Camille Flotron

Camille Flotron (1886-1941) was head of a mainspring factory called Resist SA and was active in many watchmaking organizations, including UBAH and ASUAG, where he was a founding board member. He died in a motor vehicle accident with Robert Guye on May 7, 1941.

Biography

Camille-Adrien Flotron was born in Saint-Imier in 1886. He was educated in business in Bienne, Geneva, and London and returned to work in the watchmaking industry in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Flotron was first employed by the Ulysse Sandoz-Robert mainspring factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds. A promising manager, he took over the firm in 1911. Flotron married Maria Elisa Perrenoud of Neuchâtel in 1915.

In 1916 Flotron was made managing director of Verreries Nationales Suisses, a glass-making factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds. He retained ownership of the mainspring factory, however, and was better known for this work. He also served as vice chairman of the board for Girard-Perregaux from 1918.

Flotron's management of the leading balance spring workshop earned him a seat on the board of the Soclété Suisse des Fabricants de Ressorts, and he was president of the group from 1930 until his death.

He was well-known throughout the watchmaking region, both as an industrialist and merchant. He was head of a watch spring factory called Resist SA and a watchmaking supply business, and was also President of the Union of Horological Auxiliary Branches (UBAH), a position he held without interruption from 1933 until his death.

Flatiron was active in the preliminary work that led to the establishment of UBAH in 1929 and supported the group during the first years of its existence. He became president of UBAH in 1933.

When ASUAG was formed in 1931 Camille Flotron represented spring makers on the board.

Robert Guye and Camille Flotron were killed when their car was hit by a train in La Chaux-de-Fonds on May 7, 1941. They were returning home after a UBAH meeting.