The true story of Leonidas watches

Name: The true story of Leonidas watches
Brand: Leonidas
SKU: 250

Brand: Leonidas

A major player in Swiss chronographs and counters in the 20th century, Léonidas is known today only to a handful of collectors and vintage watch enthusiasts.

Description

The company almost disappeared the first time, in 1911, and unfortunately the second time was the charm, in 1985.

1. The Bourquin dynasty

Julien Bourquin founded a watchmaking counter in St Imier in 1841 [1]. His son Ferdinand took over and turned it into a watch factory [2]. The company grew rapidly and produced anchor watches, marketed under the Simplicity or La Populaire names, and, as they were in St Imier, counters and chronographs. A patent for a chronograph mechanism filed by Ferdinand Bourquin in 1892 was even taken up by the famous Alfred Lugrin, who founded Lémania [3].

1895

Ferdinand Bourquin must have loved horse racing: in 1897 he registered a trademark with two galloping horses, a horse's head appeared on some calibres in 1903, and a beautiful equestrian illustration was also used from 1904.

1900

1903

1904

In 1902, the Léonidas trademark was registered, and later became the company name [4]. In 1903, however, the name Fabrique d'Horlogerie Beau Site was chosen [5].

Ferdinand Bourquin died in 1905 and was succeeded by his widow, Bertha [6]. The following year, she changed the company name to Leonidas Watch Factory.

1909

The factory continued to produce watches and chronographs, but poor management and dubious business dealings in Russia and Poland led to the bankruptcy of Léonidas in 1911 [7]. The company was put up for auction on October 14, 1911, and the lot fetched 65,200 Fr, a price corresponding to around 1/3 of the company's value. The buyer was Constant Jeanneret-Droz of Manufacture Junior, "a serious and competent man who will surely be able to put Leonidas back on its feet [8]".

1911

2. The Jeanneret dynasty

Constant Jeanneret-Droz was indeed a competent man. In St Imier, he manages the Manufacture Junior, created by his father-in-law in 1901 [9].

The manufacture of watches and chronographs resumed, as did the design of new calibers, since Léonidas was a manufacture that made its own movements.

In 1915, Léonidas began manufacturing wristwatches, "an item much appreciated by soldiers and sportsmen [10]".

1915

Constant Jeanneret-Droz died in 1916, and his wife, Jenny-Fanny Droz, took over, with the help of her sons Ernest and Charles [11]. As early as 1916, Léonidas produced watches for automobile dashboards with an 8-day power reserve.

In 1928, Charles Jeanneret takes over the Fabrique d'Horlogerie Berna [12], founded in 1864 by Alcide Droz and taken over in 1908 by Ernest Degoumois. In 1930, after the death of his mother, Charles Jeanneret took over Léonidas, but Léonidas and Berna remained two independent entities [13].

1928

1930

It was in the late 1920s that Leonidas began producing wrist chronographs and precision watches for aviation, in particular for the Italian Royal Aeronautics, which used them for the famous Rome-Brazil seaplane raids in 1931 and Rome-Chicago raids in 1933, commanded by General Italo Balbo, spearhead of the Mussolini regime's aeronautical propaganda [14].

1933

From 1935 onwards, Léonidas became a major player in chronographs and aviation instruments. A whole range of beautiful wrist chronographs, counters and aviation watches - countdown timers, 8-day chronographs, etc. - was launched.

One wonders, however, about the origin of the designs for the aviation watches. They were probably made by Thommen in Waldenbourg and Minerva in Villeret. However, the production of aviation watches requires special equipment, for example for testing watches at low temperatures, and the strict organization of a special department within the company.

1940

Léonidas began producing water-resistant watches in 1936 and water-resistant chronographs in 1938.

Chronographs with hour counters appeared in 1939. In 1941, to celebrate the company's centenary, Léonidas began producing chronometers, tested at the Bureau de St Imier [16], introduced a new range of watches, and hired the services of the famous illustrator René Bleuer for its communications. This resulted in some of the finest advertising produced in the 1940s.

1942

1946

In 1941, Léonidas took over Compagnie des Montres Sportex, another manufacturer of counters and chronographs, which had been founded in La Chaux-de-Fonds by Henri Montandon in 1928 [17], then transferred to St Imier in 1938 under the management of Ernest Mathez, who had worked at Léonidas and Berna [18]. When Ernest Mathez died in 1941, Charles Jeanneret integrated Sportex into Léonidas.

Leonidas in Africa

In 1951, Léonidas took part in the famous Méditerranée-Le Cap international rally: over 15,000 km of trails through the deserts, savannahs and forests of Africa, between Algiers and Cape Town [19]. In-house chronographs were fitted to the Buick of Swiss competitor Henri Berney, who, along with his team-mates, wore Léonidas wristwatch chronographs.

