage house can outlive its first owner and keep running for the next.
It holds its value. Demand for the great names is global and steady, so their watches tend to retain value far better than most luxury purchases. Some references have even appreciated, though no watch should be bought on the promise of guaranteed returns.
It is easier to buy and sell with confidence. A deep market, well-documented references and established authentication standards make it simpler to verify what you are buying — and to trade it later if your tastes change.
A watch built to last a century does not stop being a great watch after its first owner. That is exactly why certified pre-owned makes so much sense: you get the same engineering, the same design and the same lineage, at investment pricing.
The key word is certified. At Topwatch, every timepiece is sourced from legitimate suppliers, authenticated by our watchmakers, and tested, regulated and pressure sealed before it reaches you. Each one carries our 12-Month Warranty, so you can buy into a hundred years of watchmaking with complete peace of mind.
One hundred years of watchmaking is not a slogan. It is a design that has outlasted every trend, a movement refined by generations of watchmakers, and a watch that will still be serviceable — and desirable — long after today.
If you are ready to own a piece of that history, browse our collection, visit us in Cape Town, Paarl, the Garden Route or Pretoria, or chat to our team on WhatsApp. And if you already own a heritage piece you are ready to part with, we would be delighted to make you an offer.
