To celebrate International Women’s Day, here’s some of the best female-led watch brands

Nina Scally

The Breguet repeater watch ref. 2639 that Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, received in 1810 wasn’t just the world’s first ever wristwatch: it was the watch that connected the female race to portable timekeeping. It sent a strong message to the world: “Yes, women can love complex mechanical watch engineering, too”. That initial design inspired other watchmakers to do the same, but women’s watches would take until the end of the 19th century to become more culturally acceptable. Gradually, women began carving out a space for themselves in watchmaking in what was traditionally deemed a male-dominated industry. Turns out we were pretty good at it!

Nowadays, women are shaping the future of watchmaking in many capacities, whether that be in designing them, creating them, pioneering materials for them, or taking leadership roles in driving a company forward. Slowly but surely, society is peeling away the stereotype that has had us believe for far too long that horology is a man’s world. It seems only right that in time for International Women’s Day, we shine a light on some of the names you ought to know about by now and their accomplishments. These are names that are rising through the ranks, ruffling the feathers of some of the most powerful and influential men in the industry right now, yet aren’t talked about enough. Whilst you’d be right in thinking articles like this shouldn’t just exist for one day a year, there’s no time like the present to start challenging the narrative. So, today (but not just because of today), here’s a list of the best watch brands led by women.

Dr. Rebecca Struthers – co-founder, Struthers Watchmakers

There is nothing about Dr. Rebecca Struthers’ childhood that indicated she’d become such a highly respected watchmaker – or even a watchmaker at all. However, the intersection between science and art had always fascinated her, eventually leading her to drop out of school to attend art school instead. Her work in watch restoration came to fruition several years later when she joined forces with her husband before turning her hand to watch design in 2013. Now, she carries the title of Watchmaker, Designer and Historian. Rebecca Struther is co-founder of Struthers Watchmakers and became the first ever female watchmaker to win the Master Watchmaker’s Qualification by the British Horological Institute. The timepieces made by Struthers are all crafted by hand in the company’s Birmingham-based workshop. Rebecca even authors her own books. The Watchmaker’s Apprentice, for example, outlines the evolution of watchmaking, focusing on the artistic side to horology. Oh, and becoming Britain’s first bona fide watch doctor is pretty impressive, too!

Eva Leube – brand founder

Born in Berlin, Eva Leube became an independent watchmaker in 2011 after obtaining her Master Watchmaker degree at just 23. Over the years, she has worked with prominent names in the industry, like Ulysse Nardin and Thomas Prescher, where she has built custom timepieces that boast flying tourbillons and retrograde time indicators, and has also worked amongst some of the world’s best watchmakers in Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, the USA and Australia. One of her proudest creations is the curved mechanical movement, which presented a unique set of problems while designing her Ari watch, named after her son. Requiring a special relieved angular milling technique, all movement components must comply with the case’s distinctive bend. The Ari is a hard-won realisation of a dream envisaged by Eva several years prior, enabling a panoramic view of the movement through an elongated, curved sapphire.

Susan Galvin – founder, Galvin Watch Company

Finnish-born, Sydney-based watchmaker Susan Galvin set up her own business, Galvin Watch Company, in 2020 and, in that short space of time, has established a name for herself by crowdfunding her brainchild design, Alku, on Kickstarter, a surprisingly large 40mm unisex design. Having attended the Finnish School of Watchmaking to learn her trade, Galvin began working for LVMH before transferring to Sydney to work for Omega. Galvin founded her namesake brand after being made redundant whilst on maternity leave with her first child during the COVID-19 pandemic, turning adversity into success. Galvin now has the first female-led watch brand in Australia. Galvin’s watches feature classic aesthetics, inspired by Finnish nature and Scandinavian design as well as her new home of Australia. Galvin believes that it’s on educational institutions to communicate the need for more female energy in what is still deemed a male-dominated industry.

The Paulin sisters – co-founders, Paulin Watches

Founded in 2013 by a trio of sisters, Scotland’s Paulin Watches is a popular microbrand centred around affordable, minimalist pieces. Charlotte, Eleanor and Elizabeth built the brand from scratch – initially converting a spare room in Charlotte’s flat to a stock room – with Paulin now boasting its own boutique in Glasgow’s West End. Interestingly, Paulin merged with Scotland’s other contemporary horological success story, anOrdain, in 2023. As both companies are relatively small, it shouldn’t be surprising to learn that a family element is involved in the blend. In fact, the founders of both brands, Charlotte Paulin and Lewis Heath, are married. Paulin has charted a new creative direction after merging with anOrdain: despite the amalgamation of modern (Paulin) and traditional (anOrdain) brand languages, a strong female-led vision remains.

