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Results for Universal Genève

1,505 articles · 95 videos found · page 35 of 54

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Highlights: Independent Watchmaking at Marteau & Co SJX Watches
F.P. Journe Mar 12, 2026

Highlights: Independent Watchmaking at Marteau & Co

After its successful indie-focused First Strike auction last October, upstart auctioneer Marteau & Co is back with The Echo, an online-only auction that opens at noon Geneva time on March 12 with a focus on independent watchmaking. Marteau & Co was founded just last year, and one of its cofounders is Arthur Touchot, an industry veteran who spent several years as a journalist followed by a stint at a prominent auction house. Now all-in with Marteau, Mr Touchot brings his insider’s to Marteau, explaining its unique position in the market. The Swiss auctioneer sets itself apart with its intriguing “Maker’s Fee” concept, which rewards the maker of the timepiece with 3% of the hammer price for each watch sold, allowing a brand to benefit from the appreciation of its products. While artists’ resale rights, or droit de suite, is far from a new concept, and has been codified into law in the European Union and United Kingdom, Marteau & Co’s approach is the first instance of its application in watchmaking. Lot 1 – Daniel Roth Chronograph Ref. 2147 When Daniel Roth launched his eponymous brand in 1988, after helping revitalize Breguet, he also created the genre of independent watchmaking we know today, preceding even Franck Muller and F.P. Journe. With his double ellipse case design Roth pioneered the idea of building a brand around a single strong design language, a contrast to the menagerie offered by other high end brands of the time, an approach later followed by ot...

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Introducing – The Matte, Monochromatic Gerald Charles Masterlink Boutique Edition Monochrome
Gerald Charles Mar 3, 2026

Introducing – The Matte, Monochromatic Gerald Charles Masterlink Boutique Edition

With the Masterlink Boutique Edition, Gerald Charles aims to reinforce its preference for controlled distribution and direct customer dialogue. Available only through the brand’s boutiques in Geneva and Nagoya, this limited edition follows the earlier Masterlink series. First introduced in 2024, the Masterlink asymmetric case builds on the Maestro design by Gérald Charles Genta, featuring […]

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Introducing: Three New Raymond Weil Millesime Small Seconds Watches With Tuxedo Dials Fratello
Audemars Piguet winning Feb 27, 2026

Introducing: Three New Raymond Weil Millesime Small Seconds Watches With Tuxedo Dials

Three years ago, the Raymond Weil Millesime Automatic Small Seconds timepiece won the GPHG 2023 Challenge Watch Prize. That was a bigger surprise to most watch fans than Audemars Piguet winning the Grand Prix for the Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4. Since that award-winning watch, many variations have debuted. And truth be told, they all […] Visit Introducing: Three New Raymond Weil Millesime Small Seconds Watches With Tuxedo Dials to read the full article.

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Introducing – The Snow-White Alpina x Label Noir Alpiner Manufacture Date Special Edition Monochrome
Alpina x Label Noir Alpiner Feb 10, 2026

Introducing – The Snow-White Alpina x Label Noir Alpiner Manufacture Date Special Edition

Renowned for its rugged all-terrain watches for outdoor adventures, Alpina goes off-piste with its new Alpiner Manufacture Date watch made in collaboration with Geneva customisation expert, Label Noir. Reflecting Alpina’s close ties to the alpine world, the Alpina x Label Noir features a snow-white dial and an unprecedented (for the brand) hammered case. The 130-piece […]

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Introducing: The Urwerk UR-100V Lightspeed Ceramic Fratello
Urwerk UR-100V Lightspeed Ceramic Urwerk Feb 6, 2026

Introducing: The Urwerk UR-100V Lightspeed Ceramic

Urwerk is always up to something fun, and today’s new UR-100V Lightspeed Ceramic is proof. While we’ve seen this complication before, it now comes with some novel material innovations. Let’s have a closer look. It doesn’t feel like so long ago that we were visiting Urwerk’s headquarters during Geneva Watch Days. However, only six months […] Visit Introducing: The Urwerk UR-100V Lightspeed Ceramic to read the full article.

