Balmain

Balmain came into being as a watch brand at the meeting point of two distant worlds: on one side, the Parisian haute couture house founded in 1945 by designer Pierre Balmain, celebrated for its bold women's collections and a refined aesthetic that dressed film stars and royalty; on the other, the Swiss watch industry, which in 1987 launched, through a licensing agreement, the first collection of Balmain-branded watches.

In 1995 the Swatch Group acquired exclusive rights to the name for watchmaking, turning Balmain into an independent watch brand while maintaining its openly stated link to the legacy of Parisian haute couture. Since then the production site has been in Saint-Imier, at the heart of Swiss watchmaking, where the brand develops collections designed primarily for a female audience, often in steel with PVD treatments or diamond inserts.

The most recognizable trait inherited from the fashion house is the arabesque motif, drawn directly from the embroidery that characterized the dresses designed by Pierre Balmain: a decorative element that recurs on the dials and bezels of several collections, testament to a link between fashion and watchmaking that the brand has explicitly claimed since its founding.