Oris Watches

Paul Cattin and Georges Christian founded Oris in 1904 in Hölstein, Switzerland. They bought the newly closed Lohner & Co watch factory and named their new watch company Oris, after a nearby brook.

With over 300 workers, Oris was the largest employer in Hölstein by 1911. To attract more watchmakers, it built houses and apartments for its staff. Oris’s success continued, and it expanded so that by 1929 it had six factories. In 1925 Oris began fitting bracelets to their pocket watches, transforming them into wristwatches.

In 1927 Oris’s co-founder Georges Christian died, and Jacques-David LeCoultre became President of the Board of Directors. In 1928, Oscar Herzog, Christian’s brother-in-law, took over as General Manager, a position he held for 43 years. 

By the late 1960s, Oris was one of the ten largest watch companies globally. It employed 800 people in Hölstein and beyond and produced 1.2 million watches and clocks a year.