Haute-Rive is an independent Swiss watchmaking brand founded by Stéphane von Gunten, a watchmaker from La Chaux-de-Fonds who carries more than three generations of watchmaking in his family. The brand takes its name from the ancestral atelier of Irénée Aubry — von Gunten's great-great-grandfather — who operated his workshop at Haute-Rive in Chez-le-Bart, and whose inventions became some of the most celebrated in 19th-century horology.

Irénée Aubry was known to his neighbours simply as "the inventor." In 1887, he created an exceptional pocket watch for the Jura canton's gift to Pope Leo XIII — a timepiece capable of running 40 days without winding, unprecedented at the time. In 1888 he received the Cross for the Church and papal recognition, followed by success at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle. His most enduring invention came with patent no. 88, filed January 10, 1889: an eight-day pocket watch that became one of watchmaking's major commercial successes between 1890 and 1930 under the name Hebdomas, winning prizes at multiple World Expositions.

Stéphane von Gunten spent nearly twenty years working for prestigious watchmaking houses before establishing Haute-Rive as an independent brand — a decision he describes as extracting himself from the time constraints of large groups to find complete freedom of expression. He crafts each watch individually, in a traditional manner, as both engineer and visionary: a self-described humble innovator, conscious of the limits of his art and working to push them back.

The brand's philosophy — haute horlogerie, tradition et innovation — is embodied in its flagship creation, the Honoris Prima: a wristwatch that holds a world record for power reserve, achieving 1,000 hours of autonomy with a single mainspring barrel and tourbillon. It is an hommage aux valeurs familiales, à l'humain, au partage — honouring family values, humanity, and the transmission of craft across generations.