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France helped shape watchmaking, then lost it and almost forgot it. In Morteau, five kilometres from the Swiss border, sits the house that gave the country its first complete in-house movement in decades. Five manufacture calibres, around 25 employees, the Élysée Palace as a client – and a story in which four employees bought their own company back in front of a commercial court. This is everything you need to know about Pequignet.
Why this brand is an exception
Look at this dial. The big date below twelve, the power reserve indicator, the small seconds – and at the bottom the moon phase in two windows, one for the northern hemisphere, one for the southern. It drifts by a single day only after 122 years.
To put that in perspective: an ordinary moon phase, the kind fitted to the vast majority of watches, is already a day out after just under three years. So 122 years is not “normal” – normal is three.
That is the Calibre Royal. When it reached the market in 2011, it was the first complete manufacture movement France had produced since the end of LIP. Anyone buying a mechanical watch in France today is still, as a rule, buying a Swiss movement in a French case. Pequignet is the exception – and by now five times over.
What fascinates me about this brand is not just the engineering. It is the story behind it. It begins in an apartment, runs via a show horse and a Zenith executive all the way to a commercial court in Besançon – and ends, for now, in the Élysée Palace and on the wrist of the Emperor of Japan. Come along.
1973: A self-taught watchmaker starts out in his own apartment
Émile Péquignet, born in 1940, was not a formally trained watchmaker. He taught himself. At sixteen he joined the watch industry of the Haut-Doubs, first at Soborem, from 1964 at Cupillard-Rième. He learned the business from the inside for seventeen years – and then went out on his own.
In January 1973 he registered Sarl Montres Péquignet. Company address: his own apartment, 1 rue de la Gare in Morteau. He was 33. By the end of the first year he had three employees and had sold around 7,000 watches. The movements came from Switzerland back then, the design from Morteau.
It is worth remembering when this happened: 1973, in the middle of the quartz crisis. While factories were closing one after another in Switzerland, a Frenchman was building a watch brand. He did not fight the quartz wave, he used it. By 1979, six years after founding the company, 40,000 watches a year were leaving the building, about half of them quartz. Three employees had become twenty.
In May 1978 he opened his own factory at 1 rue du Bief, designed by the Besançon architect Pierre Bourgeois. Reinforced concrete with an exposed glulam frame. Pequignet still sits in that building today – almost fifty years later, the Calibre Royal is assembled there.
And Péquignet kept going. In 1980 and 1981 he founded his own suppliers in quick succession: a case-making operation, plus Brademont for metal bracelets and Cofima for the cases and boxes. The idea of making as much as possible in-house has been in this brand for over forty years.
The horse that gave the brand its face
Émile Péquignet was a passionate show jumper and horse breeder. In 1980 he launched the Equitation line, with horse heads on the dial. Four years later came the model that made the brand famous in France – and it carried the name of his competition horse: Moorea.
The 1984 Moorea had an integrated link bracelet, the so-called Maille Moorea, gold and steel, plus a quick-change strap system that was unusual at the time. That bracelet is still the visual signature of the brand. In France the Moorea is a generational piece – a watch mothers pass on to their daughters.
The house collected five Cadrans d’Or, the “Golden Dials”, during those years for the beauty of its ladies’ collections. In 1988 forty people worked in Morteau; by 2003 it was 47, with just under ten million euros in revenue. A healthy, well-run French watch company – but one that bought in its movements.
“We don’t sell movements, we sell watches”
That one sentence changed everything. It was said at Zenith, and the man who heard it was Didier Leibundgut.
Leibundgut grew up in Morteau, in a watchmaking family – his grandfather had a factory there. In 1994 he became head of Zenith France, later international marketing director of the brand. He wanted Zenith to market its legendary movements more strongly as a product in their own right. The answer from head office: we don’t sell movements, we sell watches.
He left. And in July 2004 he bought the watch factory of his home town. Émile Péquignet, then 64, stepped back after more than thirty years.
Leibundgut’s goal was unmistakable from day one: France should have a movement of its own again. The last one had disappeared with the end of LIP. He set up a dedicated haute horlogerie laboratory in Morteau and brought in two engineers who had previously worked at CompliTime – the complications specialist behind Greubel Forsey: Ludovic Perez took over the laboratory, Huy Van Tran research and development.
