Leopold Jordan, the sole proprietor of Swiss Jewellers was born and raised on a small farm in Austria. He realized at a young age that farm work was not for him and at age 15 he started his training to become a watchmaker at the Bundesfachschule in Karlstein. At 19 years old he became the youngest master watchmaker in Austria. While working in Vienna in 1981 the opportunity to come and work in Bermuda at the prestigious Astwood Dickinson presented itself and he made the move to the small island.
In 1988 he opened his first store Swiss Timing in the Walker Arcade as a service shop for watches and clocks and sold only two brands of watches. With their success and customer demands it lead to the second location on Chancery Lane where they were able to expand into the jewellery side of the industry. Ten years later the store was relocated to Front Street.
In 2019, the company rebranded to what is now Swiss Jewellers located at 9 Front Street and has a large focus on diamonds and custom jewellery designs as well as the original focus of watchmaking.
Our Jeweler, John Howgate from England joined in 2000 and has been with the company ever since. Prior to moving to Bermuda John completed a 5 year apprenticeship at David M Robinson in the UK. He studied hand making jewellery and has now expanded into computer aided design and 3D printing to create exquisite custom pieces.
In late 2021 Leopold’s daughter, Olivia, joined the company. Olivia attended University in Canada and then returned to the island where she worked in the insurance industry for both local and international companies for 5 years. After realizing she also had a passion for all things jewellery she made the career change to join the team at Swiss Jewellers to learn the trade and help in all aspects around the business.
