Alphonse Gogler

Alphonse Gogler (1866-1945) was publisher of Indicateur Davoine from 1902 through his death but was also a watch and balance spring manufacturer and served on many boards.

Biography

Edouard-Alphonse Gogler was born on November 14, 1866. He married Marie-Louise Harder née Esnault of Neuchatel and apprenticed as a bank clerk at the Banque Rieckel.

Gogler joined Justin-Ernest Jeanneret in a partnership known as Jeanneret & Gogler on November 1, 1893. This was a watch manufacturer and continued the business previously of Jeanneret alone. The partnership was dissolved on December 31, 1901 and taken over by Justin-Ernest and Henri-Louis Jeanneret as Jeanneret & Cie. Gogler immediately registered his own firm, called A. Gogler, to continue the business.

Alphonse Gogler was strongly opposed to the Fabriques de Spiraux Réunies cartel and agitated for competition to break its control. In 1898 he was a founding member of the Société Suisse des Spiraux.

He became involved with the Société des Fabricants d'Horlogerie and was named treasurer in 1899, replacing Albert Mosimann. He resigned in 1910, turning the position over to Arnold Braunschweig. He joined the Syndicat Patronal des Producteurs de la Montre à La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1918.

In 1902, Gogler took over Indicateur Davoine and typically referred to himself as a publisher rather than an industrialist afterwards. This became the Bureau Central de Publicité A. Gogler in 1922 and Gogler Publicité in 1938.

Gogler founded a new balance spring factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1905. Called La Nationale-Spiraux, it was a well-funded Société Anonyme and was quickly expanded by taking over the operation of the similar firm Bucher-Moser & Cie in 1916. At the same time, the company brought in Gustave Ulrich to manage operations, and Gogler and Ulrich would work together in many businesses afterwards. The company was reorganized as Fabrique Nationale de Spiraux in 1916.

When Salon Suisse de l'Horlogerie was formed in 1932, Gogler joined the board.

Gogler died on March 5, 1945 at the age of 79.