2011: The Calibre Royal
What came out of it is not a variation on a known movement but an architecture of its own. 279 industrial drawings, more than 20,000 dimensions, around 150 special tools, 120 stamping tools for the wheels alone. The movement was shown for the first time in Basel in March 2010 and reached the market in 2011.
The decisive idea: every complication sits on the same main plate, not as a module on top. That is harder to engineer, but it makes the movement flatter, mechanically cleaner and more honest to service. This is exactly what separates a manufacture movement from a dressed-up standard calibre.
That same year the Dutch magazine 0024 named the Rue Royale “Montre de l’Année 2011” in the 3,000 to 10,000 euro class – ahead of finalists from Chopard, Eberhard, Panerai and TAG Heuer. The first French manufacture movement in decades had delivered straight away.
The years that followed were hard. Bringing a new movement into series production costs more money and more nerves than any plan allows for. Pequignet ran into serious trouble, changed owners, and at the end of 2016 the commercial court of Besançon ordered liquidation. 42 jobs were at stake. The court gave three months to find a buyer.
27 February 2017: Four employees buy their own manufacture
By 8 February 2017 two offers were on the table. They could hardly have been more different.
Offer one came from Montres Ambre, also based in Morteau. Ambre wanted to keep twelve jobs and take over the Moorea brand. The Calibre Royal was not part of that offer; it would have been sold off separately.
Offer two came from four of the company’s own employees: three commercial managers and one engineer, between them decades in the house. They offered a complete takeover – manufacture, brand, all patents, the building in rue du Bief and the Calibre Royal. Sixteen jobs. Practically the entire workforce stood behind them.
On 27 February 2017 the commercial court of Besançon decided in favour of the employees. Dani Royer became president of the new Pequignet Horlogerie SAS, alongside Aymeric Vernhol, Bernard Espinas and Antoine Commissione. The French press has called them “the four musketeers” ever since.
Their statement after the ruling was short: “We are happy and honoured to be able to take over Maison Péquignet.” And Aymeric Vernhol later summed up what was at stake: “We are the only calibre made in France, and we are independent.”
I don’t know a second story in watchmaking that ends like this. Four employees outbidding their own company in court – and saving what was then the only watch movement of an entire country.
The man who makes fakes impossible
The four rebuilt the brand. In 2021 revenue grew by fifty percent, the house was in the black – and got a new majority owner.
Since December 2021 the family holding ENOWE has held 80 percent. Behind it stands Hugues Souparis, a Paris entrepreneur who built up Hologram.Industries from 1984, later Surys – world leader in high-security authentication. Holograms on ID documents, banknotes and branded goods. In 2019 he sold the company to IN Groupe, the former French state printing works.
The nicest side effect: his technology has moved into the product. Every Pequignet now carries a holographic marking that works as a counterfeit-proof “passport” for authentication.
Souparis’ brief to the house was ambitious from the start: move up into the high-price segment, bring as many components as possible back to France and generate 70 percent of revenue with manufacture movements. Since 2024 Patric Zingg has run the business, previously at Swatch Group, Graham and SIGG. Around 25 people work in Morteau today, plus two own boutiques in Paris and Besançon.
The five calibres in detail
Now to the heart of it. Pequignet has engineered five of its own movements to date, the first in 2011. Here they are, one after another.
Calibre Royal (EPM01) – the centrepiece
31 millimetres in diameter, 5.88 millimetres high, 318 components, 316 of them purpose-designed, 39 jewels, 3 hertz. From a single oversized barrel the movement has delivered 96 hours of power reserve since the 2025 revision – it was 88 before.
On the dial: big date and weekday below twelve, small seconds at 4 o’clock, power reserve indicator at 8 o’clock, the double moon phase at 6. The big date works with three discs on one axis, tens and units sitting at the same level – no offset window, no stepped look. It jumps in 0.02 seconds.
And now the point that makes the biggest difference in daily use: there is no “red zone”. You can set the date, weekday and moon phase at any time of day without damaging anything.
That sounds like a detail, but it is worth its weight in gold. On most calendar watches you first have to turn the hands out of the switching range, roughly between 9 pm and 3 am, or you reach into the running date mechanism and, in the worst case, tear something off. On a watch with big date, weekday and double moon phase that has sat unworn for six months and needs setting from scratch, that is the difference between relaxed and nervous. For me that alone would be a reason to buy.
