Certain timepieces have come to symbolise milestones in the history of watchmaking, whether for the techniques they employ, for scientific reasons, or for their recognisable aesthetic. Here are ten of them. Each has a story to tell.

Entirely unassisted and using his own machines, Hajime Asaoka has made two tourbillons and a chronometer. This former product designer and self-taught watchmaker now has his sights set on joining the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants.

With new store openings, mechanical watches specifically for its women customers, an extension of the famous Co-Axial movement across the collections, and heavyweight sponsorship deals, Omega leaves no stone unturned in assuring the brand's presence.

When Pascal Raffy embarked on his adventure at the head of Bovet, he had it in mind to develop a full-fledged Fine Watch brand. An important step was accomplished in 2006 with the takeover of the movement manufacturer STT, renamed Dimier 1738. Bovet, which recently became a partner to the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, is now shared between three sites. (Part 2)

The Fondation Horlogère was set up to defend the watchmaking heritage of the Swiss Jura, past and present. Its latest initiative, the Route de l'Horlogerie, invites tourists to discover the horological gems across the canton's three districts.

Denis Flageollet and David Zanetta, who set up De Bethune in 2002, will tell you that watchmaking lost its soul in the twentieth century. Now their ambition is to "save the concept of the mechanical watch," as the recently-unveiled Tourbillon Regulator demonstrates.