Resist SA
J.-H. Perret
A mainspring workshop was operated by J.-H. Perret in La Chaux-de-Fonds as early as 1848. It was located on Rue du Pont. This is listed as Jules-Henri Perret in 1861 and is located on Grande Rue 18B. This street was renamed Léopold-Robert in the 1870s, and the factory remained at the same address. By 1883 the factory was operated by Albert Perret.
The firm was taken over by Rudolf Alfred Schwab of Siselen in June 1885. He registered an elaborate winged anchor logo in 1887. Schwab became president of the Association des Fabricants de Ressorts et des Lamineurs in 1888. The company grew and added a new factory at Serra 61 by 1895.
In 1914 Alfred Schwab was a founding board member of Union Suisse des Tréfileries & Laminoirs d'Acier & Ressorts pour l'Horlogerie & La Mécanique. He served alongside Camille Flotron who would soon acquire his firm. He was also treasurer of Société Suisse des Fabricants de Ressorts, and Flotron soon joined that organization as well.
Jules Robert
Jules Henri Robert established a balance spring workshop at Rue Léopold-Robert 49 in La Chaux-de-Fonds by 1873. The company was listed as Robert et Cie. by 1883 at the same address, with Jules Henri Robert and Ulysse Sandoz-Robert (1847-1911) listed as administrators. It moved to Rue des Arts 28 by 1886.
In 1889 the company was renamed Ulysse Sandoz-Robert (successor to Jules Robert et Cie) and is now located at Daniel-Jeanrichard 28. The firm moved up to Boulevard du Petit Château 12 by 1895, and this soon became the Montbrillant Watch Manufactory, also occupied by Breitling.
Ulysse Sandoz-Robert died and the business was taken over in 1911 by Camille Flotron and Samuel Maeder. The new company was called Flotron & Maeder as of April 1 of that year and was still located at Montbrillant 2. Flotron & Maeder was merged into Alfred Schwab's Resist SA and the firm was deleted in 1920.
Resist SA in La Chaux-de-Fonds
A new Société Anonyme was formed on October 18, 1918 called Resist, Fabrique de Ressorts. Located in Villeneuve, Aigle, the company specifically took over the assets of Alfred Schwab's operation in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The company was operated by Alfred Schwab and banker Louis Droz.
Resist SA was merged with Flotron et Maeder (successor to Ulysse Santoz-Robert), with Camille Flotron joining the board, on August 5, 1919, less than a year after it was formed. The new board consisted of Flotron, Schwab, lawyer Alphonse Blanc, and Arthur Schaechtelin of Renan and Fribourg.
Resist SA was transferred to La Chaux-de-Fonds in December 1921 as Camille Flotron took over sole management duties. At this time the company continued to operate the old Schwab/Perret factory at Serra 61 as well as the Sandoz-Robert workshop at Montbrillant 2, though the latter was closed by 1924.
Camille Flotron became president of the Société Suisse des Fabricants de Ressorts, replacing Alfred Schwab, in April 1930. Alfred Schwab, Alphonse Blanc, and Arthur Schaechtelin were removed from the board in 1934 as share capital was reduced dramatically.
With the sudden death of Camille Flotron in an auto accident in 1941, management of Resist SA was taken over by Louis Carbonnier of Neuchâtel.
RESIST in Neuchâtel
Jean Carbonnier moved the firm to Neuchâtel shortly after the death of Camille Flotron and added Louis Carbonnier to management in 1951. The company was transformed and reorganized the following year, and was renamed RESIST. Jeannine-Geneviève Carbonnier entered management in 1956.
The company was merged with Saint-Imier rival Ressorts Energie in 1970, becoming the Neuchâtel branch of that company. That company was liquidated in 1988.