In the mid 1600’s the great Dutch astronomer and inventor of the application of the balance wheel to the timepiece Christiaan Huygens sought religious refuge in the more hospitable and tolerant surroundings of Switzerland, where he was to found a precision timepiece factory. Just before he died, the grand master summoned his best apprentice, one Edward Higgins. On his deathbed, Huygens revealed to Higgins the secrets of how to carry on the fortunes of the firms. Thus it was Higgins that developed the watchmaker’s company into an Industrial outfit; the timepieces, until then exclusive to the rich nobility, were soon to become an indispensable instrument for the measurement of time, so much so that it was adopted officially by those paragons of timekeeping, the Swiss railways. The great merchants, bankers, and men from the great trades and professions of the time began to wear a Lancaster, which had come to symbolize outstanding technical and stylistic flair. Nearly 200 years have passed since Edward Higgins developed his “Lancaster” watchmaker’s business, named for his beloved hometown in England. Lancaster re-launched its watch collection in 1992. Today, Lancaster is present in about 2,000 exclusive boutiques throughout the Italian market. 100 watch stores in different European Countries and a few exclusive distributors throughout the rest of the world carry Lancaster watches.