Georges Ruedin-Mathez
- See Also: Georges Ruedin, a watch case company in Bassecourt
Georges Ruedin-Mathez (1870-1935) was a watchmaker and businessman who directed the Reconvilier Watch Company. He came from the Ruedin family of watchmakers, with his father Jämes Ruedin (1833-1922) director of the Corgémont branch of the Fabrique d'Horlogerie de Fontainemelon and his brother Jämes Ruedin (1869-1936) running the ebauche factory Weber, Ruedin & Cie in Délemont.
Early Life
Georges Ruedin was born in 1870 in Corgémont where his father, Jämes Ruedin (1833-1922), was director of the ebauche factory, which was part of the Fabrique d'Horlogerie de Fontainemelon operation. His older brother, also named Jämes Ruedin (1869-1936) took over the ebauche factory of Emile Maître, becoming Weber, Ruedin & Cie, and partnered with another brother, Henri Ruedin, in watchmaking and a shoe manufacturing company, Labor SA, in Porrentruy.
The young Georges Ruedin spent his youth in Corgémont and soon joined the ebauche factory as a screw turner. He worked there until 1899, gaining a reputation as a conscientious hard worker. He also traveled in this period, making friends throughout the watchmaking world.
In 1899, Georges Ruedin joined forces with the Maître brothers in Le Noirmont, sons of Emile Maître whose factory Jämes Ruedin had taken over 4 years earlier. This became an important watchmaking company, with Georges Ruedin named in a 1901 patent for a watch movement.
Reconvilier Watch Company
Georges Ruedin left this association in 1902 to pursue a new opportunity in Reconvilier. The firm of Kuhn et Tièche had been taken over in 1870 by Charles Kuhn (1831-1888) and Emile Tièche following the death of Emile's father, company founder Dr. Emmanuel-Aimé Tièche (1810-1867). But the partners were suffering financially following the failure of the private bank they also ran in Bienne. On September 5, 1902, a public limited company called Société Horlogère Reconvilier (Reconvilier Watch Co) took over the factory. It was founded by Ferdinand Grillet, Aloys du Mont, Ernest Krayenbühl, and Georges Ruedin, who was made the director.
Specializing at first only on higher-quality Roskopf watches, the factory soon began to manufacture anchor pocket watches and wristwatches. The Roskopf System watches produced there included an elegant model only 22 twelfths high, and Reconvilier also manufactured the exact watch envisioned by Louis Roskopf.
André Ruedin (1902-1947), son of Georges Ruedin, joined the firm in 1926. Georges Ruedin registered the firm Louis Roskopf SA in 1926 with Henri-Léon Reinbold. By this time he lived in Le Landeron. In September 1928, following the deaths of some of the shareholders, Georges Ruedin acquired the entire watchmaking business. He took sole control of Louis Roskopf SA in October 1929.
In the 1930s the company added production of 8-day clocks and other specialties such as automatic switches for radios, illuminated advertisements, and more. By 1935 the firm employed nearly two hundred workers, of which more than a third had been with the firm for more than 25 years.
Georges Ruedin retired from the company in June 1933, leaving management to his sone. Georges Ruedin died on February 24, 1935, leaving the Reconvilier firm in the hands of his sons Jean and André. André died suddenly in 1947 of a heart attack. His oldest son, Georges Ruedin, rose to fame as a watch case manufacturer, with an eponymous factory in Bassecourt.