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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Besançon, France

Lip

Needs research

French series-produced wristwatches

History

Besançon's best-known watch firm grew from a family workshop into France's principal wristwatch manufacturer, supplying the domestic market through the twentieth century before industrial collapse and repeated reorganisation in the 1970s.

Major innovations

  • Early French series production of electric and electro-mechanical wristwatches

Known markings

  • 'Lip' on dial and movement
  • French assay and case-maker marks inside the case

Serial numbers

French case and assay marks are often more useful for dating than movement numbers; factory records are not comprehensively published.

Collecting significance

Studied chiefly as a record of French industrial watchmaking and mid-century design rather than for high-grade movement work.

Photographs

Lip 0451
Lip 0451 — Jamin, CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons file page
Lip Electronic
Lip Electronic — Ofbarea, Public domain. Wikimedia Commons file page
Lip Biters (8152137802)
Lip Biters (8152137802) — Tony Alter from Newport News, USA, CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons file page

Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.

Sources & references

  1. Histories of the Besançon watch industry
  2. Detailed model and calibre chronologies for Lip are not well documented in accessible sources.

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.