Jeanneret

The Jeanneret name is associated with many watchmakers in Switzerland, notably in Saint-Imier but also in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Locle, and elsewhere. The family is best-remembered for Excelsior Park but was also key to the development of Moeris, Leonidas (along with Junior and Berna), and others.

Jules-Frédéric Jeanneret and Saint-Imier

Jules-Frédéric Jeanneret (1830-1892), originally from Valangin, moved to Dombresson and married Cécile Sandoz. The family soon included two daughters and six sons, all of whom became watchmakers.

Jeanneret established a watchmaking workshop in the village of Reprises in 1866, but it soon failed and was listed for liquidation in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1868. Jules-Frédéric's sister Marie Elise had married Saint-Imier watchmaker Fritz Thalmann, and it is likely that Thalmann encouraged him to relocate his business to this growing town of watchmakers. Jeanneret and Thalmann would remain closely connected, with both using the Colombe brand and Thalmann distributing his watches. The eldest Jeanneret son, Albert, would marry one of Thalmann's daughters, as would his business partner Fritz Moeri.

Jules-Frédéric Jeanneret entered a partnership in Saint-Imier with François Fallet (sometimes named as Edouard) called Jeanneret et Fallet by 1889. This workshop was listed at Rue de Tramelan 34A, and would be the home of the Jeanneret watchmaking family for decades. Jeanneret et Fallet produced stop watches and chronographs, a specialty of the family. Fallet left the partnership by 1883 and starting that year it is simply listed as Jeanneret et Fils.

Jeanneret et Fils was an etablisseur of high-quality anchor watches as well as stop watches, some with minute counters. The firm received a diploma in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1881 and Zürich in 1883 and won a silver medal at the Antwerp exhibition in 1885. The Jeanneret family had registered the Pigeon brand by this time and focused on selling in England and the British Empire.

Jules-Frédéric Jeanneret died in 1892 but his widow continued to operate the firm as Vve. Jules-Frédéric Jeanneret. It continued to produce complicated watches, including chronographs, rattrapante watches, and clocks, now also for the American market. In 1895 the firm's address is shown as Rue de Tramelan 18, which is likely a new wing on the side of the former building, which was renumbered that year as 14A.

In 1892, Jeanneret licensed 1890 patent CH359 from Alfred Lugrin of l'Orient for a thin movement with an open heart balance below the stem. Lugrin would go on to found Lémania, a competitor for Leonidas, which would become the Jeanneret family firm.

Samuel Jeanneret

Cécile died in 1899 and the firm was taken over by Ulysse Jeanneret's sons, Samuel (1866-1939) and P. Jeanneret as S. & P. Jeanneret. The company added a 13 ligne chronograph movement by 1901, and this would eventually be used in one of the first wristwatch chronographs. The company was called simply Samuel Jeanneret by 1908 and specifically offered a 19 ligne bracelet chronograph by 1913.

The firm of Samuel Jeanneret, direct successor to the 1866 firm established by Jules-Frédéric Jeanneret, was deleted from the register of Swiss companies on October 1, 1940 just one year after the death of Samuel Jeanneret in December of 1939. His obituary notes that he was a "pioneer of alpinism" and was active in the Club Alpin Suisse Groupe Chasseral.

Albert Jeanneret

In 1889, Jules-Frédéric's son Albert Jeanneret (1855-1899) set up a firm of his own known as Albert Jeanneret et Frères along with his brothers Henri Jeanneret-Brehm (1856-1932) and Constant Jeanneret-Droz (1858-1916). The sons moved their family and production to "Le Parc" across town from the family home. Jules-Frédéric Jeanneret and Fritz Thalmann had purchased an existing steam-powered factory there in 1885, and it would become known as Usine du Parc.

Albert also founded another company with his brother in law and former Jeanneret apprentice Fritz Moeri in the early 1890s. By 1894 he was more actively involved in this firm, Moeri & Jeanneret, and both used Usine du Parc for manufacturing. Albert Jeanneret died in 1899.

Henri Jeanneret-Brehm and Excelsior Park

As Albert focused more on Moeri & Jeanneret after its founding, his younger brothers Henri Jeanneret-Brehm and Constant Jeanneret-Droz took up this branch of the family firm. They would run the park factory as Jeanneret Frères until about 1904. At this point, Constant left the firm to start his own company, and it was known thereafter as Jeanneret-Brehm.

In 1891, Jeanneret et Frères received a patent for a new stopwatch movement with a distinctive J-shaped bridge. This would soon be sold under the newly-registered brand name, Excelsior. In addition to Excelsior, Usine du Parc produced watches under the Colombe, Diana, and Cervin brands.