Technically the most interesting part is the patented barrel. The drum is mounted separately from the spring arbor in the movement and transmits its force through the central axis, guided between two jewels. Less friction, more room for a large diameter – and a whole construction level left free above it for the complications. The idea comes from 19th-century American railroad pocket watches.
On top of that come eight international patents: four for the big date alone, one for the barrel, one for the reverser of the automatic winding, one for a differential that measures the power reserve, and one for the moon phase. The balance is unusually large at 9.5 millimetres, four-armed, diamond-cut, with gold screws for fine adjustment instead of a regulator index – and it runs under a full balance bridge, so it is supported on both sides. You practically never see that in this price class.
The 318 components are manufactured to an accuracy of two micrometres. Two thousandths of a millimetre.
Calibre Royal Manuelle (EPM02) – one hundred hours
In 2017 a hand-wound version grew out of the Calibre Royal. Without a rotor the height drops to 5.43 millimetres, and the barrel was allowed to grow even larger in return: 100 hours of power reserve. 31 millimetres, 21 jewels, 3 hertz, small seconds at 6 o’clock, entirely by the classical book.
For me this is the most honest movement in the range. A flat, calm dress watch that you wind on Sunday evening and that is still running on Friday. The Royale Paris Manuelle with this calibre costs 3,900 euros – for a watch with a complete manufacture movement, that is a price you will not find anywhere else.
Calibre Initial (EPM03) – the movement other brands buy
The third movement arrived in 2021, and it is the modern counterpart to the Royal: 28.2 millimetres in diameter, only 4.2 millimetres flat, 180 components, 21 jewels, 4 hertz instead of 3, 65 hours of power reserve, central seconds with hacking.
Two international patents sit inside it: one for the winding mechanism with an unusual toothing that reduces wear, one for the semi-instantaneous date change. The latter allows the date to be set in any hand position – again, no blocked zone.
The Initial is regulated in six positions with a tolerance of −4 to +6 seconds a day. In practice, according to the manufacture, it often sits at around plus/minus two seconds. 72 percent of its components are of French origin.
And here it gets particularly interesting for you as a watch enthusiast: the Initial is the only Pequignet movement that other brands can buy. Capacity is up to 5,000 movements a year, around 1,500 of them for third parties. One of those clients is Ralf Tech – in the Académie Automatic Manufacture a Pequignet movement works under the name RTM001.
My review of the Ralf Tech Académie Automatic Manufacture First Edition
Calibre Royal Tourbillon (EPM04) – 157 parts in a titanium cage
In 2024, at Watches and Wonders, Pequignet showed its first flying tourbillon – and not an off-the-shelf one, but one based on the Calibre Royal architecture. 34.5 millimetres in diameter, 6.11 millimetres high, 23 jewels, hand-wound, at least 88 hours of power reserve from the big barrel.
The cage alone consists of 157 parts and is milled from titanium – a material that is decidedly awkward at component sizes like these. The balance sits concentrically in the cage, carries solid gold screws and reaches a moment of inertia of 12 mg/cm². Anglage, Côtes de Genève, perlage, cerclage, sablage, étirage – the decoration here is done by hand.
The matching Royale Tourbillon: 44 millimetres, 18 carat 5N rose gold, blue dial with a droplet texture, 24 pieces, 65,000 euros. That is the peak of what France currently builds.
Calibre Initial Chronograph (EPM05) – the youngest movement
2026 brought the first chronograph in the brand’s history – after 53 years. The base is the flat Calibre Initial; for the chronograph function Pequignet brought in a Swiss specialist for high-end complications. The border is five kilometres away; you work with your neighbours.
Visually the movement is deliberately different from the Royal family: more matte, more urban. Balance bridge and main plate are hollowed out, combining graining, satin finishing and perlage, with diamond-polished edges. The skeletonised rotor shows a raised fleur-de-lys. Regulation is in six positions.
Eighty kilometres
There is one rule Pequignet keeps for every one of its movements: every component comes from within eighty kilometres of Morteau. That is around seventy suppliers, and they all sit in the French-Swiss Jura arc.