After completing the race, Henri Berney set off again on the Belgian competitor's Ford, covering the distance Cape Town-Alger-Paris in the record time of 13 days, 15 hours and 45 minutes!

All the chronographs having worked perfectly, he wrote: "LEONIDAS chronographs have once again justified the great reputation they have acquired over the years in the field of precision watchmaking [20]."

As chronographs fell out of favor in the 1950s, Léonidas, like other specialists such as Heuer and Breitling, began manufacturing classic, automatic, calendar, alarm and ladies' watches.

But Léonidas had no model policy: no "Navitimer" or "Speedmaster" to make a name for the brand. For example, the beautiful diving model with internal rotating bezel (Piquerez case), launched in 1962, has no unifying name, unlike, for example, the Universal Polerouter Sub, with the same case.

What's more, in 1962 Léonidas enthusiastically launched an electric watch, thanks to the provision by Ébauches SA of the Landeron 4750 caliber, whose spiral balance is maintained by a battery-powered electric system [21].

Poorly accepted by watchmakers and offering no gain in precision, this caliber was a commercial flop. In 1964, Ed Heuer & Co and Léonidas merged under the name Heuer-Leonidas SA [22].

3. The Heuer dynasty

Although Charles Jeanneret becomes Chairman of the Heuer-Leonidas Board of Directors, it is Charles, Hubert and Jack Heuer who run the company. The Berna brand is abandoned and the Léonidas brand is limited to sports watches. In 1969, Charles Jeanneret resigned as Chairman of the Board [23]. He died in 1979.

1964

The last Leonidas watch was released in 1972. It was the Easy Rider chronograph, also signed by the racing driver Jacky Ickx. Heuer was very involved in sports timekeeping and automobile sponsorship [24]. Aimed at a young public, this economical chronograph had a chrome-plated metal or synthetic case, and a Roskopf-type movement with pin-lever.

In great difficulty during the "quartz crisis", Heuer-Leonidas was taken over by Nouvelle Lémania in 1982, which sold it to the Techniques d'Avant-Garde(TAG ) group in 1985. The new company was named TAG-Heuer, marking the end of the Leonidas name [25].

4. Main Leonidas watch models

Leonidas has produced numerous wristwatch chronographs with designs typical of their respective eras.

1936

1938

1942

With a few rare exceptions, Leonidas did not use a specific name for these watch models. Some of them, however, are characteristic of the St Imier firm's production.

- 1940s calendar chronograph

There are many versions of these calendar chronographs, the most interesting being those with moon phases.

- non-chronograph calendar watch with moon phases

This model is fairly typical of Leonidas production, as the company had patented the display of calendar functions in 1947 [26]. It was produced with different case shapes and in manual or automatic versions.

- Leonidas alarm clock

Launched in 1955, this model was equipped with the characteristic Venus 230 Alertic caliber, with its small aperture at 9 o'clock indicating the alarm's operating status.

- Leonidas diver

This beautiful watch, water-resistant to 200m, is equipped with a Piquerez case with internal rotating bezel. The hands are distinctive.

- Chronographe Pilote

This model, sometimes called Air-Navigator [27] or Pilote, resembles a diver's chronograph with its imposing black rotating bezel. It was water-resistant to 100m. It is difficult to date. Indeed, even though it was presented at the Basel Fair in 1963, the Journal Suisse d'Horlogerie reported in 1958 that "Léonidas presents a diver's watch that is at the same time a chronograph. This is a unique piece of its kind [28]. In all likelihood, this is the Pilote model.

According to period documents, this chronograph was equipped with a balance stop by action on the crown. Production was limited as a result of the Heuer-Leonidas merger.

5. Aviation instruments

Leonidas began to take an interest in aviation instruments in the early 1930s. It was a time of crisis, and this diversification was undoubtedly welcome.

In 1933, Léonidas was the official supplier of the Italian Royal Aeronautics. These were watches and chronographs very similar to what the company was already making for the general public. But Léonidas then equipped itself to manufacture and, above all, test under appropriate conditions, instruments adapted to the extreme temperatures and vibrations typical of aviation. Thus, as early as 1938, return counters, aircraft chronographs with 8-day movements, and chronographs for aviators with rotating bezels appeared in the Léonidas ranges.

At the same time, very similar or even identical models were being produced by Thommen and, to a lesser extent, Breitling. There must therefore have been exchanges between these manufacturers, or at least common suppliers.

Two models, however, appear to have been manufactured exclusively by the St Imier firm:

- chronograph model 429

This is a chronograph with rotating bezel and 60-minute totalizer. It was available in 1 or 8-day versions, and with or without central seconds. Chronograph functions were operated by pressing the crown at 6 o'clock.

- the model 425 chronograph

This chronograph, with an 8-day power reserve, is operated by two pushers and can therefore take optional stops into account. It features an hour totalizer that can operate independently of the chronograph.