Alfred Lugrin

See Also: Swiss-American watchmaker Henry-Alfred Lugrin

Alfred Lugrin (1858-1920) was a watchmaker and inventor in l'Orient in the Vallée de Joux in the late 19th century. His groundbreaking chronograph and chiming watch complications were patented and licensed to many makers, notably Jules-Frédéric Jeanneret and Leonidas in Saint-Imier. He found quick success based on his inventiveness (as reflected by dozens of patents), access to talented watchmakers in the Vallée de Joux, and location between Geneva and the Jura triangle.

Early Life

Alfred-Jules-Fréderich Lugrin was born September 1, 1858 in Le Lieu. He was the son of Jules Lugrin, Bourgeois of Lieu, and Jeanne Françoise (née Cloux) and may have been the only son of the couple. He was known as Alfred Lugrin or A. Lugrin throughout his professional career.

Lugrin worked as a cowherd as a youth but became familiar with watchmaking, which was widely practiced at home workbenches at this time. He was hired as an assistant mechanic at LeCoultre in Le Sentier as a young man and showed great skill and inventiveness.

Lugrin married Alice Sophie (née Aubert) in 1887 with a daughter, Jane Louise, born a year later. A son, also named Alfred but called Fredo, came in 1892.

Lugrin was involved in local life, including promotion of gymnastics, a focus across the Swiss Jura. He was also involved in commercial interests, including the Société Industrielle et Commerciale de La Vallée (with Louis Audemars) and the Société d'intérêt Publie de l'Orient-de l'Orbe.

A. Lugrin

Lugrin formed his own namesake company in February 1885 at the age of 26 along with three friends. The company was initially located in Le Sentier near LeCoultre but moved down the valley to l'Orient in 1886 when demand required more space and workers. Lugrin initially produced ebauches for simple and complicated watches but began producing complications in-house soon after. Lugrin produced his first repeater in 1889, with a chronograph and rattrapante following soon after.

Lugrin was among the first to submit a patent application, completing the drawings for his "Nouveau système d'accrochement et de décrochement pour montres à répétition" on December 20, 1888, just over a month after the Swiss patent office opened. This application was granted as CH225 on February 11, 1889. His next patent was for "Perfectionnements apportés à la construction des chronographes-compteurs" and was granted as CH359 on March 18, 1889. This was licensed on January 7, 1890 to Jules-Frédéric Jeanneret who soon began production of chronographs in Saint-Imier based on Lugrin's ideas. A third patent that year, "Mécanisme de montre à répétition à minutes, système simplifié et perfectionné", was granted as CH782 on April 5.

Lugrin's workshop manufactured "mécanismes en tous genres", specifically "répétitions, chronographs, compteurs, quantièmes, rattrapantes, arréts de secondes, etc." The company advertised heavily through the 1890s, gaining many clients throughout Switzerland and becoming a viable competitor for the nearby Le Brassus workshop of Louis-Elisée Piguet. Lugrin and Piguet remain leaders in the field of complicated movements to the present day as Manufacture Breguet and Manufacture Blancpain, respectively.

Expansion

In 1890 Lugrin began construction of a larger factory with hydraulic power, enabling him to produce ebauches and invest in modern lathes and other machines. He added production of chronograph and repeater modules which were available to other companies, fueling the explosion of complicated watches hitting the market by the turn of the century. Lugrin's movements were marked with his initials "A.L." along with a star and anchor positioned in a cross (since 1890) or heart (1893).

The factory was producing high-quality finished watches for customers by 1900. It had been modernized with electric lighting powered by a turbine fed by a spring on the mountain. Lugrin's repetition and chronograph complications earned him a gold medal in Milan in 1906 and Berne in 1914. Many Lugrin movements also included advanced calendar functions, including windowed day and month and moon phase. His chronographs often included rattrapante functions.

The company was known as A. Lugrin & Cie. following a May 1905 reorganization that saw Auguste Jacques invest 10,000 francs in its expansion. This was apparently paid back in March 1908 as Jacques signing authority was revoked. Henri Golay joined management in October of that year with a 1,000 franc investment. The firm's office is noted as being Rue du Commerce 17a in 1913.

