Jacques Beaufort, a watchmaker from a small village close to Bémont, founded his own watch company in 1920. He chose the name "ELYSEE" for his business and produced valuable gold timepieces, jeweled with diamonds, until the 1940's. Straight from the beginning Jacques Beaufort's timepieces had an excellent reputation as regards quality and design. Innovative details such as solid gold extention bands had been far ahead of these times. Jacques Beaufort died and a long time later, in 1960, ELYSEE was newly founded by the company Harer in Pforzheim/Germany. Harer's watch collection included mechanical timepieces with automatic and handwinding movements; the company also produced jewelry made of gold. The company started to extend by exporting their goods to neighbouring countries like Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

In 1991 Reiner Seume acquired trademark rights for ELYSEE. According to his philosophy ELYSEE's timepieces were repositioned during the following years. Most notably it is the gents' collection which shows symbols of ELYSEE's approved tradition. Its design is influenced by the 40's and 60's and reminds positively of shapes and functions of these times without being oldfashioned. Today ELYSEE has become one of Germany's most prosperous brands which can also be found in more than 27 countries worldwide.