Bettlach

Bettlach is a small municipality in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is just east of the larger town of Grenchen, with the small watchmaking town of Selzach located a short distance further. The best-known watch factory in Bettlach are Kummer's ebauche factory, which was torn down after a new location was added in the 1960s. Today it is ETA's "W05" production site for ebauches and tooling.

History

Eduard Kummer was born in Bettlach in 1845 and returned to Grenchen to work as a watchmaker after studying in Charquemont in France and Reconvilier. In 1882, Kummer tried to take over the successful firm Obrecht & Cie. in nearby Grenchen but was unsuccessful. Recognizing the potential in Kummer's ideas, the community of Bettlach urged him to build a new factory there instead. In 1888, Eduard Kummer Bettlach was established, and soon a large factory was built to produce anchor, pin lever, and Roskopf movements.

Kummer's fortunes rose and fell in the next decades, adding production of complete watches and building branches in Besançon in France and Como in Italy. Kummer began producing wristwatches in 1914, brought to market the first Swiss alarm clock under the Inventic brand, and produced stopwatches under the Aristo name.

Financial difficulties soon hit, with the Russian market lost, leaving Kummer in debt of more than 2.5 million francs. A massive embezzlement scandal soon hit the company, costing it 500,000 francs and forcing Kummer's heirs to liquidate. The watchmaking operation was taken over by ASUAG on July 28, 1931, leaving the movement operations intact for a time. The anchor and cylinder clock manufacturing was absorbed into Ebauches SA in 1931 and the Roskopf movement factory was taken over in 1939 or 1940.

Under ASUAG, Kummer produced watches under the Atlantic brand in Bettlach, while Ebauches Bettlach produced mainly Roskopf movements under Ebauches SA. A modern factory was constructed in the 1950s to produce Roskopf ebauches, and this remains in use by ETA as their "W05" production site.

Companies

Bettlach is the historic home of the following watch companies:

• Lunesa
• Triebold-Ris
• Josmar (current)
• Ed. Kummer & Cie.
  • Atlantic (ASUAG)
  • Inventic
  • Ebauches Bettlach (Ebauches SA, currently ETA)