Dubois Dépraz
Dubois Dépraz is a Swiss ebauche movement and complication manufacturer. The company was founded in 1901 and remains a primary maker of complications and movements.
History
Marcel Dépraz began producing watch movements in Le Lieu in the Vallée de Joux in 1901. He managed the company under his own name, and also began a joint company with Marius Guignard in 1910 known as Dépraz & Guignard.
In 1947, the company was reorganized as Dépraz & Cie by Roger Dépraz and Reynold Dubois. This incarnation of the company lasted until 1968.
Dubois Dépraz SA was established in 1968 by Gérald Dubois and Eric Dépraz. At that time, the company was already hard at work on the Chronomatic, one of the first automatic chronograph watches, along with Breitling, Hamilton, Heuer, and Büren. This combined a chronograph module developed by Gérald Dubois with an automatic movement supplied by Hans Kocher of Büren. The watch appeared on the market in 1969.
In 1972, ETA debuted the "Mosaba Swissonic 100" Cal. 9210, the first and only tuning fork chronograph movement. This complication was developed by Dubois Dépraz and also included a calendar complication with day and date.
From 1979, Dubois Dépraz was managed by Dubois solely, until Jean-Philippe Dubois joined as general manager in 1989. A Dubois Dépraz module was used in 1983 by Heuer in the world's first quartz chronograph movement. Developed with Nouvelle Lémania, it used a similar layout to the Swissonic 100 but without the day indication.
In 1970, Dubois Dépraz began a long relationship with Kelek, which would result in over 30 different movements created. In 1992, the company developed an extremely complex movement for Kelek: Cal. 5100 was a 13-handed perpetual calendar chronograph with moon phase and week number. Another chronograph movement developed for Kelek in 1992 was a small automatic measuring just 26.2 mm diameter and 6.55 mm thick known as Cal. 10701 or 10310. Cal. 5100 and 10000 would later be made available to other manufacturers, as would Cal. 20, a grande complication pocket watch movement with repetition, chronograph, and perpetual calendar.
Historically, the firm supplied among others Patek Philippe, Landeron, Minerva, Valjoux, Eberhard, Heuer, Breitling and Kelek.
Dubois Dépraz is still located in Le Lieu, near the headquarters of companies such as Jaeger-LeCoultre, Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, Breguet, and ETA/Valjoux. Today it is a specialist in complicated cadratures such as perpetual calendars and chronographs for wristwatches.