Lip watches have been worn by Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Dwight Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, the great French aviator Jean Mermoz and Eric Tabarly, the French sailing legend. The French house located in Besançon in eastern France has an extraordinary history. The first phosphorescent dials in watch making were created for Lip by Pierre and Marie Curie in 1904 and who had discovered radium in 1898. Lip was founded by Emmanuel Lipman in 1868 who was succeeded by son, Ernest and grandson Fred. Innovative designs would become the hallmarks of the house. But what brought the house of Lip onto national television every night and overnight and into the international press as well was what was known as the Lip affair, one of the most famous labor conflicts of the 1970s. Protesting the imminent shutdown of their factory by a majority shareholder (no longer the Lipman family), the workers would eventually occupy the manufacture in 1973, sell their watches themselves at times in the parking lot, at times elsewhere, keep the factory running and pay themselves their salaries, offering a remarkable example of workers’ self-management. Their slogan C’est possible: on fabrique, on vend, on se paie ! (It is possible: we make them, we sell them, we pay ourselves!). 

Today the house, which after years of turmoil and different owners was acquired by SMB-Lip in 2014 and the company has maintained the manufacture in France. The house recently presented its watch commemorating the C’est possible labor movement with a limited edition watch brought out in 1,973 pieces, an echo of the year the landmark labor movement took place, with the famous slogan C’est possible: on fabrique, on vend, on se paie !  on its dial. Outfitted with a steel case, a quartz movement and a leather strap, the watches are made in Besançon. The watch joins the house’s other models still imbued with cutting-edge designs and superb movements. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette. https://www.lip.fr/en/