Movements
Created Thursday 27 June 2024
A. Schild
founded 1896 - closed 1983 (merged with ETA 1979)
- Schild S.A. (also known as ASSA) was an ebauche and watch movement maker operating from the 1890's through the 1970's. Adolph Schild, formerly associated with Eterna, began producing watch movements in Grenchen, Solothurn after 1896. Schild produced many different movements and became one of the largest movement makers in Switzerland by the 1920's.
In 1926, ASSA was combined with A. Michel AG (also of Grenchen) and Fabrique d' Horlogerie de Fontainemelon (FHF) (of Fontainemelon) to create Ebauches SA. Each component company maintained independence and branding, but the combined entity was able to weather the difficult economic conditions of the depression and World Wars and rose to dominate Swiss movement manufacturing. A. Schild would become part of ASUAG (along with Eterna) in 1931. After 1939, A. Schild movements were identified by a stamped marking featuring a shield with the letters "AS" inside. A. Schild movements were used by many manufacturers in the 1950's through 1970's, including such familiar names as Harwood, Fortis, Enicar, and even Jaeger-LeCoultre.
The quartz crisis of the 1970's hit A. Schild especially hard, as inexpensive Japanese and quartz watches cut into the market for volume-produced three-handed watches. By 1979, Ebauches SA, including A. Schild, was merged with ETA (also of Grenchen) to survive. ETA had been formed by Eterna after the departure of Adolph Schild, so this merger was a historic reunion of Schild family movement-making. A. Schild movements are greatly respected today for their reliability, and many new old stock pieces remain in use. Indeed, manufacturers like Alexander Shorokhoff and Favre Leuba continue using A. Schild ebauches in new watches.
ETA
ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse (ETA SA Swiss Watch Manufacturer) designs and manufactures quartz watches and both hand-wound and automatic-winding mechanical ébauches and movements. Commonly referred to as ETA, the company is headquartered in Grenchen, Switzerland, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Swatch Group.
Though ETA was founded by Eterna in 1856 some part of its production line can be traced back to the 1793 founding of Fabriques d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon (FHF) by David Benguerel, Isaac Benguerel, François Humbert-Droz and Julien Humbert-Droz.
ETA is the result of successive consolidation of the Swiss watch industry, a combination of several former Swiss watch movement manufacturers including Valjoux, Peseux and Lemania.
In 1856 at Grenchen, Urs Schild, a schoolmaster, and Dr. Girard set up a watch movement (ébauche) factory which eventually became Eterna. In 1926, ETA AS (the movement branch of Eterna, founded in 1896) and FHF (founded in 1793) took part in the creation of Ébauches Ltd. In 1978 AS and ETA merged and in 1985 ETA took in all the activities done before by Ébauches Ltd and FHF (both part of SMH/Swatch Group).
Sellita
Sellita (Sellita Watch Co. SA) is a Swiss manufacturer of mechanical watch movements based in La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel. Founded in 1950, Sellita was one of ETA's major outsourced assembly partners for their movements until 2003.
After 2003, Sellita developed its own movements based on ETA movements with expired patent rights and has become one of the main movement manufacturers of the Swiss watchmaking industry.
DF&c
Dimier Frères & Cie
imported watch movemets for railway watches.
Some marked 'Selex'
In the 19th century, Dimier Frères & Cie continued to innovate, contributing to the advancement of watchmaking techniques. The company's craftsmanship and attention to detail helped it weather the various challenges faced by the industry over the years. The company registered the name SELEX in 1925.
Gédéon Thommen – Revue
The small town of Waldenburg had for centuries, sat on the important Basel – Geneva trade route through the Jura mountains in Switzerland. The constant traffic supplied the town with an income that supplemented the local agricultural industry. However, in the 1850s the trade route was disrupted when the Basel-Olten railway line bypassed the town. This threatened the town’s population with unemployment and poverty. As a result, in 1853 the town decided to enter the watch and clock-making industry and founded the “Société d’Horlogerie à Waldenburg” (Waldenburg clock and watchmaking company).
Thommen had already been a member of the Board of Directors since 1857. After the restructuring by Thommen, the company began to recover. Manufacturing and assembly methods were fundamentally improved. In addition, particular importance was attached to the production of quality watches. Tschopp retired in 1869.
Gédéon Thommen was now the sole owner and renamed the company “Gédéon Thommen – Uhrenfabrikation” (watchmaking). In 1870 Thommen patented the “System der Auswechselbarkeit der einzelnen Werkbestandteile” (interchangeable component system). This ground-breaking patent allowed for the manufacturing of interchangeable watch components. This made it possible to transfer to a series or assembly-line production system. Also, in 1870 Thommen introduced the “Remontoir-Patent”, which was for a winding system via a crown rather than a key.
The new manufacturing methods had an immediate effect on production. In a new factory, in 1870, 4,000 watches were produced. By 1890 the output had increased to 13,000 watches per annum. Thommen was becoming less and less dependent on suppliers, as the growing company could produce complete movement blanks in its own factory. In 1875, in parallel to the previous production of cylinder movement watches, Thommen started producing lever movement watches. The brand name of the watches during this period was GT.
Revue and Vertex
In 1890, Gédéon Thommen died as a result of a sudden illness. His son Alphonse took over the company. In 1905 Alphonse Thommen transformed “Gédéon Thommen – Uhrenfabrikation” into a limited company. The company would be called “Revue Thommen AG”. Additionally, in 1908, the brand name changed from GT to Revue. The company supplied watches for the UK market under the name “Vertex”. The UK agent for Vertex watches was Claude Lyons whose office was at 28 Hatton Garden, London.
Backlinks: Watches:Damas
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