Black Stainless Steel Nauticus Austro Limited Edition Men's Wristwatch 45 mm

Although its name may now conjure images of luxury Swiss timepieces — the minimalist Le Classique watch, the versatile Victor Chronograph — Bernhard H. Mayer began as a very different venture prior to earning its reputation for vintage luxury watches: a German coin mint. Now under the stewardship of its fourth generation, the company traces its roots back to the German town of Pforzheim, where, in 1871, the Mayer family began manufacturing tools for coin minting.

By the end of the 19th century, the coin minting endeavor at Bernhard H. Mayer had evolved to include the production of carved pocket-watch covers (thanks to the creative eye of Bernhard H. Mayer I) as well as coins and medals, including commemorative ones for the likes of Pope John Paul II, John F. Kennedy and Princess Diana and official coins for royal houses, central banks and governments. In 1936, the house was tapped to create the medals for the Summer and Winter Olympic Games in Germany. Ten years later, the family factory was destroyed by bombing during World War II.

Bernhard H. Mayer reopened its new doors in Pforzheim 16 years later and continued manufacturing coins and watch covers, but it wasn’t until the turn of the next century that the house would begin producing the kind of timepieces it makes today.

In the 1990s, the Mayer family began to manufacture gold coins for a limited collection of luxury coin watches made by Corum. (The Swiss watchmaker had long been in the coin watch business by then.) Not long afterward, in 2000, Bernhard H. Mayer partnered with the Swiss manufacturer Cimier. Mayer subsequently moved production of the brand’s watches to Switzerland, where it continues today under the eye of experienced craftsmen trained in the Swiss tradition (and working under the strict guidelines of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry).

Browse a collection of vintage Bernhard H. Mayer watches on 1stDibs.