The firm now produced electric clocks and electricity meters as well as complicated watches and opened a new office in La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Montbrillant Watch Manufactory. The new company registered the "Lemania" name in March 1906 alongside the brands Oberon, Rejane, Boudha, Orpheon, Phenix, Superius, Regata, Neron, Sultana, Velocitas, though it is unclear if the firm sold watches using any of these brands. More brands were added in 1909, including Edison Watch, La Vaudoise, and Osram.

The firm also registered an early tachymeter scale dial in May 1907.

Alfred Lugrin and Georges Audemars formed a new company called Audemars & Cie in July 1914. This firm was dedicated to producing and selling complete watches.

SA de la Fabrique d'Horlogerie Lugrin and Lemania

Alfred Lugrin died December 27, 1920

See Also: Lemania

On January 26, 1918, the Société Anonyme de la Fabrique d'Horlogerie Lugrin was established. Initially capitalized at 150,000 francs, this share company absorbed the assets of A. Lugrin & Cie, which was deleted from the register in 1919. Lugrin remained in charge but he was joined in management by his son, also called Alfred Lugrin, and by his son-in-law, Marius Meylan-Lugrin.

Alfred Lugrin died on December 27, 1920, leaving the firm to his son in law, Marius Meylan, and son, Alfred.

The company was re-named Fabrique d'Horlogerie Lemania Lugrin SA (Lemania Watch Co. Lugrin) in 1924. It joined Omega and Tissot in SSIH in 1932 and was purchased in a management buy-out in 1981, becoming Nouvelle Lemania. In 1992 Nouvelle Lemania was purchased by Groupe Horloger Breguet, which was acquired by Swatch Group in 1999. Today the firm is known as Manufacture Breguet, and still occupies the Lugrin factory on Rue Alfred Lugrin in l'Orient.

Patents

• CH225, February 11, 1889 - Nouveau système d'accrochement et de décrochement pour montres à répétition
• CH359, March 18, 1889 - Perfectionnements apportés à la construction des chronographes-compteurs - licensed on January 7, 1890 to Jules-Frédéric Jeanneret
• CH782, April 5, 1889 - Mécanisme de montre à répétition à minutes, système simplifié et perfectionné
• CH3883, August 28, 1891 - Perfectionnement apporté à la construction des chronographes-compteurs
• CH6420, March 16, 1893 - Montre „Boston« avec chronographe noyé dans la platine
• CH12175, May 22, 1896 - Mécanisme de chronographe-compteur
• CH12662, July 31, 1896 - Mécanisme d'accrochement et de décrochement pour montres à répétition
• CH13803, February 3, 1897 - Mécanisme simplifié de répétition
• CH15522, October 16, 1897 - Mécanisme modérateur du petit rouage des montres à répétition
• CH17189, December 18, 1898 - Chronographe compteur de minutes
• CH21123, March 26, 1900 - Noureau système de mise en marche de la sonnerie d'une montre à répetition, par un poussoir
• CH23649, April 26, 1901 - Régulateur-modérateur de vitesse perfectionné pour mécanismes d'horlogerie
• CH23754, April 27, 1901 - Mécanisme de répétition
• CH23763, April 2, 1901 - Perfectionnement aux mouvements d'horlogerie à commande électrique
• CH23765, May 27. 1902 - Lame de ressort-timbre pour montres à sonnerie - registered by P. Mercier-Mayer and Charles Glauser-Perrin and handed over to A. Lugrin on February 9, 1905
• CH26285, July 26, 1902 - Mécanisme de répétition à trois marteaux
• CH33812, June 26, 1905 - Mouvement de compteur de sport
• CH34495, August 1, 1905 - Compteur horaire d'électricité
  • DE173843, July 14, 1906 - Elektrischer Schalter mit Zeitmesser
• CH44553, October 27, 1908 - Compteur de temps pour sports
• CH56063, March 21, 1911 - Compteur de temps pour sports

See Also

• Swiss-American watchmaker Henry-Alfred Lugrin
• Lemania