King Lear, Act I, Scene I. Enter Lear. "In the meantime, we will express our darker purpose / Give me the map there are aware that we have divided / In three our kingdom .. And it is our intention to fast / To shake all cares and business of our time / giving them younger strengths, while we / Unburthen'd crawl toward death. "This is certainly a way to divide the family business. And it seems to have been the method used not only by King Lear, but also by Alfred Cartier, jeweler of kings and king of jewelers.
Watchmakers and jewelers have traditionally been family businesses.Tissot, the Swiss watch manufacturer, was founded by Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son Charles-Emile in 1853. The Balsams - Brother Balm - Baume and Mercier were a close-knit group of Swiss watchmakers from a village in the Jura mountains. Crown Jewellers, Garrard & Co, have been a family business for nearly 150 years, Asprey, similarly. But none had a succession plan quite like Alfred Cartier.