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Roaring Twenties Marque Niton is Born Again SJX Watches
Feb 5, 2026

Roaring Twenties Marque Niton is Born Again

A long defunct Geneva watchmaker, Niton has been revived and is getting off the ground with the Prima, a historically-inspired jump hour watch. With some serious tricks up its sleeve – the proprietary calibre is surprisingly excellent – the Prima might just be the right new-meets-old infusion the watch market needs.  Initial thoughts Bringing back defunct but once illustrious watch manufactures is not a sure thing, and Niton might be more challenging than most given the lack of name recognition. The brand, however, did have a glorious, if short, history. The introductory model of the recently revived brand is the Prima. While the watch takes its inspiration from pieces made in the 1930s, the overall impression is more evocative of retro-futuristic 1960s. Rounded typography, thick indices, and a concentric pattern on the central minutes disk all make for a look that’s equally comforting and refined.  Arguably the best surprise is the in-house NHS01 inside the Prima. A square movement developed in-house, the ambitious, hand-wound NHS01 integrates the jump hour complication with the in-line minutes disk and small seconds display, all while bearing the coveted Poinçon de Genève. Seeing a small independent brand earn the demanding hallmark for its first run of pieces is nothing short of amazing. Both versions of the Prima sit at under the CHF50,000 mark, which places the model in the upper echelons of pricy independent time-only watches. However, one might argue the P...

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Introducing – The Ultra-complicated Audemars Piguet 150e Héritage Pocket Watch Monochrome
Audemars Piguet 150e Héritage Pocket Watch Feb 3, 2026

Introducing – The Ultra-complicated Audemars Piguet 150e Héritage Pocket Watch

For its 150th anniversary, Audemars Piguet has chosen a format that predates the wristwatch yet remains central to the brand’s most ambitious technical expressions: the pocket watch. The new 150e Héritage pocket watch directly references the Manufacture’s historic ultra-complicated pocket watches of 1899 (L’Universelle) and 1921 (La Grosse Pièce). It is also connected to milestones […]

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Introducing: New Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Openworked And Malachite-Dial Models Fratello
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Openworked Feb 3, 2026

Introducing: New Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Openworked And Malachite-Dial Models

I vividly remember visiting the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), the predecessor of Watches and Wonders, in Geneva in 2010. Alongside Richard Mille, Richemont Group brands, and a few others, Audemars Piguet showcased its latest creations. That year, the Royal Oak Openworked ref. 15305 stood out to me. It was based on the […] Visit Introducing: New Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Openworked And Malachite-Dial Models to read the full article.

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Audemars Piguet Inaugurates Arc Manufacture in Le Brassus SJX Watches
Audemars Piguet Inaugurates Arc Manufacture Jan 26, 2026

Audemars Piguet Inaugurates Arc Manufacture in Le Brassus

Audemars Piguet (AP) has formally inaugurated the Arc Manufacture in its historical home of Le Brassus. Designed by de Giuli & Portier of Geneva, the 23,700-square metre building will accommodate 700 employees under one roof - a number that would have been almost unheard of in the days of the historical établissage system. It connects to, and partially wraps around, the existing Manufacture des Forges, which was completed in 2008 and housed around 300 employees - an impressive figure for its time. The expanded manufacture should ultimately help boost production, especially considering it was designed with Industry 4.0 in mind. In other words, it’s a smart factory. This includes a Goods-to-Person (GTP) automated sort and retrieval system which uses 66 robots to pick the needed components, which are then delivered by robotic shuttle. While such systems are already used by high-volume luxury watch brands like Rolex and Omega, few haute horlogerie brands have the volumes to justify such an investment. According to AP, the GTP system saves an average of 15 seconds per operation. But more than scale, the new manufacture should deliver higher quality of product – namely superior reliability and less defects – across AP’s offerings. Like other new manufactures of its type, the Arc is extremely energy efficient as well thanks to 321 metres of electrochromic glass, which can automatically change opacity to regulate the amount of light, and heat, allowed in. The building...

