Bueche, Boillat et Cie

Bueche, Boillat et Cie was a brass foundry and maker of ebauches in Reconvilier from the 1860s through the 1890s. Following the sale of all watchmaking activities in 1910, the firm (then known as Boillat SA) became a key supplier of brass to the industry through the 20th century.

In 1855, Guillaume-Olivier Bueche of Pontenet, Dr. Emmanuel-Aimé Tièche (1810-1867) of Reconvilier, Edouard Boillat (1821-1887) of Reconvilier, and Ernest Kraft of Malleray established a brass foundry in Reconvilier. The company was named Bueche, Boillat et Cie, and supplied components to the watchmaking industry, notably Dr. Tièche's factory, founded a few years earlier. This was the first brass foundry in Switzerland. Boillat was the son-in-law of Beuche, having married his daughter, Caroline Hortense Bueche.

The earliest mention of the firm of Bueche, Boillat et Cie in Indicateur Davoine is a listing for the firm of Kempf-Tièche in Bienne. The company dealt in watch tooling and also served as a depot for ebauches produced by "Bueche-Boillat et Cie" in Reconviller (sic). The Tièche family established watchmaking in Reconvilier in 1850 and established its own ebauche factory, Kuhn et Tièche, there. Yet these were not the same company - they were listed separately for most of the late 19th century.

In 1875, the company was reorganized under Edouard Boillat and Eugène Bueche and renamed Beuche, Boillat et Cie. Around 1880, Louis-Paul Droz, a banker from La Chaux-de-Fonds, took over administrative and commercial management of the foundry and watch factory. Bueche, Boillat et Cie won a bronze medal at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1878 for watchmaking.

In 1887, following the death of Edouard Boillat, the company was renamed Brass Foundry Boillat et Bueche. In 1895, Louis-Paul-Edouard Boillat (1860-1941) took over the factories. He was the son of co-founder Edouard Boillat, and also went by that name. The firm was then called Ed. Boillat et Cie, a limited partnership supported by his uncle, Eugène Bueche.

The company increasingly focused on the foundry operation after this. The final listing for Bueche, Boillat et Cie in watchmaking circles is in 1893.

In 1905, Edouard Boillat became the sole owner of both the watch factory and foundry, and the company was renamed Ed. Boillat. In 1910 the watchmaking operation was sold to La Générale, which was co-founded by Edouard Boillat, Jr.

In 1917, Boillat withdrew from business and sold the company to a group of industrialists including the Fabrique d'Horlogerie de Fontainemelon, the sewing machine company Dubied, and the electrical equipment company Gardy. The new company name was Fonderie Boillat SA, which became Boillat SA in 1960. Louis-Paul Droz was managing director under chairman of the board Georges Gardy.

After World War II the firm focused on export, first to Europe, then the United States in the 1970s, and finally to Asia in the 1990s. Apart from brass, the company produced other alloys such as weakly alloyed copper, nickel-silver, and bronze.

In 1986 a holding company called Usines Métallurgiques Suisses SA (UMS) was created, bringing together the Reconvilier, Dornach, and Selve plants. This lead to the 1989 foundation of the holding company Swissmetal.