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Joël Pynson
December 2025
1. The Mosimann Era
Ulrich and Paul Ernest Mosimann registered their watchmaking business in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1883 under the name U. Mosimann & Fils [1], but the company had already been in operation since 1876.
After Ulrich’s death in 1889, Paul Ernest and Albert Mosimann took over the business under the name Mosimann frères[2].
1894
The factory produced all kinds of watches, including anchor-type and cylinder-type movements, as well as chronometers and watches with complications.
In 1895, the company became Mosimann & Cie, and the Mildia trademark was registered in 1907 [3].
In 1918, the company added "Fabrique Mildia" to its name [4].
1928
In 1931, the company became Fabrique des Montres Mildia SA, but two years later, Albert Mosimann left the company [5].
2. The Robert Era
After a brief transition period overseen by Marcel Vogel, Jean Robert, a watchmaker who had joined the company in 1918, became its director in 1936 [6]. It was from this point on that Mildia began to experience significant growth.
However, the watches were marketed by other companies, such as Montres Musette and Guy-Robert et Cie [7].
1932
1939
The factory produces high-quality watches: water-resistant chronographs, water-resistant watches for men and women, calendar watches, and even a few chronometers with observatory certification.
1942
1943
1945
1949
1951
1953
Starting in 1956, Mildia began offering automatic watches and was one of the companies to launch the Ductor Northline compass watch.
1955
1955
1956
1956
In 1960, Charles Robert joined Jean Robert, but Jean died in 1961, and Charles Wilhelm then took over the company.
Mildia subsequently entered a much less active period, which likely explains why Schwarz-Etienne acquired the company in 1976.
3. The Schwarz-Etienne Era
Schwarz-Etienne is a watch manufacturer based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, with roots dating back to 1905 [8]. Since 1969, Schwarz-Etienne has been led by the founder’s grandsons, notably André Herbert Schwarz [9].
In 1976, Schwarz-Etienne acquired Mildia and C. Wilhelm et Cie, another manufacturer based in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The companies remained independent but were managed by André and Paul Schwarz.
However, only Schwarz-Etienne’s brands—namely Alpha and, above all, Vénus—were used, and Fabrique des Montres Mildia ceased all operations in 2004 [10].
[1] FOSC 1883
[2] FOSC 1889
[3] FOSC 1895 et 1907
[4] FOSC 1918
[5] FOSSC 1933
[6] FOSC 1936
[7] FOSC 1941 et 1942
[8] FOSC 1918
[9] FOSC 1969
[10] FOSC 2004
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.
Time To Tell is a private company, independent of any watch manufacturer.
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