Rénold Kocher

Rénold Kocher was an industrialist from Bévilard.

Rénold Kocher came from Aegerten and lived in La Chaux-de-Fonds. A Rénold Kocher is listed in Cernier as a maker of anchor escapements in 1873 but it is unclear if this is the same person. Another Rénold Kocher is listed as a watchmaker in Tramelan-Dessus in 1900. Kocher married Sophie-Emma Soquel dit Piquard and had three surviving children: Rénold-Eugène, Amelia, and Louise, though Eugène died at 19 years of age in 1892. He was active in local politics and became President of the société des fabricants d’horlogerie, in La Chaux-de-Fonds in the 1890s. Watchmaker Rénold Kocher married Clara-Marie Bonjour (née Fricker) in 1902 but it is unclear if this is the same person.

By 1891 Kocher had established a watchmaking workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds under his own name, located at Rue du Grenier 39. He registered the brand name "La Fedele" (pictured on an envelope with two stars) in October of that year, covering watch cases, dials, movements, and so on.

Kocher was an inventor and registered three patents on watchmaking innovations. In 1891 he invented a mechanism to display a full calendar on four sub-dials of a watch, including date at 12, month at 3, moon phase and small seconds at 6, and day at 9. This mechanism was sold to Gindrat-Delachaux on April 5, 1893, and likely manufactured by that La Chaux-de-Fonds firm before they focused on 8-day watches, automobile clocks, and travel clocks.

In January 1892, Kocher closed his workshop and went into business with Arnold Hänni of Leuzingen and Ernest Kunzli of Rosières, both of whom lived in Court. Their company was called Kocher, Hänni & Kunzli and focused on producing ebauches and finishing watches. The office was located on Rue Jaquet-Droz 39 in La Chaux-de-Fonds. But Kocher moved from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Bévilard in May of 1893, resigning from the local council. Charles Emonot of Seloncourt France joined the firm in 1893 as they established a new factory in Bévilard to produce watch components. This was known as Kocher, Hänni, Künzli & Cie. but was renamed simply Kocher & Cie. in 1895 despite having the same partners.

Kocher and Arnold Hänni represented the firm of Gindrat-Delachaux at the Universal Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

On April 15, 1897, a new company was formed to take over the assets of the former Kocher & Cie. operation in Bévilard. The new company was also called Kocher et Cie but was solely managed by Rénold Kocher, with Ernest Künzli a minority partner with a 1000 franc investment. This was reorganized again in July 1897 again as Kocher et Cie but now with Rénold Kocher's sister Marie Kocher of Fontainemelon as the minority partner. But this company was bankrupt in mid 1898 and was reorganized again under the same name in October with William Kocher of Aegerten now a financial partner with 80,000 francs invested. The La Chaux-de-Fonds company was finally liquidated in 1900.

On January 1, 1901, the former Kocher & Cie. factory in Bévilard was purchased and reopened as Fabrique d'Horlogerie Bévilard, B. Schwarzstein et Goldenthal. The new name reflected the involvement of watch dealer Boruch Schwarzstein of Warsaw and watchmaker David Goldenthal of Jassi. Goldenthal left the company in June 1902 and was replaced by Rénold Kocher himself. In December 1903 Boruch Schwarzstein left the firm and it was again in the sole control of Rénard Kocher, though still commonly called Manufacture d'Horlogerie Bévilard. Kocher was again bankrupt in February 1911, but the factory continued to operate, bringing François Misséwitch of Bévilard in as manager for a few years.

Another invention, patented in 1903, was for a watch with an unusual open heart showing running seconds at 6 rather than the balance. Kocher purchased patent CH24678 from Auguste Girardet of Bienne in 1904. In 1906 Kocher patented a "porte-échappement" or removable escapement mechanism mounted on plates and bridges covering 1/3 of the movement.

Rénold Kocher was enmeshed in the failure of the Banque Populaire in Bienne in 1911. He was arrested and brought before the tribunal on charges of embezzlement and scams after it became known that he owed the bank over one million francs and was unable to repay. Léonidas, Jenny, Fritz Kummer, and others were also drawn into this scandal at the time. Kocher's situation became worse when a house he owned in Bévilard caught fire in March. Yet all of the charges were dropped in January 1912 as the investigators found no evidence of willful fraud.

Kocher registered a new company, St-Georges Watch Co., in 1916 to handle and exploit the watch movements produced by Kocher's own Bévilard factory. The company was founded with 500,000 francs of capital and was located at Spitalgasse 3 in Berne. Perhaps not finding enough investors, the company was closed in June 1920. Kocher next registered an agency for the Bévilard factory in London, again asking for 500,000 francs. This time he was able to bring Paul Tapernoux of Vevey, Léo Fabel of Lucerne, and Carl Marfels of England on board as directors.

More trouble plagued Kocher after the war. In May 1918 chemical dealer Victor Armbruster of Zürich went bankrupt, holding 10,000 in Kocher watches as collateral on a loan. Kocher pressed to keep these out of the bankruptcy proceedings. But Kocher's long management of the Bévilard factory was coming to an end. On September 21, 1921, Rénold Kocher formally resigned from management, replaced by Henri Genner.

Patents

• CH3251, March 18, 1891 - Mécanisme de quantièmes pour montres. - sold to Gindrat-Delachaux on April 5, 1893
• CH27548, February 14, 1903 - Montre.
• CH34775, March 30, 1906 - Porte-échappement à ancre.