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Joël Pynson
February 2026
1. Gagnebin et Nicolet
Armand Nicolet and Georges-Gustave Gagnebin went into business together in 1911 to establish the Gagnebin et Nicolet company in Tramelan [1].
1913
1916
The Niga brand (short for NIcolet-GAgnebin) was in use as early as 1916.
The factory specialized in anchor and cylinder watches of all sizes.
In 1929, the company acquired the Tramelan Jacot & Monnier factory, which produced Postala watches [2]. It then changed its name to Gagnebin and Nicolet, Niga and Postala Watch Manufacture.
But in 1932, Armand Nicolet left the company. He was replaced by Georges’s wife, Adèle Gagnebin-Rossel, and the company changed its name again to Gagnebin and Co., Niga and Postala Watch Manufacture [3].
Meanwhile, that same year, Armand Nicolet established his own factory under his own name and registered the Telda trademark (an anagram of Delta, also registered that same year) [3].
2. G. Gagnebin & Cie
The two brands, Niga and Postala, were then used side by side.
In 1941, Eric and William Gagnebin joined the board of directors, and the company became G. Gagnebin & Cie. SA [4]. When Georges Gagnebin died in 1941, his widow took his place.
1941
1946
1944
1946
But it was the Niga brand in particular that was promoted, so that by 1950 the company had become Comptoir des Montres Niga SA [5].
1950
1951
In 1955, the company reverted to the name G. Gagnebin & Cie [6], but the Postala and Niga brands were transferred in 1960 to Les Fils d’Armand Nicolet, Fabrique des Montres Telda, which does not appear to have used them.
G. Gagnebin & Cie ceased operations in 1967. However, it was recently relaunched in Biel: https://www.g-gagnebin.ch/
See also: Postala, Telda
[1] FOSC 1911
[2] FOSC 1929
[3] FOSC 1932
[4] FOSC 1941
[5] FOSC 1950
[6] FOSC 1955
The FOSC (Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce) is available at E-periodica
Notes:
About Time To Tell: Time To Tell has one of the largest private digitized databases on the history of Swiss watchmaking, with over 2.5 TB of data on more than 1,000 Swiss watch manufacturers. This database has been built up over a period of around 30 years and continues to be updated with around 50 to 100 GB of data each year. The database consists of historical documents, mainly Swiss trade journals, dating from the late 19th century to the late 20th century. Most of these documents are not available on the Internet. The historical articles published on the time2tell.com website always cite the sources used.
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