Tavannes

See Also: Tavannes Watch

Tavannes is a small watchmaking town at the western end of the Vallée de Tavannes. Reconvilier lies just to the east in the valley, while Sonceboz-Sombeval lies to the southwest in the Vallon de Saint-Imier.

Tavannes was too remote to be successful in the etablissage trend of the 19th century, with very few craftsmen and too long a journey to the traders in La Chaux-de-Fonds or Neuchâtel. But a few craftsmen did involve themselves in the trade anyway.

The earliest success in watchmaking was Louis-Adolphe Geiser, who relocated from Langenthal to Tavannes and began assembling watches by 1869. Others involved in the trade at that time included Fréderic Glück, Auguste Mécheleur, Constant Prêtre, and Albertine Voirol, with a few others making various components.

The 1871 edition of Indicateur Davoine shows L.-A. Geiser and with Jean Aebi as fabricators of watches. The two are again listed as the only watchmakers in the town in 1873, though Aebi's listing is expanded with "et remontoirs au pend", suggesting that his was the more modern operation. Aebi is no longer listed in 1875, with L.-A. Geiser as the only "fabr. d'horl." The 1879-1880 edition of Indicateur Davoine continues to show L.-A. Geiser as a watchmaker in Tavannes along with Fritz Glück and Jules Jaccard.

L.-A. Geiser built this factory in Tavannes in 1880; it was acquired by the Tavannes Watch Co around the turn of the century

In 1880, Geiser built the first watch factory in Tavannes. It was located at the foot of the hill, near the new railroad line on the western side of town. The famous Tavannes Watch Co, funded by the bourgeoisie of the town, was built on the opposite side of town a decade later. The Geiser factory was acquired by Tavannes Watch Co following Geiser's bankruptcy and became "factory number 3" for the company. The building remains standing to this day, decorated with the name "Tavannes Watch Co".

Geiser's factory was suffering and in August 1888, when a "new disaster" was announced: Geiser suspended payments, with a liability of 400,000 francs against assets of 200,000 francs. It was said that this was related to the failure of the Chodat bank. Tavannes Watch Co purchased the former Geiser factory by 1907, christening it Factory Number 3. It bears the name "Tavannes Watch Co" to this day.

An early image of the original Tavannes factory

In the 1880s, with the traditional agricultural production of wheat in the Swiss Jura suffering from Russian and American competition, the leading families of Tavannes sought to diversify the local economy. In February 1890 the Bourgeoisie of Tavannes met in general assembly and allocated 55,000 francs to fund the construction of a watchmaking factory near the new railroad line in town. They advertised this factory in local papers, seeking applications from industrialists to rent and operate the facility.

Henri Sandoz answered the call and was selected to operate his business out of the new factory. The Sandoz family moved to Tavannes by March 1892 and Henri quickly began installing his watchmaking equipment in the new building. That month the firm of Henri Sandoz-Sandoz was registered as a watchmaking firm with offices in Tavannes.

Sandoz was backed by two (unrelated) Schwob families of La Chaux-de-Fonds. He likely became acquainted with them as wholesalers of watches, and they may have been early buyers of the complicated pieces he produced in Le Locle. Théodore Schwob (1839-1896), founder of Schwob Frères, was the senior investor, with the Schwob-Weill family selecting the young Edmond Schwob (1864-1900) to represent their interests in the factory. The Schwob families merged their businesses as Schwob Frères in 1919 and consolidated their ownership of the factory in the years following Henri Sandoz' death in 1913.