Obrecht & Cie

Obrecht & Cie. was a producer of ebauches in Grenchen in the 19th century. Founded in 1866, the Obrecht factory was taken over by Felsa and brought into Ebauches SA.

Obrecht & Kully

E. Obrecht and E. Kully established the first watchmaking company in Grenchen in 1866. The success of the firm of Obrecht & Kully over the following decades would lead Grenchen to become a center for watchmaking, which it remains to this day. It was also an early proponent of export of Swiss watches, and mainly produced English-style watches in gold and silver cases. Because of demand from the Obrecht factory, suppliers of all sorts were established in Grenchen, notably workshops for gold and silver case production, a workshop for the assembly of cases, two workshops to manufacturers escapements, workshops for gilding, drilling jewels, piercing and placing jewels, and so on.

Obrecht et Kelly first appears in Indicateur Davoine in 1869 as a fabrique d'horlogerie. This is corrected in 1871 as Obrecht & Kully and further notes offices in London and Buenos-Ayres. The company claimed to specialize in English style watches at this time.

By the 1883 registry of businesses the firm Obrecht & Kully is listed as solely owned by "Obrecht-Kessler" (presumably Euseb Obrecht-Kessler) and being located at Alte Straße 29 in Grenchen. This is the same address given for the "watch shop" also established by him prior to that year.

Société d'Horlogerie de Granges

See also: Société d'Horlogerie de Granges

Euseb Obrecht-Kessler also founded a dedicated ebauche factory, Société d'Horlogerie de Granges, in 1871. Along with Rudolf Zumstein-Girard of Ochlenberg, who managed the company, Obrecht grew this factory into the leading ebauche maker in Grenchen by the end of its first decade, passing both Girard Frères and Schild Frères, which were established first. This company was located in factory building (Fabrikgebäude) 154.

In June 1886, following the death of Zumstein-Girard, the firm was taken over by Euseb Obrecht alone as "E. Obrecht succ. de la Société d'Horlogerie de Granges". It was still located in the same factory building and retained the same name for many years.

Société d'Horlogerie de Granges remained in business through the first World War but suffered from the post-war boom and bust and was bankrupt by 1920.

E. Obrecht

After the registration of Obrecht & Kully expired in 1892 the previous firms were reorganized under a sole proprietorship known as E. Obrecht-Kessler. This company was bankrupt and closed in October 1899.

A huge strike hit the factory in 1887, an early sign of the worker strife that would hit all such large companies at this time. Coverage shows that the company was then run by E. Obrecht. It was resolved in 1888 but appears to have hurt the company greatly.

By 1889, Grenchen listed multiple Obrecht firms. P. Obrecht & Cie is a new name, while Eusèbe Obrecht is listed as successor to Société d'Horlogerie de Granges. In 1894 the former company is listed as P. Obrecht, Schwarzentrub, Jean, & Cie but J. Schwarzentrub and P. Obrecht are listed separately in 1896.

Strangely, E. Obrecht is specifically listed as successor to Obrecht & Kully in 1896, while Emile Obrecht-Hugi is successor to Obrecht-Schild and P. Obrecht & Cie is listed as a major producer in Grenchen. Obrecht-Huggi was previously seen in 1890 as a member of the Syndicat des Fabricants d'Horlogerie. For his part, E. Obrecht joined Syndicat des Fabriques d'Ebauches by 1891 along with Flury Frères, Hänni & Künzli, Fréne & Garraux, Charles Emonot, Société Coopérative d'Horlogerie in Pontenet, A. Blanchard & Cie, Société Industrielle in Moutier, and E. Girard in Grenchen. P. Obrecht later joined the Comptoir Général des Ebauches by 1894.

Obrecht & Cie

This 1908 advertisement shows the Obrecht & Cie factories in Grenchen, Como, Deitingen, and Bludenz

On July 1, 1903, the firm of P. Obrecht & Cie was dissolved and replaced by a new company, simply called Obrecht & Cie. This was a limited partnership between Adolf Obrecht and Peter Obrecht. Adolf was the unlimited partner, with Peter limited to his investment of 150,000 francs. The firm specialized in the construction and trade of ebauches, finishing, and finished watches, and was located at the Schmelzi factory complex in Grenchen, across the street from the Mühlestrasse factory used by A. Schild. This factory previously housed Baumgartner & Michel (successor to Friedli, Triebold & Cie), E. Vogt, Ruefli, Vogt & Cie, Affolder, Gygi & Cie, and (since at least 1883), P. Obrecht & Cie, and later was home to the Roskopf operation.

A large 1908 advertisement shows the extent of Obrecht & Cie after the turn of the century. By this point, the company had a large factory complex in Grenchen along with smaller factories in Como, Deitingen near Solothurn, and Bludenz in Austria. The Ditingen factory included hydropower and a residential building.

The Austrian factory was set up around 1903, co-located with the company Dörler. It initially sourced all components from Switzerland and handled finale assembly there to appeal to the Austro-Hungarian market, but the firm's success lead to the construction of a dedicated factory on Klarenbrunnstrasse around 1906. This operation employed about 70 workers and constructed watch cases in silver and base metal as well as assembling finished watches. It was expanded two years later, but the collapse of the monarchy in 1918 lead to the end of exclusive trade there. The Bludenz factory stopped production in 1922 with Plangg & Pfluger taking over, with production of "Montfort" branded watches produced and sold in Africa, South America, and Asia. The factory continued through World War II (when it was converted for weapons production) and afterward as a producer of pocket and wrist watches. It was bankrupt in 1967 with the Swiss company Silvalux unable to re-establish production.

On January 6, 1914, a new public limited company known as Aktiengesellschaft Obrecht & Cie (Obrecht & Cie SA) was created with headquarters in Grenchen. The company participated both in the watch industry and in real estate, taking over the limited partnership "Obrecht & Cie", including their Grenchen and Deitingen watch and case factories. Share capital was 1,250,000 francs, issued and paid in full. The Board of Directors consisted of president Peter Obrecht and vice president Adolf Obrecht as well as Widow Marie Hirt.

Following the death of Peter Obrecht, Adolf Obrecht was elevated to president on December 1, 1917. On May 30, 1919, the company added Ernst Obrecht, son of Adolf, Ernst Hellinger, and Bertha Bloch to the board.

All was not well with the firm after World War I, as it was hit by the boom and bust in watch production. The company notified bondholders in early 1922 that it would be unable to pay them back and called a meeting for June 10. On July 28 the company opened bankruptcy proceedings and was soon removed from the commercial register. The company's creditors offered the machine tools for sale soon after, signifying that the company would not continue in any form.

The Grenchen factory building was offered for sale in 1923 and was taken over by Felsa the following year, which moved from Lengnau and soon became a major player in the watch industry. As noted above, the Bludenz factory continued in operation under Plangg & Pfluger until 1967. The Deitingen factory was offered for sale in 1924 as well.

See Also

• List of ebauche factories