Fortis was founded in 1912 in Grenchen, Switzerland, by Walter Vogt, who built the company’s headquarters there that year. In 1926 Fortis worked with British watchmaker John Harwood on the Harwood Automatic, among the first self-winding wristwatches. The brand released its first chronographs, including the Rolls and the Autorist, in 1937, and in 1943 introduced the Fortissimo models, among the earliest waterproof watches. In 1994 Fortis became the exclusive supplier to crewed Russian space missions, and its Cosmonauts Chronograph was worn aboard the Mir space station; in 2004 its Flieger Chronograph won the first European Aviation Watch of the Year trophy.
After financial difficulties led Fortis to file for a debt restructuring moratorium in 2017, private investor Jupp Philipp took over and the company was renamed FORTIS Watches AG. It remains privately held, with Philipp as owner and chief executive, and still operates from Vogt’s 1912 building in Grenchen. Its current range focuses on aviation and space-inspired watches such as the Flieger, the B-42 and the Stratoliner, and it works with the movement maker Kenissi; in 2025 the Stratoliner S-41 Reentry Edition won a Watch Design of the Year award.