Christine Hutter – CEO, Moritz Grossman

Christine Hutter is one of the few female leaders in the world who has independently built a watch brand from the ground up. Using her passion for watchmaking, she founded Moritz Grossmann in 2008, guiding it through economic challenges and maximising the benefits of a vertically integrated company. As an advocate for gender diversity, Hutter has employed females across her entire team, believing that the industry needs more female-led design. Hutter initially cut her teeth at A. Lange & Söhne and Glashütte Original, but after discovering the Moritz Grossmann name (the original founder of the 19th-century atelier), she acquired the rights to the brand with one vision in mind: to restart the brand’s heritage. Today, everything is still made by hand at Moritz Grossmann, adhering to the core tenets of its eponymous founding father.

Fiona Krüger – brand founder

The fact that Fiona Krüger is trained in fine art and design explains a lot. Her whimsical, abstract watch designs have a strong punk/goth vibe that is practically alien to the stuffy world of high-horology. In a world where movements often dictate the design of a watch, Kruger’s movements adhere to the artistic concept of the watch, resulting in timepieces that are unlike anything else on the market. Some highlights from Fiona Kruger’s collections are inspired by David Bowie’s hair when in full Ziggy Stardust mode and the artwork that adorns Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebration. The female watch designer admits that she relies on movement experts to advise her on those parts of a movement she can and cannot play around with, sometimes using the mechanism itself to become the focal point of these surprise designs.

Christelle Rosnoblet – CEO, Speake-Marin

Entrepreneur and watch enthusiast Christelle Rosnoblet is a force to be reckoned with. She became CEO and president of Speake-Marin in 2012 and, in a short space of time, invested in a well-regarded movement atelier, Le Cercle des Horlogers, to expand the brand’s breadth of skill and expertise in high-end complications. Now, she’s the sole owner of the brand, making her one of the few independent women in the watch business. Rosnoblet puts her achievements down to having a daring nature, a quality she believes she shares with so many other females in the watch industry. Working on the strategy and the brand development side of Speake-Marin, her vision became a reality with the opening of the aforementioned Le Cercle des Horlogers in 2012, which has now birthed over twelve movements for the company. Since joining Speake-Marin, Rosnoblet has also refined the popular Piccadilly case for the Openworked and Academic lines and designed the Ripple, the brand’s integrated sports watch.

Maria Kristina Habring – co-founder and managing director, Habring²

Watchmaking is often described as romantic, but in Habring²’s case, it’s quite literal. The Austrian brand, which was co-founded by husband-and-wife duo Richard and Maria Kristina Habring in 2004, describes itself as “mechanical watches made with love”. They’ve even immortalised the story behind them meeting and the creation of the brand with a comic on their website, which is very cute. Together, the duo create watches with straightforward visual styling, specialising in complications that include minute repeaters, jumping seconds, split-second chronographs, perpetual calendars and tourbillons. Maria actually oversees the quality control side of the company, inspecting each of the components that go into every Habring² timepiece, even the rare outsourced bits. The Austrian duo is rather humble, despite several of their watches having won GPHG awards, many of which use the A11 movement with Swiss architecture that Richard adapts to his very own skillset.

Ilaria Resta – CEO, Audemars Piguet

Last but certainly not least, we have Ilaria Resta, the new CEO of Audemars Piguet – a watchmaker that hardly needs an introduction. Resta’s career has not been deeply rooted in watchmaking but European haircare. Although a relatively fresh name in the industry, her credentials are no less impressive: Resta’s forte has always been elevating global brands across diverse segments, something which AP will no doubt benefit from. Since joining the brand, Resta has made short work of improving the brand’s sustainability efforts, from collaborating with global sustainability programs like Swiss Triple Impact to working more closely with local suppliers. At the same time, her circular leadership approach eliminates the layers you would expect of any pyramid management, achieving a more synergistic, collaborative watchmaking ecosystem.

More and more organisations are seeking to break down the barriers of unconscious biases on the watchmaking scene, especially when it comes to watchmaking and female leadership. Opportunities are indeed being created, whether that be in directing a brand or in the creative freedom afforded by independent spaces. And long may that continue.