Pronunciation Guide

by Norma Buchanan

Part I: Watch Brands

Not long ago, Lynn Miner, a reader of WatchTime magazine, wrote with a request: would we publish a guide on how to pronounce all those nettlesome watch-brand names? We hope the following brand list, with phonetic spellings on the right, helps Miner and tongue-twisted watch fans everywhere.

A. Lange & Söhne	ah LAHN guh und ZO nuh
Alpina	al PEE nuh
Armand Nicolet	are MAHND NIK o lay
Audemars Piguet	AWE duh mahr PEE gay
Baume & Mercier	BOWM and MURSE ee ay
Bédat	BAY dah
Blancpain	BLAHNK pan
Bovet	BO vay
Breguet	BREH gay
Breil	BRILE
Breitling	BRITE ling
Bulova	BULL uh vuh
Bulgari	BUL guh ree
Carl F. Bucherer	Bucherer: BOO kur ur
Cartier	KARR tee ay
Chase-Durer	CHASE DUR ur
Chopard	show PARD
Corum	KOR um
Cuervo y Sobrinos	KWER vo ee so BREE nohs
Custos	COO stohs
Cyma	SEE muh
Daniel Roth	Roth: ROTE
De Bethune	deh bet OON
DeWitt	deh VITT
Doxa	DOX uh
Dubey & Schaldenbrand	due bay and SHALL den brand
Ebel	ee BELL
Favre-Leuba	FAHV LUBE uh
F.P. Journe	Journe: ZHURN
Franck Muller	FRAHNK MYOU ler
Frédérique Constant	FRED ur eek con STAHNT
Gérald Genta	Genta: JEN tuh
Girard-Perregaux	zhee RAHRD PAIR uh go
Glashütte Original	glass HOO tuh or ig in AHL
Glycine	GLY seen
Greubel and Forsey	GROIB uhl and FORCE ee
Hublot	U blow
Hysek	HIGH sek
IWC Schaffhausen	Schaffhausen: shaff HOWZ in
Jaeger-LeCoultre	zhey ZHER leh KOOLT
Jaquet Droz	ZHOCK ay DROH
Jean Dunand	ZHAHN due NAHND
JeanRichard	zhahn ree SHARD
Kobold	KO bald
Limes	lee MEZ
Longines	LAWN jeen
Louis Érard	loo ees air AHRD
Louis Moinet	loo ee mwah NAY
Louis Vuitton	lou ee vwee TAHN
Maurice Lacroix	Lacroix: LAH KWAH
Mido	MEE doe
Milus	mee LOOSE
Montblanc	MOHNT BLAHNK
Moser	MO zer
Movado	muh VAH doe
Mühle Glashütte	MEW luh glass HOO tuh
Nomos	NO mose
Officine Panerai	off ih CHEE nay PAN ur eye
Omega	o MAY guh
Parmigiani Fleurier	pahrm ih ZHAH nee FLUR ee ay
Patek Philippe	pah TEK fill EEP
Paul Picot	Picot: pih CO
Perrelet	PAIR eh lay
Piaget	pee ah ZHAY
Rado	RAH doe
Ralph Lauren	Lauren: LOR en
Richard Mille	REE shard MEEHL
Roger Dubuis	roe ZHER do BWEE
Seiko	SAY ko
Sinn	ZIN
TAG Heuer	TAG HOI ur
Tissot	TEE so
Tutima	TOO tih muh
Ulysse Nardin	you LEESE nahr DAN (The last syllable is spoken with a short, nasal “a” with no real equivalent in English. The “n” is not pronounced fully, but cut off in the back of the mouth as soon as it begins.)
Universal Genève	Genéve: jeh NEV
Vacheron Constantin	VASH er ahn kon stan TAN (For last syllable, see note for “Ulysse Nardin.”)
Van Cleef & Arpels	Arpels: ahr PELL
Victorinox	vick TOR ih nox
Vulcain	VULL CAN
Wenger	WEN ger
Wittnauer	WIT now ur
Wyler Genève	VEE ler jeh NEV
Xemex	ZEM ex
Zenith	ZEH nith

Part II: Watchmaking Terms

Parlay voo fransay? If not, you may be having a helluva time pronouncing many common watch terms. That’s because French isn’t just the language of lovemaking, it’s also the language of watchmaking. Here’s a pronunciation guide for some hard-to-say watch terms (two of them, “tachymeter” and “telemeter” aren’t French, but they’re so often mispronounced they may as well be).

anglage
ahn GLAHZH (the “ge” at the end is pronounced like the “Zs’s” in “Zsa Zsa Gabor”)

carrée
care AY

chablon
sha BLOHN (The “OHN” is pronounced with a nasal sound for which there is no exact equivalent in English. The “N” is not pronounced fully.)

chaton
sha TOHN (The “TOHN” is pronounced with a nasal sound for which there is no exact equivalent in English. The “N” is not pronounced fully.)

chronometer
kruh NOM ih ter

Contrôle officiel des Suisse Chronomètres
kon TROLE oh fish ee ELLE day SWEESE kro no MET

côtes de Genève
KOTE duh je NEV

dauphine
doe FEEN

ébauche
ay BOSHE

feuille
foy

foudroyante
foo droy AHNT

fusée
fyu ZAY

guilloché
gee (hard “g”) oh SHAY

ligne
LEEHN ye (The “ye” is cut off so quickly that it is almost inaudible.)

manufacture (as in “Patek Philippe is a manufacture.”)
man u fak TUHRE

monopoussoir
mah no poo SWAHR

perlage
pur LAHZH (See “anglage” above.)

Poinçon de Genève
pwan SOHN duh je NEV (The “pwan” is pronounced with a nasal sound that has no precise equivalent in English. The “n” at the end of the syllable is not pronounced completely.)

quantième perpétuel
KAHNT ee em per PEH tyoo ELLE

rattrapante
rah trah PONT

remontoir
ruh mon TWAHR

repassage
ray pah SAHZH (See “anglage” above.)

réserve de marche
ruh ZERV duh MARSH

sonnerie
sohn ur EE

tachymeter
tak IH muh ter

telemeter
tel EM ih ter

tourbillon
TOUR bee ohn