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Joel Pynson
Published: January 2025
Manufacture Junior was founded in St Imier in 1901 by Paul-Louis Droz [1]. The following year, it was taken over by his son-in-law Constant Jeanneret-Droz and renamed Manufacture Junior, Jeanneret-Droz [2].
The Manufacture produces high-quality anchor pocket watches,
1908
At the time, St Imier was a hotbed of chronograph manufacturing, so it's not surprising that Constant Jeanneret took an interest. He did so in an original way, creating 3 patented counters [3] in 1910 called " montre compteur universel ".
These are "stop-in-flight" counters, i.e. the large central hand, which makes one revolution in 1 hour, runs continuously, and can be reset to zero by pressing a pusher. As soon as the push-button is released, the hand starts moving again.
1910
The first version of this counter is called an observation counter, and is a simple way of measuring events lasting up to an hour.
The second version is called the billiard counter. It works on the same principle, but the "zero" is at 7 o'clock. The central hand indicates the elapsed time, but also the price to be paid according to the length of play, with a scale for play during the day and another for play in the evening!
Finally, the third version, known as the "observation counter", combines a billiard counter with zero at noon and a small dial at 6 o'clock, where a particular time can be memorized by means of a small thumbwheel.
These counters had a brief existence: in October 1911, the Léonidas factory in St Imier went bankrupt and was put up for auction. Constant Jeanneret-Droz bought it.
See also : Leonidas
[1] FOSC 1901
[2] FOSC 1902
[3] Brevet CH 50245