Aurèle Maire

Aurèle Maire-Deléglise was a Swiss watchmaker who became technical director for Longines in the 1970s.

Aurèle Maire was born in 1923 to watchmaker Aurèle Maire-Pellaton (1895-1977). His father married Marie-Madeline Pellaton (1896-1983), daughter of Georges Pellaton-Steudler, founder of the Martel Watch Co. His brother, Robert-Maurice, was born four years later and would become technical director of Martel and would replace Aurèle as technical director of Zenith.

The Maire family lived in Ponts-de-Martel, a small town near Le Locle famous for talented makers of complicated watches. Aurèle trained as a pilot during World War II while also attending the Technicum in Neuchâtel. He was a talented watchmaker, winning second prize for marine chronometers at the 1946 Concours de Chronomètres at the Neuchâtel Observatory. He graduated with a diploma as a horloger-technicien "with congratulations from the jury." He won the same prize again in 1951, again placing second to respected firm of Ulysse Nardin.

Aurèle Maire opened a movement finishing workshop in Les Ponts-de-Martel under his own name in 1954, continuing in this business through 1962. He presented a scientific paper on the fatigue of watch springs to the Swiss Society of Chronometry in 1956.

On December 30, 1961, Aurèle Maire was appointed central technical director of Zenith, replacing Henri Robert, who moved to manufacturing inspector. Henri Thiébaud joined the firm as director on the same day.

On December 6, 1967, Aurèle Maire gave up his position as technical director for Zenith. He was replaced by his brother Robert Maire, former technical director of Martel.

Aurèle Maire was technical director of Longines by 1969, with P. A. Maire serving as assistant director. He worked on the revolutionary Longines Ultra-Quartz, the first commercial quartz watch to be announced.

He is credited with the creation of "Caliber E", a remarkable automatic mechanical movement. One of the first double barrel movements, it linked two mainsprings in series to provide long running time without sacrificing isochronism. The design of the springs, based on his previous work, caused the barrels to move more rapidly under lower torque, reducing the wear on the movement. It debuted as a project in May 1975. The derivative Cal. 990 appeared in 1977, measuring just 2.95 mm thick, developed by Michel Thomi.

In the 1980s, Aurèle Maire was more involved in the development of quartz electronic movements. Seeking greater power reserve, he directed Longines to develop a practical lithium battery which allowed his Cal. 270 to run for 12 years.

Maire was a director of SAMA by 1982. He was president of the Swiss Society of Chronometry by 1986.