This chronological list of famous watchmakers is a list of those who influenced the development of horology or gained status by their creations. The list is sorted by the lifetimes of the watchmakers.
Until 1400
Amemhet (1555–1505 BC), Egyptian count and engineer, clepsydra.
Peter Friedrich Ingold (also: Piere Ingold) (1787–1878), Swiss watchmaker and manufacturer, La Chaux-de-Fonds/Boston, pocket watch, tools (Ingold-Fräse).
Henri Lioret (1848–1938), French watchmaker and inventor, Paris, automatons, first useful audio recordings.
1850–1900
Joseph "Joe" Koen (1859–1944), Russian watchmaker & jeweler, Born in Vilna, Russia, immigrated to Austin, Texas. Koen founded Joe Koen & Son Jewelers in 1883 - Texas' oldest independently owned jewelry store.
Carl Ranch (c. 1900), Danish chronometer maker
Albert Favarger (1851–1931), American clockmaker, Neuchâtel, electric slave clock
Richard Bürk (1851–1934), German entrepreneur, Villingen-Schwenningen. Württembergische Uhrenfabrik Bürk.
Arthur Junghans (1852–1920), German clockmaker, Schramberg, founder of Junghans.
Curt Dietzschold (1852–1922), German engineer, watchmaker and teacher, director of the watchmaking school Karlstein a. d. Th. (Austria).
Gustav Speckhart (1852–1919), German clockmaker of the court, inventor and clock collector, Nürnberg.
Ludwig Strasser (1853–1917), German clockmaker, Glashütte, precision pendulum clocks, German watchmaking school Strasser & Rohde.
Wilhelm Schultz (1854–1921), German watchmaker and editor, Stuttgart/Berlin, German calendar watchmaker.
Paul David Nardin (1855–1920), Swiss watchmaker and Regleur, Le Locle.
Josef Nicolaus (1855–1923), Austrian chronometer maker, Vienna, deck watch.
Yoshikazu Akahane (died 1999), Japanese engineer, creator of Seiko's Spring Drive mechanical movement regulated by a quartz oscillator instead of a traditional escapement.
Roberto Bertotti (born 1967), Italian watchmaker, fixing most of the watches, clocks, chronometers, Pendulum clocks, etc. Workshop in Rovereto, Italy.
Helmut Krieg: Uhrmacher im Bergischen Land. Rheinland Verlag, Cologne 1994, ISBN3-7927-1478-7.
Brian Loomes, G. H. Baillie: watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World: Complete 21st Century Edition. Robert Hale Ltd, 2001, ISBN978-0-7198-0330-7.
Patrick Wesche, "Antique Chronographs" Ritter Verlag. Munich 2009.
T.B. McMillan put forth the entry for Joseph "Joe" Koen, founder of Joe Koen & Son Jewelers.
Jürgen Abeler: Meister der Uhrmacherkunst. 2. Auflage Uhrenmuseum Wuppertal, Wuppertal 2010, ISBN978-3-00-030830-7.
Georg von Holtey; Ursula Bischof Scherer; Albert Kägi: Deutschschweizer Uhrmachermeister und ihre Werke vom 14. bis 19. Jahrhundert. Chronométrophilia, La Chaux-de-Fonds 2006, ISBN978-2-88380-33-5.