Just like luxury brands, some brands might be in a whole other language and can be tough for English speakers to pronounce. It can be embarrassing when we distort the names, and even more uncomfortable when someone corrects us. Therefore, we have chosen some of the more popular yet challenging watch brands and wrote their names out phonetically to help you prepare for your next shopping trip.
Next time you head into a luxury watch boutique, you can tell them exactly which brand you’re looking for with confidence. Don’t worry; after you have read through our list a few times; you will start to see some similarities and rules for pronunciation.
Popular Watch Brands & How To Pronounce Them
Audemars Piguet – How many of you read Oh-de-mars Pee-Ju-et? The correct pronunciation is AWE-duh-mar PEE-gei.
Bremont – BREH-mon. The “T” is silent.
Bulgari – BUL-ga-ree. This one seems a bit easier.
Cartier – A famous jewelry brand as well, this is pronounced CAR-tee-eh
Chopard – Show-PARD. CH is often pronounced SH with Swiss brands.
Daniel Roth – His last name is pronounced Rote.
Frederique Constant – One of my favorites, this one is Fred-er-eek con-STAHNT.
Girard-Perregaux – Zhee-RARD PAIR-ah-goe.
Graham – Another of my favorite watch brands: Gram.
Hublot – You-Blow
IWC Schaffhausen – The second word is Shaff-HOWZ-in.
Jaeger-LeCoultre – Pronounced quite differently than the hard liquor, it’s zey-Zher le-KOOLT.
JeanRichard – Zhan ree-SHARD.
Longines – LAWN-jeen.
Louis Vuitton (LV) – Perhaps one of my favorite luxury bag brands, they make watches too! Pronounced Lou-ee Vwee-TAHN.
Maurice Lacroix – Maurice is how you would usually pronounce it: Moreese, La-KWAH.
Montblanc – Mohnt Blahnk
Patek Philippe – pah TEK fill EEP
Paul Picot – Paul Pee-COH
Piaget – pee-ah-ZAY
Rado – RAH-Doe
Seiko – SAY-Koe
TAG Heuer – Tag HOI-ur
Tudor – Tu-dor
Tissot – Tee-Soe
Universal Geneve – Universal is as you would pronounce it, and the second word is Jeh-NEV.
Van Cleef & Arpels – Van Cleef & Ahr-PELL
Vulcain – VULL-CAN
Wenger – Wen-ger
Xemex – ZEM-ex
Zenith – ZEH-Nith
Be honest, have you been pronouncing your favorite watch brand correctly? I know some of the pronunciation above surprised me. It could be easier for those who have learned French, but for those who haven’t, I hope this list helps.
Luxury brand names often adopt words that aren’t in our native tongue, and that’s okay. Getting the name of a watch right not only shows you know the brand but respects it as well. While not all of us may be timepiece connoisseurs, the least we can do is pronounce our favorite ones correctly. Happy shopping!
