Jaguar was founded in 1938 by the Swiss watchmaker Peter Haas, who took the big cat as his reference for what a watch should be: strength, precision and a certain restraint in how it shows them. The Festina Group acquired the brand in 1989 and pushed it internationally without moving it away from Swiss watchmaking, and the positioning today is unambiguous — these are watches built to be worn and used rather than kept behind glass, aimed at buyers who want clean, functional design and Swiss quality at a price that stays reachable.
Every collection except the connected line runs a Swiss Made movement, with sapphire crystal and 316L stainless steel throughout, and the calibres come from Ronda, Valjoux, ETA and the group's own manufacture Soprod. Automatics now account for close to a fifth of the catalogue, a shift that began in 2021 when the Balancier collection introduced Soprod automatic movements to the brand. The range is organised into five lines: ESSENTIA, the Swiss Made entry point built on minimalism and balanced proportions; DIPLOMATIC, more expressive and youthful; CERAMIC, with ceramic bezels and, on some references, full ceramic bracelets; AUTOMATIC, including a women's version that ships in its own box with a second strap; and CONNECTED, developed in-house at the Festina Group Technology centre in Sweden.
The current campaign, Be More Jaguar, is shot in open landscapes and built around effort and ambition rather than heritage — a deliberate choice for a brand that presents itself as unbound by horological tradition. Every watch comes in a gift box and carries a 24-month international guarantee.