The factory began producing a 13 ligne chronograph movement around 1902, and this would become popular a decade later as the basis for some of the first wrist chronographs. It was notably used by Gallet, Zenith, and Girard-Perregaux.

With great success for these complicated movements, Jeanneret-Brehm purchased the Le Sentier firm of H. Magnenat-LeCoultre in 1911. This company was well known as a producer of minute repeaters, some with chronograph functions, under the Le Resoud brand name. Gallet supported this purchase financially, and encouraged the company to focus on the Excelsior name, since it was well-received in the English-speaking market. Soon the Anglicized name of the factory was added, giving us Excelsior Park, and this would become the name of the entire company.

Henri Jeanneret-Brehm died on August 4, 1932 at 76 years of age, but Excelsior Park continued in the Jeanneret family for many decades. It was taken over by Robert-Edmond Jeanneret (1913-1985), who ran the factory through the heydays of the 1950s and the troubles of the 1970s. Production stopped and the company was closed in 1984.

Constant Jeanneret-Droz, Junior, and Leonidas

Constant Jeanneret-Droz founded Manufacture Junior by 1902 even while still working with his brother Henri at Jeanneret Frères. The company sold anti-magnetic watches very similar to Fritz Moeri's, and given the family connection we can assume they leveraged Moeri's patent. Indeed they might even have been produced at Moeri's factory, since Jeanneret-Droz set up nearby at Rue du Pont 16.

Montres Junior also licensed a keyless works patent from Charles Perrin-Debrot in 1904, suggesting that the company also produced its own watches. Another business taken on by Constant Jeanneret-Droz was wholesaling of chronograph movements produced by rival firm LeCoultre of Le Sentier.

Constant left Jeanneret Frères by 1905 to focus on went out on his own company. He soon expanded his product range to include higher-quality anchor watches in 17 and 19 ligne sizes as well as American-style 16 ligne movements. He even offered silver and gold cases in addition to steel.

In 1911, Constant Jeanneret-Droz invested in the Leonidas Watch Factory. This brand was registered by 1902 by Ferdinand Bourquin (1845-1903) and was distributed by J.-H. Jeanneret of La Chaux-de-Fonds. Bourquin came from a Saint-Imier watchmaking family dating all the way back to 1841 and founder Julien Bourquin (1815-1897). The new factory was located on Beau-Site, just up the hill from both Usine Centrale and the Jeanneret home.

Leonidas had done well in the decade of its existence, but the death of Ferdinand Bourquin in 1903 likely posed issues. The company became a joint stock company in 1910 but went bankrupt in 1911 and the entire Bourquin estate was liquidated in bankruptcy. It was purchased by Constant Jeanneret-Droz and registered as Leonidas Watch Factory SA in 1912. Jeanneret-Droz replaced the La Popular brand with his own Junior, merging the companies to offer a complete range of pocket watches.

But Constant died in 1916, just as Leonidas began offering wrist chronographs. The business was then run by Charles and Ernest Jeanneret as Leonidas Watch Factory, Les Fils Jeanneret-Droz. It would merge with Berna and High Life by 1930 and ultimately with Heuer in 1964.

Moeri & Jeanneret

Fritz Moeri was born in Lyss in 1860 and came to Saint-Imier in 1881, working as an apprentice to Jules-Frédéric Jeanneret. He rose quickly in the business and became closely connected with the Jeanneret family. Both Moeri and Jules-Frédéric's son Albert married daughters of Jeanneret's sister and business partner Fritz Thalmann.

Moeri invented an anti-magnetic pin lever watch movement that could be inexpensively mass produced by machines and patented it in 1893. He set up a business with his brother in law Albert Jeanneret in 1892 to exploit Moeri's patent CH7547. The new company, Moeri & Jeanneret was initially based at Usine Centrale on Rue de l'Hôpital 6, just a few blocks from the Jeanneret home, but also used the Jeanneret family's Usine du Parc across town. Moeri also developed new techniques for automated machining of ebauches and was dedicated to simplicity and interchangeable parts.

A scandalous 1894 account in the Socialist La Sentinelle newspaper describes Albert Jeanneret as a large "captain-preacher" in contrast to his brother in law Fritz Moeri, a "little man in the guise of a saint." Although the content can be taken with a grain of salt, it is interesting to note that this account describes them being cautious about the morality of their employees and freely moving them between the Parc and Centrale factories.

After Albert Jeanneret died in 1899, their joint venture became known as Fabrique d'Horlogerie Fritz Moeri, with all patents and designs taken over. Moeri soon began construction on a large new factory across the street from Usine du Parc, which would literally overshadow theirs. The company would soon begin using the Moeris brand, which would continue for decades and would eventually be taken over by Longines and Tissot. Fritz Moeri died on October 23, 1935 at the age of 75.