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Joël Pynson
September 2025
1. The Geneva Circle
Sarcar was founded in Geneva in 1948 by Georges Ketterer, Paulette Pellaton, and Charles Sarzano [1].
These figures were well known in Geneva's watchmaking circles. Georges Ketterer was chairman of the board of directors at Vacheron & Constantin, and in 1957 he joined the board of directors at Manufacture des Montres Niton in Geneva. Paulette Pellaton and Charles Sarzano, who married in 1959, were also members of the Niton board of directors in 1957, with Charles Sarzano as chairman [2].
There were therefore close ties between Vacheron & Constantin, Sarcar, and Niton, which explains the exchange of calibers and watches between these companies.
The Sarcar Genève brand was registered in 1950. Sarcar produced watches in precious metals, in particular a classic of Swiss luxury manufacturing: watches integrated into gold or silver coins.
1959
The soul of Sarcar is Charles Sarzano, a savvy businessman and prolific creator of stunning jewelry watch designs [3].
2. Sarcar Geneva creations
Until his death in 1975, Charles Sarzano created numerous models of Sarcar watches, prized by a wealthy clientele and regularly exhibited at the Montres et Bijoux de Genève event.
1967
1971
After Charles' death, Paulette and her son Jean-Charles Sarzano took over [4].
The company's creativity remained undiminished, and the "quartz crisis" had little effect, as Sarcar focused more on the design than the caliber. The watches were mainly quartz, but some models were mechanical with complications.
1980
1984
1984
In 1986, Sarcar released its flagship model, which quickly became a classic for the company: the Magic Moon model, characterized by its diamond-paved motif that rotates with each movement of the arm.
This model was produced in numerous versions, and the moving motif was also used on several other models.
1986
1992
Sarcar still exists and offers designer watches where diamonds take center stage: https://sarcar.com/
[1] FOSC 1948
[2] FOSC 1957
[3] Europa Star, 1967, 44, 2, pp. 102-107
[4] FOSC 1974 et 1975
The FOSC (Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce) is available on E-periodica
Notes:
About Time To Tell: Time To Tell has one of the largest private digitized databases on the history of Swiss watchmaking, with over 2.5 TB of data on more than 1,000 Swiss watch manufacturers. This database has been built up over a period of around 30 years and continues to be updated with around 50 to 100 GB of data each year. The database consists of old documents, mainly Swiss trade journals, dating from the late 19th century to the late 20th century. Most of these documents are not available on the Internet. The historical articles published on the time2tell.com website always cite the sources used.
Time To Tell is a private company, independent of any watch manufacturer.
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