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Founded in the 1950s, Desotos was a major manufacturer of chronographs until the late 1980s.
The true story of Swiss watchmaking
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History of the brands
A medium-sized watch manufacturer, Aubry Frères played an important role in the 1970s, crossing paths with companies such as West End, Dogma, Ernest Borel and Doxa.
Created in 1930 by Achille Hirsch's sons in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Cervine disappeared in the 1960s.
Reconvilier watches suffered a double whammy: little appreciated during their existence because they were fitted with Roskopf calibers, and wiped out when American and then Asian quartz watches reached such low prices that the entire Swiss Roskopf watch industry disappeared.
Achille Hirsch created a number of businesses in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The Compagnie des Montres Invar was intended to produce precision watches with their own calibers. The Invar brand was subsequently used by Achille Hirsch's sons, and the company ceased to exist in 1992.
This long-established Swiss watchmaking company had very close links with the English Indies in the 19th century. After a period of transition, when the company was mainly active in the Orient, it returned to Geneva in the 1940s to develop particularly innovative models.
Founded by Pierre Nicolet, this Tramelan factory has remained faithful to mechanical watches and has not withstood the "quartz crisis".
This generalist manufacturer from La Chaux-de-Fonds merged with Zenith and Movado in 1969, before disappearing as a victim of the "quartz crisis". The brand was relaunched in Italy.
This La Chaux-de-Fonds-based watchmaker made a name for itself in 1937 with the launch of the first mass-produced repeater wristwatch, and in the 1970s with "concept-watches" that were far ahead of their time.
Roamer was one of Switzerland's most important watch manufacturers in the 1930s-1950s. It simplified the work of watchmakers with its keyless water-resistant watches. The 1970s and the quartz crisis hit it hard, but the brand was revived and still exists today.
This Fleurier factory had an eventful history, and didn't survive the crisis of the 1930s.
Achille Hirsch and his numerous descendants created multiple businesses in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The Vigilant Watch Manufactory was intended to produce economy watches and was one of the first Swiss factories to make wristwatches in 1900. It ceased to exist in the 1930s.