For the Calibre Royal the French share is now above 75 percent, for the Calibre Initial 72. The rest comes from Switzerland – with the hairspring, for instance, there is no way around Nivarox, and their plants in Le Locle and Saint-Imier happen to lie exactly within those eighty kilometres. The leather straps and the Moorea link bracelet are made in France too.
Since 2014 this has earned Pequignet the state label Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant, which honours living French craftsmanship. It was renewed in 2019 and 2025.
And one more thing I like: every model and every component in the brand’s history is archived. Which means a Moorea from 1986 can still be repaired today.
The viper’s head of Besançon
Everyone knows chronometer certificates from Switzerland. That France has had one of its own since 1897 is known to very few: the Poinçon Vipère, the viper’s head of the Besançon observatory.
The decisive difference to COSC: Besançon does not test the bare movement but the fully assembled watch – with case, dial and hands. So the weight of the hands and the thermal expansion of the case are part of the result. That is considerably harder. Testing runs over about two weeks in five positions and at three temperatures, against seven criteria, with the same tolerance of −4 to +6 seconds a day.
In 2025 Pequignet released the first Attitude with the viper’s head, 50 pieces. For a brand that produces thirty kilometres from the observatory, that is more than a marketing stamp – that is a home game.
The collections
All prices below are the manufacture’s list prices as of September 2026.
Royale Paris – the signature
The collection is named after the movement, not the other way round. It was created to show the Calibre Royal. Recognition marks: the concave flute along the case flanks, the applied lugs, satin-brushed on top and polished on the sides, and the fleur-de-lys on the crown.
- Royale Paris 36 mm – new for 2026, with the Calibre Initial, just 8.95 mm high. Green, burgundy, royal blue, opaline and the superb sunburst Bleu Glacier. From 3,500 euros, with a diamond bezel 4,900 euros, in rose gold 14,900 euros.
- Royale Paris 39.5 mm – the core model with the Calibre Royal. With power reserve and small seconds from 5,300 euros, with big date and moon phase 8,000 to 8,500 euros. The hand-wound version costs 3,900 euros, the gold models 27,500 euros.
- Royale Paris Chrono 39.5 mm – the big news for 2026. Bicompax, small seconds at 3, 30-minute counter at 9, tachymeter scale. Counters in blue, red or black, 6,450 euros on a strap, 6,950 euros on the steel bracelet.
- Royale Paris 41 mm and Royale Origine 42 mm – the classic sizes, 4,800 to 8,000 euros, plus special models such as the Royale Paris Aventurine in 30 pieces.
- Royale GMT 42 mm – second time zone, day/night indication, 10 ATM, 8,800 euros.
- Royale Saphir – translucent sapphire dials in ruby red, topaz blue, jade green, amber and lapis. 10,800 euros, as a limited edition 13,500 euros.
- Royale Titane and Grand Sport 44 mm – the sporting interpretation, some with black DLC, 5,800 to 8,100 euros.
- Royale Tourbillon – 24 pieces, rose gold, 65,000 euros.
Attitude – the quiet one with the Initial
Attitude is the line the Calibre Initial was designed for: 39 or 34 millimetres, only around 9 millimetres high, Roman indices, blued rounded steel hands, big date at 3 o’clock. From the outside a calm, almost understated watch – and that is exactly where the appeal lies, because a complete manufacture movement is working underneath. From 2,800 euros in 34 millimetres, from 3,000 euros in 39.
This is also where the finest special editions happen:
- Attitude Poinçon Vipère – 50 pieces with the chronometer certificate from Besançon, 3,500 euros.
- Attitude Globe Sauter – made together with the last French globe maker. Every dial is watercoloured by hand on cotton paper, lines of longitude instead of indices, an orange compass arrow at 12 o’clock. Four motifs, 24 pieces each, 3,900 euros.
- Attitude Œil de Tigre – tiger’s eye dial, 50 pieces in steel, five in rose gold.
- Attitude Or – 18 carat rose gold, ivory dial, the edition number painted on by hand. 100 pieces, 10,000 euros.
Concorde – the obelisk on your wrist
Named after the Place de la Concorde in Paris and introduced in 2023 for the brand’s fiftieth birthday. The integrated steel bracelet is made of spearhead-shaped links – a nod to the Luxor obelisk standing on that square. Cushion-shaped case, 30, 36 or 40 millimetres, 10 ATM.
