A community for watch & horology discussion.
Hi everyone ! My grandfather passed away from few years now and I was looking on this stuff and he has a lot a watches. I’ve found this one and as a watch noob and can’t recognise the brand. Can someone help me ??? Thx
I dont know that Hewlett & Packard have this model 😂
This is a LIP, they were making movements for Blancpain at some point in time.
LIP but clearly not a watch from their good era (90's to 2010's), the company was in very bad health and used to "spread" their watches via monthly journals submissions for free, or were sold in the baddest watch stores in the ugliest suburbs malls.
Yes it’s lip a famous french brand of watches. Was mid tier in the 60’s and 70’s. Then died. Then was revived as an entry level brand with heritage. Mid quality. Some nice designs. Vintage inspired.
Lip, they're French I believe
I was going to say Hewlett Packard too. I mean...great laptops and printers for the record lol but no that's not it
A Hewlett Packard watch! Rare find!
L I P watches.. I’m more bothered about the hour Indicators.. stick to an alignment and run with it.. this is wonky AF
you don't see that every day..
As someone else commented, Lip was a big manufacturer that ended up going bust in the 70s or so. The brand was bought and produced terrible watches for a little while, and has since started producing new models that are great quality and really reasonably priced (I have 3), kind of “microbrand” type. Cool piece !
Nice looking watch, can’t help ya on the brand though but it seems like some others in here have. My condolences for the loss of your grandfather.
You should post a pic here of his collection, I always love seeing the older generations taste in watches and what their collections look like. My grandfather left me a few watches and he had a Seiko for everyday use and some really nice pieces for special occasions. If you do end up making a post of his collection please comment here and let me know, I’d love to see it!
Hope you’re well and have a wonderful day.
hp?
Hewlett-Packer watch? :)
It's very famous in France because there was... a massive strike in their factory...
The strike is actually "only the first 5%" of the story.
In fact it's not the strike that made it famous in France but the fact that in order to avoid the secret dismantlement of the company : they made it so it was later ran by the workers instead of shareholders, aka self-management by the workers.
Some excerpts from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIP_(company)):
1973
"In May 1973, an Action Committee (CA, Comité d'action), influenced by the May 1968 movement, was founded. During an extraordinary works council meeting on 12 June 1973, workers stumbled upon the management's plans to restructure and downsize, which had been kept secret from them (one note said "450 à dégager", "get rid of 450").The company then employed 1,300 workers."
[...]
"However, the workers were angry at the secret restructuring plan and immediately occupied the factory. On the same day, June 12, they took two administrators and an inspecteur du travail (government labor inspector) as hostages."
[...]
"The workers also took the plans of the factory, to avoid any risk of the competition obtaining these industrial secrets. The following day, the workers held a general assembly and decided to occupy the factory day and night."
[...]
"The workers now decided to open up the factory to outsiders, including journalists. This made them more popular. "
[...]
"A large demonstration of 12,000 persons in the average-size town of Besançon, took place on 15 June 1973. Three days later, a general assembly of the workers decided to continue production of watches, under the workers' control, to insure "survival wages." The LIP struggle was thereafter popularized with the slogan C'est possible: on fabrique, on vend, on se paie! (It is possible: we make them, we sell them, we pay ourselves!). "
[...]
1976
"Shareholders forced Claude Neuschwander to resign on 8 February 1976 and the Compagnie européenne d'horlogerie started liquidation proceedings in April. Problems between workers and management began again. On 5 May 1976 LIP workers again occupied the factory, restarting the production of watches. "
[...]
1980
"The second struggle did not end until 1980, when six cooperatives, employing 250 workers out of a total of 850, were created. Most of the other workers who had joined the struggle (around 400) were either hired by the city, or signed agreements granting them early retirement. The cooperatives lasted between 3 and 12 years. Three of them, which have since become incorporated, still exist today, employing a hundred workers each. "
ETC ETC...
I was going to say it was a Lip but i was beaten to the punch i'm not sure about the model.
When did Hewlett-Packard get into the watch game?
That’s the first thing I thought as well.
I see it too! Def thought it was the HP logo.
As an IT guy this was my first thought too lol. It's also a very cool logo that they don't use as much as they should IMO.
It’s cool looking, I like it. Your grandfather had nice taste!
Yes, I found it very nice I have to keep looking in his collection !
This is from the biggest French watch manufacturer until it's big downfall in the 70's, LIP. You should definitely look at lip history, it's sooo interesting.
And if you are more interested in this brand, you should definitely visit the time museum in Besançon
Time museum in Besançon is awesome, I second this OP and yeah, Lip had such great designs, very 'avant-garde', it's worth checking it out!
Besançon
Yeah, I used to kick the hell out of that town in Civilization III.
I thought it was Harry Potter for a second!
Hewlett-Packard
Lip
It’s a Lip, my parents received one of those with their magazine subscription in France! Ended up selling it a couple of months ago :)
That’s exactly the same, how much did you sell it for??
It's the company I work for that made this watch . They have a repair department I work in , and spare parts . If you want to send it in for repairs ?
No thanks, for the moment I will just keep it for me, I found it very nice. I’m just looking for the name of the model..
That’s on the back lid of my laptop, hp - Hewlett-Packard
