Jean-Claude Schwarz’s watch-making career was particularly prolific, initially at the head of Jean d’Eve, then as the manager of the Festina group in Switzerland. Over a period of many years, he built up an exceptional library of books and reviews dedicated to watch-making, thus completing his father’s collection. Following his retirement, he successfully reconverted his activities, devoting the same level of energy and talent to painting and sculpture, and setting up exhibitions that meet with critical acclaim.
P&TS had the pleasure of accompanying him to protect and leverage the intellectual property born of his prolific creativity. As a form of recognition and friendship, he decided to donate his entire collection of watch-making works to P&TS, which will be a significant addition to the firm’s document data base. The collection includes several decades of books and magazines which bear witness to the vitality and the profound technological and commercial evolutions of this industrial sector, particularly since the second half of the 20th century.
During the course of our research for freedom-to-operate or patentability, we frequently need to research watch-making inventions or designs conceived before the democratising effect of the Internet, which are not always available in databases or via search engines. This precious gift will considerably increase our research ability in watch-making, by giving us access to technological and historical information that was previously hard to find. We are extremely grateful to Jean-Claude Schwarz for his generosity which will benefit all our watch-making clients.