The highlight is the Concorde Damas, created with the Michelin-starred chef Matthias Marc, who comes from the same region. Bezel and dial are made of real Damascus steel, every grain pattern unique. Add gold-coloured indices, blue Super-LumiNova, Calibre Initial. It ships with a second rubber strap, a pocket knife with a Damascus blade and a leather case by Maison Boinet, designed like a chef’s knife roll. The caseback carries Marc’s signature and his line: “L’équilibre se construit, l’harmonie se vit” – balance is built, harmony is lived. 50 pieces, 4,900 euros.
The series models sit between 3,650 and 4,150 euros, the titanium version at 4,800 euros, the 30-millimetre quartz models from 1,300 euros.
Moorea – the heritage
The Moorea turned forty in 2024 and Pequignet brought it back: the characteristic “ears” at the lugs of the original, the date window back at 6 o’clock, the iconic link bracelet unchanged. The 25-millimetre version with a Swiss quartz movement costs 1,450 euros, the 38.5-millimetre automatic with the Calibre Initial 3,900 euros.
There is also Moorea Vintage: six historical models, reissued in runs of between three and twenty pieces, made to order. Anyone who grew up in France with a Moorea understands why this matters.
Extrême 300 and Equus
The Extrême 300 is Pequignet’s dive watch: 43 millimetres, water resistant to 300 metres, unidirectional bezel with a rubber coating, multi-layer dial – and the Calibre Royal inside. A manufacture dive watch for 5,600 euros is a statement.
Equus, finally, is the tribute to the founder and his horses – the entry line, from 850 euros.
The president’s watch
In July 2021 Pequignet was invited to the Élysée Palace as a representative company of the Doubs département for the “Grande Exposition du Fabriqué en France”. The house presented the Attitude and the Calibre Initial there. Two years later the commission came.
Since 26 October 2023 Pequignet has been the official watch partner of the Élysée. The first Attitude Élysée – 39 millimetres, opaline white dial with the seal of the Republic, blued hands, RF monogram on crown and rotor, red stitching on the blue leather strap – appeared in 300 numbered pieces. Part of the proceeds goes into the restoration of the palace.
2026 brought the second one: the Élysée Attitude #2 “Édition Liberté”. A deep blue dial with clou de Paris guilloché that shifts from dark to luminous depending on the light, the RF monogram of the Republic on it, polished steel hands and a red seconds hand. Blue, white, red – without ever becoming obvious about it. The RF also sits on the crown, the rotor and the pin buckle. 100 numbered pieces, 3,500 euros, available to pre-order from 14 July, the French national holiday.
In November 2025 Pequignet even represented the entire French fashion and luxury sector at the Élysée. For a house with 25 employees, that is a remarkable position.
When other people come knocking: the special editions
The Élysée watches are only part of it. What strikes me about this brand is how often it gets asked when somebody wants something special – and how far apart those requests are. Three examples.
Attitude Impériale – the gift for the Emperor of Japan
In early April 2026 the French president travelled to Japan on a state visit. France’s official gift to Emperor Naruhito was a Pequignet: the Attitude Impériale, a unique piece.
The dial was executed in miniature painting by the artist Philippe Jacquin-Ravot: two intertwined branches, oak for the strength of France, cherry blossom for the elegance of Japan. Underneath runs a certified chronometer movement. A replica is on display in the Paris boutique at 60 Rue de Rennes.
The fact that a state does not reach for one of the big Swiss names for a gift like this, but for a 25-person workshop in Morteau, says a great deal about where Pequignet now stands in France.
Royale Saphir x Mitsukoshi – 350 years of a department store
In 2023 the Tokyo institution Mitsukoshi celebrated its 350th birthday. For the special series Pequignet simply took the dial off the Royale Saphir: you look straight at the Calibre Royal, whose upper plate was entirely pearled for the occasion.
Hours, date and moon phase are read from indicators applied directly under the crystal. 20 pieces in steel and rose gold. For me one of the nicest ways to show a manufacture movement – you don’t have to turn the watch over.
L’Extrême 300 by Stef – 30 years behind the counter
And it works on a far smaller scale too. In early 2023 Stéphane Clouzeau, a jeweller in the French town of Pithiviers and a long-time Pequignet enthusiast, wanted a watch of his own to mark 30 years in the trade. Morteau went along with it.
