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Joel Pynson
November 2024
1. Creation in the Franches Montagnes
1925
The brothers Marc and Henri Aubry founded their watchmaking factory in Le Noirmont, in the Franches Montagnes [1], in 1920 [2]. However, 1917 is ultimately considered to be the year the company was founded, as their father, Arnold, had actually started the business before them.
They started out as "finishers," assembling watches for other brands, but quickly became "manufacturers," producing watches under their own name. Gaston Aubry joined the company in 1926. They registered the Ciny trademark in 1928 [3], and the company became Aubry Frères, montres Ciny. The word Ciny comes from the last letter of each of the three brothers' first names, combined with the last letter of their surname: Marc, Henri, Gaston Aubry.
1931
Ciny focused primarily on wristwatches and was quick to adopt technical innovations: watches with a clearly visible central seconds hand, designed for nurses, for example; jumping hour watches in 1930; watches with a window calendar, among the first produced in Switzerland, from 1933; and waterproof stainless steel watches in 1936.
1933
The 1930s were years of crisis for Swiss watchmaking, and Ciny managed to survive thanks to a Geneva-based company working in the Eastern and Far Eastern markets: West End Watch.
West End Watch was a company first established in St Imier in 1893 as a branch of the company Droz & Amstutz in Bombay, in what was then known as British India [5]. It moved to Geneva in 1916 [6]. In 1923, Ciny became the exclusive supplier to West End [7]. This collaboration enabled Ciny to survive the years of crisis.
1939
The first automatic watches appeared in 1939, and water resistance was regularly highlighted in advertisements, some of which were created by the famous illustrator René Bleuer.
1941
For the company's 50th anniversary in 1942, Ciny presented its first chronographs.
When Henri Aubry died in 1946, just as Ciny had begun to have some of its watches certified as chronometers, his son Marcel joined the board of directors [8]. He took over as CEO in 1961.
1959
In 1963, opening of an Espérus mechanical workshop in Sagnelégier.
By the end of the 1960s, Ciny had become a medium-sized factory, employing 180 people and producing around 1,000 watches per day [9]. But in the early 1970s, the company underwent a change in status.
2. Marcel Aubry's multiple companies
"There were three possible paths: the first was to sell the company, (...) the second was to create and develop a single international brand, (...) and the third was to buy strong brands in certain markets [10]."
It was indeed this third path that was taken. In 1972, Marcel Aubry took over Arthur Dorsaz et Cie, the manufacturer of Dogma watches in La Chaux-de-Fonds [11], and the following year he took control of West End Watch [12]. The factory in Le Noirmont was expanded to increase production capacity to more than 400,000 pieces per year.
1976
In 1974, Marcel Aubry expanded the Société mécanique Espérus to manufacture mechanical and electronic devices [13], and in 1978, after the bankruptcy of the Synchron group, Aubry Frères took over the Ernest Borel, Doxa, and Auréole brands [14]!
This acquisition marks the end of the Ciny and Dogma brands.
Despite commendable attempts to revive the West End and Ernest Borel brands, Aubry Frères was in difficulty at the end of the 1980s, and its distributor in Asia, Hong Kong Truly, had to provide financial support to the company. It finally took control of the company in 1997.
See also: Ernest Borel, Dogma, West End
[1] This name is linked to the fact that this mountainous region was, at one time, exempt from taxes and duties.
[2] FOSC 1920
[3] FOSC 1928
[4] La Suisse Horlogère, weekly edition, 1977, 33, pp. 763-765
[5] FOSC 1893
[6] FOSC 1916
[7] La Suisse Horlogère, weekly edition, 1973, 6, p. 154
[8] FOSC 1946
[9] Swiss Watchmaking Journal, 1968, 1, p. 126
[10] Marcel Aubry, interviewed by the Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie in 1981
[11] FOSC 1972
[12] La Suisse Horlogère, weekly edition, 1973, 6, p. 154
[13] FOSC 1974
[14] The Synchron group's other brand, Cyma, was taken over by Claude Guilgot (Fabrique Delvina in Geneva).
The archives of the Fédération Horlogère, Davoine, and Impartial are available online at www.doc.rero.ch.
The archives of the Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie, Europa Star, Revue Internationale d’Horlogerie, and Suisse Horlogère are available at The Watch Library.
The FOSC (Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce) is available on E-periodica.
Notes :
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