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Best of 2025: Surprises and Unexpected Developments SJX Watches
Rolex Land-Dweller Dec 23, 2025

Best of 2025: Surprises and Unexpected Developments

From one-off artistic creations to new escapement technologies, 2025 delivered more than its share of surprises and unexpected developments. Brands with institutional research and development departments led the way with unexpected material breakthroughs, while Geneva’s oldest watchmaker surprised (and delighted) with a clock of astronomical proportions. Rolex Land-Dweller and Dynapulse Escapement - SJX Given its institutional nature, Rolex rarely surprises, but when it does, the brand does so in a big way. The Land-Dweller was unquestionably one of the biggest debuts from Rolex in a long time. The integrated bracelet design is certainly a departure from the prevailing house style, but the Land-Dweller is a landmark mainly for the movement inside, the cal. 7135 that boasts the Dynapulse escapement. While Rolex movements have enjoyed largely incremental improvements for years, the cal. 7135 in the Land-Dweller is a radical break because it’s an all-new movement with an all-new escapement. The Dynapulse escapement is one of the most forward-thinking inventions by Rolex, arguably ever. A double-wheel, detached and indirect-tangential impulse escapement, the Dynapulse is arguably among the most advanced escapements on the market today – and the cal. 7135 is probably the most precise self-winding movement on the market. More crucially, it is being produced at scale. A new escapement is an achievement, but a new escapement manufactured in large numbers is a bona fide fea...

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Interview: Sylvain Berneron on Building a Brand, and Rethinking Modern Watchmaking Worn & Wound
Cartier Crash but Dec 19, 2025

Interview: Sylvain Berneron on Building a Brand, and Rethinking Modern Watchmaking

Every few years, a new independent hits the scene with something that hits just the right notes to get all the factions of the watch world vibrating at the same frequency. However, no recent newcomer has managed to unite the watch echo chamber the way Swiss independent Berneron has.  When Berneron unveiled their debut offering, the Mirage, in 2023, it was universally lauded as the most intriguing and refreshing new watch seen in ages. The Mirage was a legitimately unique take on upscale watchmaking, with a striking aesthetic and design narrative as unexpected as its asymmetrical shape and wildly ambitious bespoke movement. The Mirage’s styling was initially met with comparisons to the Cartier Crash, but the reality is its melted case shape was an elegant solution for housing the watch’s impressive mechanics–a case shrink-wrapped around a new caliber that was designed from scratch, free from the rules of traditional movement design.  The Mirage was a helluva of a breakout hit; it had mystique, it was technically impressive, and it was different without resorting to arbitrary design choices. The Mirage’s success would be difficult to replicate, but with the Quantième, Berneron has both side-steped the sophomore slump and cemented the reputation of its founder and Creative Director Sylvain Berneron as a true visionary and a generational talent.  The Quantième applies Berneron’s virtuosic technicality to a watch that embraces a more traditional look than the Mir...

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Complicated Collectors: James Ward Packard SJX Watches
Patek Philippe had just completed movement Dec 9, 2025

Complicated Collectors: James Ward Packard

On 27 April 1927 a nurse walked into a room at the Cleveland Clinic carrying a leather case. The patient was sixty-four, a section of skull removed, the ache of radiation still working behind his eyes. On the charts he appeared as James Ward Packard, co-founder of Packard Electric and Packard Motor Car Company. To the nurse he was a difficult case. To Geneva he remained the client for whom Patek Philippe had just completed movement number 198’023, an astronomical watch that had absorbed three years of calculation and bench work. James Ward Packard. Image – Lehigh University Photograph Collection Inside the case lay a carillon minute repeater on three gongs, coupled to a full perpetual calendar with moon phase, equation of time, and sunrise and sunset indications calculated for Warren, Ohio. On the reverse, a deep blue sky disk carried five hundred and twelve gold stars, turning at sidereal speed around a small Polaris. The sky above his birthplace had been compressed into a circle of lapis and gold, moving in his hands as it moved above the town where he had been born, built factories, endowed an engineering laboratory, and which he now understood lay beyond any realistic hope of return. Consolation held little appeal for him. Packard placed his trust in precision, in the ability to describe a situation so exactly that it became bearable. The watch answered a question he had circled since childhood: if the world always exceeds your grasp, can you still know, to the min...