The result is L’Extrême 300 by Stef: a variation on the 2015 dive watch, this time with a sapphire caseback and a clear view of the Calibre Royal, plus an intense blue sunburst dial, an orange bezel and a blue Cordura strap with orange stitching. 30 pieces, sold exclusively in his own shop.
That is what I find strong about this house: the same workshop that builds a state gift for an emperor also makes an anniversary watch for a single jeweller in provincial France. Add the Attitude Globe Sauter mentioned earlier, created with the last French globe maker in Besançon. Knock with an idea here and you apparently get an honest answer – and sometimes a series of your own.
What a Pequignet costs – and what you get for it
The brand starts at 850 euros with the Equus and ends at 65,000 euros with the tourbillon. The actual core – everything with a manufacture movement inside – sits between roughly 2,800 and 8,800 euros. (As of September 2026.)
Put that in context. In that range practically every other brand gives you a bought-in Swiss standard movement – decent, proven, built in the millions. Here you get a movement that exists at this one house only, engineered by a team you can count on one hand, built from parts that all come from within eighty kilometres.
So why is it this affordable? Because Pequignet was right at the wrong moment. When the Calibre Royal arrived in 2011, “manufacture calibre” was nowhere near the selling point it is today – hardly anyone cared about the subject back then. The price was set accordingly. And when in-house later became an advertising promise everywhere, the house did not push it up overnight. Add marketing you would have to call down-to-earth: no brand ambassador, no campaign, no hype. For people who know what they are looking at, that is exactly the find.
Then there is the warranty: five years on everything with a Pequignet manufacture movement, three years on the remaining models. And an after-sales service that sits in Morteau and sends a cost estimate before any work starts.
My verdict: who is a Pequignet for?
For you, if you have reached the point where the usual suspects bore you. If what is inside the watch matters more to you than what is written on the dial. And if you enjoy being able to explain a watch – because explain it you will, since hardly anyone here knows the name.
But that is exactly the opportunity. A watch with a complete in-house calibre, big date, double moon phase and 96 hours of power reserve for around 8,000 euros – at that price, Switzerland simply does not offer it. And on your wrist you have no status symbol but a story: the one about four employees who saved their country’s own watch movement.
In fairness, the other side belongs here too: you are buying a brand almost nobody outside France knows, with a correspondingly small second-hand market. If resale value is the first thing you look at, this is the wrong address. If you look at substance, you get more real watchmaking in this price class than from almost anything else I know. I know which way I would go.
Frequently asked questions about Pequignet
How do you pronounce Pequignet?
Roughly “peh-kee-nyay”, with a silent t at the end. The gn is pronounced as in “champagne”.
Is Pequignet really a manufacture?
Yes, in the strict sense. The house designs, produces, assembles and regulates its movements itself in Morteau. There are five in-house calibres by now.
What happens if the watch sits in a drawer for a year?
Nothing bad. After 96 hours the power reserve is used up and the watch stops – hands, date, weekday and moon phase freeze exactly where they are. The 122 years of the moon phase apply to running time, not to the calendar. You wind it again, reset everything, and from then on the accuracy is what it was. Because there is no blocked zone, you can do that at any time of day without risk to the movement. The service interval runs by time anyway, not by mileage – a year of standing still does the movement no harm. Wind it briefly every few weeks if you like; it isn’t necessary.
Are there quartz watches from Pequignet as well?
Yes. The Concorde in 30 millimetres, the Moorea in 25 millimetres and parts of the Equus line run on quartz. Everything else is mechanical.
How accurate is the Calibre Royal?
Pequignet states a tolerance of −4 to +6 seconds a day for its movements; in practice they often sit at around plus/minus two seconds. The Calibre Initial is regulated in six positions.
How long does the moon phase run before it needs correcting?
122 years. Then it is exactly one day off. An ordinary moon phase is already a day out after just under three years – so the difference is not small, it is a factor of forty.
Which other brands use Pequignet movements?
Only the Calibre Initial is supplied to third parties, among them Ralf Tech, Pierre Lannier and Apose. The Calibre Royal stays with the brand itself.
What warranty does Pequignet give?
Five years on all watches with a Pequignet manufacture movement, three years on the remaining models.
Discover Pequignet
All Pequignet watches in my shop
Ralf Tech Académie with the Pequignet movement in review
