Michel Herbelin
For those who appreciate good design without the heavy price tag.
Founded in 1947 in France, Michel Herbelin is known for offering accessible Swiss timepieces that combine classic design with reliable quartz movements. The brand occupies a niche in the market for elegant yet affordable watches, appealing to those seeking quality without a luxury price tag.
Michel Herbelin is an independent, family-owned French watchmaker founded in 1947 in Charquemont, a Jura town on the Swiss border long associated with watch component manufacturing. The brand cases and assembles its watches in France while sourcing movements from established Swiss suppliers like ETA and Ronda, a structure that lets it undercut Swiss-made pricing while still offering dependable mechanical and quartz calibers. Its Newport line, introduced in 1988 with a distinctive octagonal bezel inspired by yacht-race timing, remains the brand's clearest signature and has since expanded into diver and chronograph variants. The Cap Camarat line extends that nautical identity further into dedicated dive-watch territory. For buyers who want French design at a price below Swiss competitors like Longines or Tissot, Michel Herbelin is a straightforward, unpretentious option.
Country
France
Founder
Michel Herbelin
Positioning
affordable, dress-watch
Main collections
Newport
$1,242
The brand's signature line, introduced in 1988 with an octagonal bezel inspired by yacht-racing timekeeping.
Newport Diver
$1,457
A dive-watch variant of the Newport, adding a rotating bezel and increased water resistance to the signature octagonal case.
Cap Camarat Diver
$1,296
A dedicated dive-watch line named after the French Riviera resort town, built around a more conventional round diver case.
Cap Camarat Chronographe
$2,808
A chronograph variant of the Cap Camarat line, adding motorsport- and dive-inspired sub-dials to the nautical case design.
Prices by collection
As of August 2026 — retail, before any market premium or discount
The brand's signature octagonal-bezel line, in steel.
Dive-rated version of the Newport case; typically at or below list through French retailers.
Round-cased dive watch drawing on the brand's Riviera heritage.
Chronograph version of Cap Camarat; sits at the top of the brand's range.
The brand
About Michel Herbelin
Michel Herbelin founded the company in 1947 at age 26, working out of a workshop above his parents' house in Charquemont, a village in the French Jura that was then home to 30–40 small family watch companies and effectively the centre of the French watch industry. His first watches were sold under the name 'Impec', short for 'impeccable', before the brand adopted his own name in 1965.
The brand's enduring commercial identity is the Newport, an integrated-bracelet sports-dress line that became one of France's best-selling watches. Every Herbelin watch is still conceived, assembled, adjusted, and inspected in the original Charquemont workshops rather than outsourced wholesale.
Why Michel Herbelin matters
Michel Herbelin matters for a specific reason: it's genuinely French-made, cased, assembled, adjusted, and inspected in the original Charquemont workshops, while movements come from established Swiss suppliers like ETA and Ronda — a structure that lets the brand undercut Swiss-made pricing without cutting corners on the movement itself.
Now run by the third generation of the family, the brand still competes on that French manufacturing provenance and price rather than on in-house movement engineering, aimed at buyers who want a genuinely French-made watch without paying Swiss-manufacture prices for it.
Style, fit & buyer profile
The Newport, introduced in 1988 with its distinctive octagonal bezel inspired by yacht-race timekeeping, is the brand's clearest signature and the reference most buyers start with. The Newport Diver adds a rotating bezel and increased water resistance to that same octagonal case for buyers who want the signature look with genuine dive-watch function.
The Cap Camarat line moves away from the octagonal case entirely into a more conventional round diver, with the Cap Camarat Chronographe adding motorsport- and dive-inspired sub-dials on top. Buyers choosing Newport or Newport Diver want the brand's most recognizable design; buyers choosing Cap Camarat want a more traditional dive-watch silhouette instead.
Price positioning
In the current 10h09 catalogue, the Newport starts the range at €870–€1,470, the Newport Diver runs €1,010–€1,750, and the Cap Camarat Diver sits close by at €920–€1,560. The Cap Camarat Chronographe tops the catalogue at €2,020–€3,130 as the brand's most complicated reference.
That range sits close to Yema, the independent French competitor Michel Herbelin is most often measured against — the real difference between them is Yema's heavier investment in its own in-house Morteau movement versus Michel Herbelin's reliance on Swiss-sourced ETA and Ronda calibers at a similar price.
What sets Michel Herbelin apart
Introduced in 1988, the Newport's octagonal bezel design, inspired by yacht-race timekeeping, remains Michel Herbelin's clearest and most enduring signature.
Michel Herbelin cases and assembles its watches in France while sourcing movements from established Swiss suppliers like ETA and Ronda, a structure that keeps pricing below Swiss-made competitors.
As an independent, family-owned watchmaker based in Charquemont near the Swiss border, Michel Herbelin has kept consistent design direction since 1947 without group ownership changes.
Browse all 29 references
- Cap Camarat — 1545B15
- Newport Héritage Chrono — 35664AP25
- Newport Slim — 1222AP15
- Newport Slim — 1222T15BL
- Cap Camarat — 1645B25
- Newport — 176815GON
- Newport Slim — 1222B15S
- Cap Camarat Square — 1646A14CA
- Newport — 1658AP89GD
- Newport — 1768A15GD
- Newport — 1658AP90B
- Newport Héritage — 1764T11BR
- Newport — 1768A15CB
- Newport — 1768B15
- Cap Camarat Diver — 1745A14CMD
- Newport — 1768G15CA
- Newport Diver — 1774AN154
- Cap Camarat Diver — 1745TITICK
- Newport Diver — 1774AN14CA
- Cap Camarat GMT Edition Limitée — 1445B15
- Newport — 1325CRN04
- Newport — 1335CRN04
- Cap Camarat Squelette — 1645BSQ116
- Newport — 1658SQ12GD
- Newport — 1868BSQ12
- Cap Camarat Square Squelette — 1646SQ115CBC
- Cap Camarat Chronographe — 245A42CA
- Newport — 256TRCN14
- Newport Carbone Squelette — 1888SQCTN14CA