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Introducing – A Lesson in Dress Watch Etiquette with the New Raymond Weil Toccata Heritage x seconde/seconde Monochrome
Raymond Weil Dec 1, 2025

Introducing – A Lesson in Dress Watch Etiquette with the New Raymond Weil Toccata Heritage x seconde/seconde

Raymond Weil is on a roll. As a brand we rarely covered, third-generation CEO Elie Bernheim is upping the tempo for the family-run Geneva-based brand. What started with the well-designed, retro-inspired MiIllesime of 2024, designed from scratch with contemporary specs, is now a fully fledged and very successful collection. Recently treated to a makeover, the […]

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Hands-On With The New Ulysse Nardin × Urwerk Ur-Freak [Live Photos] Fratello
Ulysse Nardin × Urwerk Ur-Freak [Live Nov 19, 2025

Hands-On With The New Ulysse Nardin × Urwerk Ur-Freak [Live Photos]

Some watches catch you off guard, and then there are the ones that genuinely stop you in your tracks. The Ulysse Nardin × Urwerk Ur-Freak belongs firmly in the latter camp. I first saw it during Geneva Watch Days a couple of months back, inside Ulysse Nardin’s boutique, when someone slid a non-disclosure agreement across […] Visit Hands-On With The New Ulysse Nardin × Urwerk Ur-Freak [Live Photos] to read the full article.

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First Look – The New and Incredibly Elegant Laurent Ferrier Classic Origin Beige Monochrome
Patek Philippe when his […] Nov 19, 2025

First Look – The New and Incredibly Elegant Laurent Ferrier Classic Origin Beige

As one of the most admired independent watchmakers with a hallmark style defined by elegant understatement, it is hard to believe that Laurent Ferrier’s brand was established just 15 years ago. A third-generation watchmaker and car racing enthusiast, Laurent Ferrier (Geneva, 1946) was about to retire after a 37-year stint at Patek Philippe when his […]

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Elemental Beauty: Exotic Stone Dials for the Biver Automatique SJX Watches
Piaget stone dials have outgrown Nov 19, 2025

Elemental Beauty: Exotic Stone Dials for the Biver Automatique

Stone dials have become an increasingly visible trend in recent years; once rare, they are now widespread. Yet most rely on a handful of familiar minerals such as malachite, lapis lazuli, and tiger’s eye, leaving little room for novelty. Biver has taken a different approach with the Automatique, offering a far broader and more exotic palette of materials that includes mahogany obsidian, quartzite, and lavender jade-alongside traditional enamel dials crafted by Geneva’s leading specialists. While the new dials take centre stage, the Automatique itself is largely unchanged, and still features one of the most technically interesting movements in the genre of high-end time-only watches. Initial thoughts Mineral stone dials seem to be everywhere these days. Once the domain of brands like Piaget, stone dials have outgrown their niche and become common enough that a cottage industry of suppliers has emerged to supply them at nearly all price points; even Timex offers malachite dials. But most brands are using the same handful of stone types like malachite, tiger’s eye, lapis lazuli, and other semi-precious, but actually quite common, minerals. This is where Biver goes its own way, offering a diverse and unusual selection of stone and enamel dials, along with a few ‘ordinary’ dials for more conservative collectors. In total, 11 new references join the collection, and each has the option for a precious metal bracelet that matches the case material. As a watch, the Autom...

