is a storied Swiss watch manufacture, famous especially for producing chronograph movements and today part of Montblanc in the Richemont group. A family business through and through The brothers Charles and Hyppolite Robert founded in 1858 the company "H. & C. Robert" in Villeret in the Bernese Jura, later becoming just "C. Robert" when only Charles remained. At first the firm worked as etablisseur of pocket watches, preferring movements of Fontainmelon (FHF). In 1878 the sons Charles and Georges took over the leadership of the company. From 1885 also Yvan Robert participated in the company's management. The company's name was changed to "Robert Frères Villeret" and the new logo "RFV" (with an arrow) was introduced. At the same year "Robert Frères Villeret" took part in the "Expositions universelles" in Antwerp and 1889 at the Paris World Exhibition. At both exhibitions the company won medals for their watches. The company began registering brands in 1886, starting with "Mercure", adding "Minerva" in 1887, and "Ariana", "Tropic", and "Tropic" in 1898. Each had its own logo and products, and branded everything with either an "RFV" or an arrowhead logo. The arrow and Minerva brands remain to this day, though the rest have been discarded. From 1895 "Robert Frères Villeret" began with the production of its own watch movements and pocket watch cases in nickel and silver version. The housing production was finished in 1931. Until the turn of the century the firm of Robert's sons was continuously restructured into a real watch manufacture. The first Minerva calibre was a pocket watch movement with cylinder escapement. The company named each major movement sequentially, starting with Calibre number 1 and continuing through number 55 in the classic era. Today, the company produces numbers 15, 21, 22, 62, and 65. In 1908 "Robert Frères Villeret" began with the production of chronographs and stopwatches. From 1920 the ebauche movements were gilded in the own workshop. In 1923 the brand name "Minerva" was introduced, and in 1929 the company was renamed to "Minerva SA, Villeret". In 1934 Minerva SA was taken over by Charles Haussener and Jacques Pelot. In 1955 the shares of Minerva went over to the nephew and heir of Jacques Pelot, Andre Frey, and in 1960 the son in law of Charles Haussener, Maurice Favre, inherited his shares. Frey and Favre led the company until 1989, then Jean-Jacques Frey took over the management of the company together with his father Andre Frey. Under new management In the year 2000 the Frey family sold the company to an Italian investor. This was developing a new collection of watches, to continue the company's tradition of high quality manufacture products. The new manager Beppe Menaldo, who had been active in the watch area for 38 years (eg at Breguet and Blancpain) tried to maintain the authenticity of the watches and not to distort the spirit of the brand. In October 2006 the Swiss luxury goods group Richemont bought the Fabrique d'Horlogerie Minerva SA and secured the existing manufacture know-how. One result of this acquisition is the partnership between Minerva and Montblanc for the production of the collection Villeret 1858. Since then, Minerva is a department of Montblanc and is led under the name Institut Minerva de Recherche en Haute Horlogerie (Minerva Institute for top watchmaking art research). RECOMMENDATIONS All Antique watches are mechanical. Many repairs will not be cheap, as most likely they will require replacement of non-standard parts (unlike most late model watches). Antique watches should not be beaten or dropped - because repairs may be expensive. Antique watches are generally NOT waterproof. This is because waterproofing was not in general production until the middle of the 20th century for most watches. Therefore you should protect your antique watch from exposure to moisture. If your watch becomes wet it should be dried off quickly. Carefully open all covers and use a hair drier to blow dry the movement, dial, covers, crown. This will reduce the amount of rust. If your watch becomes wet with any kind of salt water you should immediately immerse or spray your watch with fresh (no-salt) water to remove all the salt from the works before drying the watch completely. Any salt left in the watch will combine with moisture in the air to rust metal components of the movement, case etc. Winding any mechanical watch tight may break the mainspring. If you can avoid it do not wind the watch hard. When adjusting the hands of your watch, move them in a clockwise direction only. Counter-clockwise adjustments may damage the movement. It is desirable to adjust the hands of your watch at the same time every day. An automatic or self-winding watch should be worn for at least 8 hours a day. It is a mechanical watch in which the mainspring is wound automatically as a result of natural motion of the wearer's arm, to provide energy to run the watch, making manual winding unnecessary. If you must adjust counter-clockwise make it for small adjustments only (i.e. for minutes, NOT hours). Be careful and gentle when adjusting the movement speed (faster or slower). Don't make sharp movements, and don't touch other components in the movement especially the pendulum mechanism. Every 2-3 years it is necessary to service and oil vintage watches. If the course of your watches is worsening and the accuracy of the reduction in the duration of the clock (autonomy) from one fully wound spring - it need a service. IF the watch is dirty - allow the watch to run down, don't wind it again until you have it serviced by a qualified watch repair expert. Dust will absorb and remove important lubricants and cause the movement pieces to wear down. To clean the case, dial and crystal you should use a cloth that does NOT leave fibers as these may get caught up in the movement. Check with your Watch repair expert to get an appropriate cloth. Keep your antiques watch away from magnets. Strong magnetic fields may affect the accuracy of your watch since some vintage watches were made with iron based components in the movement. Most Cases and Covers are fine components and will not handle abuse well. The watch should not be shaken, beaten, or stressed. Antique watches generally experience an error of up to 5-7 minutes a day. Any accuracy of +- 5 minutes is very good. Mechanical watch is not recommended to use for engage in extreme sports, and expose them to excessive vibration loads. Recoil force, which take on the clock, affect their reliability and precision. No matter how perfect was not anti-shock mechanism, there is always the chance of excessive load that details of the mechanism can not survive. Watch with calendar. It is not recommended to adjust, the date between 20.00 and 06.00, because at this time involved a mechanism for automatic adjustment date. Translation pointers calendars manually in this position arrows may damage the mechanism. Date changes should be made, relegating pre-clockwise to lower sector of the dial (for example, to position 6 (18.00) hours). Chronograph watches. In most cases, these watches contain the "start/stop" button and "reset" button. It is strongly recommended not to press the "reset" if the chronograph is running. Before you use the "Reset" button need to stop the chronograph by button "start/stop". Using the "reset" when running chronograph can damage the mechanism of most models of watches. 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