Glossary · Trade
Comptoir
A Swiss trading house that commissioned, finished and exported watches under its own or a client's name.
Explanation
A comptoir was a Swiss trading or wholesale house that bought movements, cases and dials from independent workshops, assembled or finished watches and sold them under its own name. Much 19th-century Swiss production passed through comptoirs, so the name on a dial often belongs to a seller rather than to the maker of the movement.