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Hands-on – Up Close With The Manteio Zeus, The First Watch By Self-Taught Watchmaker Alex Goetschi Monochrome
Nov 14, 2025

Hands-on – Up Close With The Manteio Zeus, The First Watch By Self-Taught Watchmaker Alex Goetschi

As we (digitally) scour the globe to bring you some of the most special and unique independent watchmaking projects, we don’t always have the chance to see the watches ourselves. One such opportunity to go hands-on with something intriguing, however, presented itself during Geneva Watch Days, where we met with Alex Goetschi. As a self-taught […]

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Czapek Celebrates Ten Years with the All New Time Jumper Worn & Wound
Czapek Celebrates Ten Years Nov 12, 2025

Czapek Celebrates Ten Years with the All New Time Jumper

We’re heading into a big new release period as much of the watch industry descends on Geneva for the upcoming GPHG awards ceremony, and then heads to Dubai for the Dubai Watch Week festivities. There’s sure to be a ton of news made in the next two weeks as this year’s best watches receive their flowers and we get a first look at many of the new novelties that will close out the year as head into the holiday rush, and tempt us for 2026. Czapek, the Swiss indie best known for their Antarctique line of integrated bracelet sports watches, is first out of the gate among higher end independents with a new novelty just announced today. The Time Jumper is an audacious new piece made to celebrate the brand’s tenth anniversary, reaching back into Czapek’s roots before the current incarnation of the brand was incorporated, and also putting a new spin on a complication that has been all the rage this year.  When I first heard that Czapek would be releasing something new and splashy to celebrate their tenth anniversary, my mind immediately began wondering “I wonder what kind of Antarctique they’ve come up with?” I should not have been so cynical, but it’s an unavoidable fact that the brand has really leaned into the popularity of the integrated bracelet sports watch platform since the first of these watches was introduced around five years ago. There have, of course, been many iterations, limited editions, and complications, and it probably would have been easy enoug...

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Bi-Retrograde’s Back: Roger Dubuis Hommage La Placide SJX Watches
Roger Dubuis Hommage La Placide Celebrating Nov 12, 2025

Bi-Retrograde’s Back: Roger Dubuis Hommage La Placide

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Roger Dubuis (RD) revisits its earliest triumph with the Hommage La Placide, a 28-piece limited edition that reimagines the brand’s signature bi-retrograde perpetual calendar. Named for the late Dubuis’ childhood Boy Scouts nickname, the Placide celebrates the classical roots of the Geneva-based manufacture while honouring the design codes that first put RD on the map three decades ago. Faithful to the originals yet refined in execution, the Placide reaffirms the brand’s ability to merge mechanical ingenuity with expressive design - a reminder that beneath its modern flamboyance lies genuine horological pedigree. Initial thoughts Roger Dubuis today is best known for its over-the-top, modern design - skeletonised movements, sharp case lines, and a visual language that often borders on the theatrical. It’s a far cry from the brand’s origins three decades ago, when Dubuis himself was focused on classical watchmaking rooted in Genevan tradition. Paying tribute to those early creations, the Placide reimagines the bi-retrograde perpetual calendar that first established the horloger genevois 30 years ago. The bi-retrograde perpetual calendar was first conceived in the late 1980s, when Dubuis collaborated with Jean-Marc Wiederrecht to develop a novel perpetual calendar mechanism featuring twin retrograde indicators for Harry Winston. It was only in 1995, upon founding his own brand, that Dubuis introduced the complication ...

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Hands-On With The Stunning New Atelier Wen Inflection Fratello
Atelier Wen Nov 7, 2025

Hands-On With The Stunning New Atelier Wen Inflection

Truth be told, I’ve waited for a long time to talk about the new Atelier Wen Inflection. I first saw the watches this summer in London and again a month later in Geneva. Before we go further, it’s important to note that what you’re going to see represents a major shift for the brand. I’ve […] Visit Hands-On With The Stunning New Atelier Wen Inflection to read the full article.

