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Joël Pynson
October 2025
1. Ernest Tolck
Several manufacturers used the Octo brand in the early 20th century, but it was ultimately Ernest Tolck who acquired it.
It all began with Henry-Ulysse Tolck, who, according to the official history, founded his watchmaking factory in Fleurier around 1848 [1]. His son, Ulysse Tolck, took over the business and was registered as a watchmaker and seller of watch crystals in Fleurier around 1870 [1bis].
Upon Ulysse Tolck’s death in 1898, his son Ernest Tolck took over the business [2]. Like his father, he likely focused his production on the Far Eastern markets, a specialty of Fleurier.
In 1906, he decided to move to La Chaux-de-Fonds [3], and the following year acquired a patent from Eugène Couleru-Meuri for 8-day watches.
The Couleru-Meuri factory, which specialized in 8-day watches, had registered the Octo Non Magnetic trademark in 1903, and the 8-day watches were marketed by Marc Dubois & Cie and Gindrat-Delachaux in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
1913
1910
1916
Following the death of Marc Dubois, Ernest Tolck took over the Marc Dubois & Cie factory—successors to Léon-N. Robert—in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1916 [4]. This historic watchmaking firm, founded around 1870, was originally known as N. Bornand & Fils, then as Léon N. Robert in 1888, and finally as Marc Dubois in 1910 [5].
With this acquisition, Ernest Tolck was able to market 8-day watches, but he quickly diversified into ladies’ watches featuring exquisite movements, thereby cementing the company’s status as a watch manufacturer.
1918
1922
Although the Octo brand remained the property of Eugène Couleru-Meuri, it was ultimately transferred to Ernest Tolck in 1927, and his company thus became Fabrique Octo [6].
In 1929, Ernest Tolck filed a patent [7] for a rectangular movement with an 8-day power reserve. Fabrique Octo was then able to offer a complete line of 8-day watches: table clocks, ship’s clocks, and wristwatches.
1931
1932
In 1941, Ernest Tolck sold his company to Albert Etienne and his son Albert-Marius.
2. Montres Octo
The company was then relocated to Biel under the name Montres Octo [8]. It now operated as a watch assembler, producing watches based on movements from Ebauches SA, and there were no longer any 8-day watches in its lineup.
1946
1948
Octo, however, tries to set itself apart with original designs. One of the models, sometimes called the Foremost, has a winding crown at 5 o’clock, and model names began to be used starting in the 1950s: Lakemaster, Emblem, Jubilee, and Incurvé.
1953
1958
After Albert Etienne’s death in 1957, his widow, Madeleine Etienne-Borel, took his place in the company [9]. In 1960, Marius remained the sole owner of the company [10].
New models continued to be introduced: new Lakemaster models, the Missilemaster models in 1959, and the Skymaster models in 1963.
1959
1959
1961
In 1965, Octo launched an innovative compass watch, the Skynavy: it featured a compass on the back of the watch, and the watch could rotate within its case to reveal the compass.
1965
3. Octo in Asia
Octo ran into financial difficulties in the late 1960s and went bankrupt in 1968 [11].
Since the brand enjoyed a strong reputation in China, it was subsequently acquired by the Hong Kong-based Chinese group Chung Nam Watch Co.
1970
The brand was recently relaunched, again in Hong Kong: https://hashtaglegend.com/hong-kongs-beloved-vintage-watch-brand-octo-makes-a-comeback/
The current Octo watches website can be found here.
The main Octo watch models are listed here. (coming soon)
[1] Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie, 1958, 5, p. 576
[1bis] Davoine 1871
[2] FOSC 1898
[3] FOSC 1906
[4] FOSC 1916
[5] FOSC 1883, 1888 et 1910
[6] FOSC 1927
|7] Patent CH 141 602
[8] FOSC 1941
[9] FOSC 1957
[10] FOSC 1960
[11] FOSC 1968
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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