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Hands-On With The Hermès Cut Le Temps Suspendu And The Arceau Rocabar De Rire Fratello
Hermes Nov 7, 2025

Hands-On With The Hermès Cut Le Temps Suspendu And The Arceau Rocabar De Rire

When Hermès introduced the Cut at Watches and Wonders Geneva 2024, we said it arrived fashionably late to the integrated-bracelet party. However, the quirky 36mm pebble-like cushion case, in combination with the playful numerals, brought something exciting to the popular and overcrowded genre. At Watches and Wonders this year, the Parisian maison didn’t introduce any […] Visit Hands-On With The Hermès Cut Le Temps Suspendu And The Arceau Rocabar De Rire to read the full article.

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In-Depth: Patek Philippe Ref. 1518 in Stainless Steel SJX Watches
Patek Philippe Ref 1518 Nov 5, 2025

In-Depth: Patek Philippe Ref. 1518 in Stainless Steel

Many superlatives have been ascribed to what might be the most valuable watch this fall auction season – the Patek Philippe ref. 1518 in stainless steel. Headlining Phillips’ upcoming auction in Geneva, the steel ref. 1518 is paradoxically extraordinary and ordinary all at once. As the first serially-produced perpetual calendar-chronograph wristwatch, the ref. 1518 is already a landmark Patek Philippe wristwatch, one that spawned a lineage that includes the refs. 2499, 3970, and 5970. And then there’s the ref. 1518 in steel – only four are known. The steel ref. 1518 has rarity, historical importance, and an eight-figure value; but on the wrist, this “holy grail” is compact, lightweight, and monochromatic, discreetly low-key. At a diminutive 35 mm in diameter, the ref. 1518 is small by today’s standards. The watch doesn’t look like much on the wrist from across a room; in fact, it isn’t immediately obvious to a layperson (or even a casual watch enthusiast) that the watch is worth more than most houses and vintage Ferraris. Yet the ref. 1518 in steel is appealing for many intellectual reasons: extreme rarity, historical lineage of the perpetual calendar chronograph, even sheer value. This is a trophy in many senses. Historically, the ref. 1518 was important even in its time. It was once Patek Philippe’s most complicated regular production wristwatch, and the steel ref. 1518 was likely the most expensive steel Patek Philippe when it was in the catalogue. ...

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J.P. Morgan Jr.’s Watches Emerge, Including First-Ever Cartier Mystery Clock SJX Watches
Cartier Mystery Clock Philips’ upcoming Nov 4, 2025

J.P. Morgan Jr.’s Watches Emerge, Including First-Ever Cartier Mystery Clock

Philips’ upcoming sale in Geneva from November 8-9 includes two timepieces owned by John Pierpont Morgan Jr., widely known as Jack Morgan. Heir to a financial empire, Morgan was the first chairman of what is now JPMorganChase, and more pertinently, inherited the sensibilities of his father, J. Pierpont Morgan Sr., in collecting and gifting. Morgan Sr. was a collector on a grand scale, and across categories. The catalogues of his collections spanned volumes – two books for Chinese porcelain, four for miniatures, and a single volume for his watches and clocks, albeit a 350-page tome that weighed almost 6 kg in its original edition. The penchant for collecting was passed on to Jack Morgan, who evidently had sharp tastes in watches and clocks. The two timepieces going on the block at Phillips illustrate that. One is the first-ever Cartier mystery clock, a Model A sold to Morgan in 1913. And the other is one example of the “Morgan caliper”,  a series of minute repeating, split-second chronograph, tourbillon pocket watches made for J.P. Morgan & Co., which were gifted by Morgan Sr. and Jack Morgan to the firm’s partners and important associates. Titans of finance In 1913, Louisiana senator Arsène Pujo formed the Pujo Committee to investigate the growing concentration of financial power in the United States. The committee found that an inner circle of partners at J.P. Morgan & Co. and its two largest proxies held 341 directorship positions across the boards of 34 majo...

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