Nouvelle Fabrique de Tavannes
The "Nouvelle Fabrique" was the second major watch factory built in Tavannes. It was financed by the leading families in the town after their first such experiment succeeded wildly a decade earlier. This project was somewhat less successful, going bankrupt in 1930 and being absorbed into Ebauches SA. The factory lasted in various forms through 1962 and the original building later became a special workshop for psychiatric patients before being torn down around 1987.
Novelle Fabrique under Salomon Hirsch
In 1891, the wealthy families of Tavannes decided to pull the town into watchmaking after the arrival of railroad transportation seriously dented the town's agricultural base. The result was the Tavannes Watch Co, which grew into one of the most successful watch and ebauche manufacturers in the world in just a decade thanks to the work of Henri-Fredéric Sandoz.
A decade later, the town decided to try again, building the "Nouvelle Fabrique" in 1900. The new building was located on Rue du Petit Bâle, just a block up the hill from the Grande-Rue downtown, unlike the original factory which was along the railroad tracks. An open application process in May lead to the lease of the property to Salomon Hirsch of La Chaux-de-Fonds. He was the cousin (and brother-in-law) of Achille Hirsch, one of that town's most successful watch merchants. The Hirsch family saw the opportunity to use the new Tavannes factory to produce ebauches and watches for their Vigilant brand. But the company, called Nouvelle Fabrique de Tavannes SA, faced issues from the outset, starting with open conflict with Sandoz' firm over the right to use the brand name "Tavannes". It also faced issues with the financiers, who demanded regular payment of their rents even as the company was just starting.
Still, Nouvelle Fabrique de Tavannes SA was able to offer a range of watches and movements, ranging from 15 to 20 lignes, using cylinder movements in savonette and lepine styles primarily for the American market. The brand trademark was a pennant with the letters "N.F.T." on it. The factory was expanded in 1905 and in 1906 it was sold to Hirsch outright. It soon bore the "Vigilant Watch" brand used on the company's watches. By 1910, the population of Tavannes had expanded to over 2,500, which was attributed to the success of "the Hirsch factory" and the Tavannes Watch Co.
Louis Hutter and Louis Maeder
Management of the company was taken over by Louis Hutter by 1913, and Louis Maeder joined management by 1916, but it was still owned by the Hirsch family. The pair would run the firm until 1930, though World War I and the post-war overproduction crisis. The factory was expanded in 1917 with a lower L-shaped wing along Chemin de la Forge which still stands today.
After World War I, most high-volume ebauche producers faced issues and began "dumping" product on export markets. This exacerbated the issues facing the Swiss industry, and many companies failed throughout the 1920s. In fact, the Hirsch factory shut down entirely in 1921, as did the nearby Tavannes Watch Co, only reopening once the economic situation improved a year later.
Most product was shipped through La Chaux-de-Fonds and the hands of the Fils de Achille Hirsch & Co., a holding company which owned many watchmaking factories. Brands in 1930 included Vigilant, Minimax, Apt, Meted, Starter, and Invar, the French name for stainless steel. At this time the company focused on American, Latin America, and the Far East, including cylinder and anchor movements cased in steel, silver plate, and even a few platinum jewelry pieces.
But Hirsch's Nouvelle Fabrique was not as strong as the others, closing again in 1929 and facing bankruptcy the following year. It fell to Marc Germiquet, the town notary and lawyer, to straighten things out. Unable to reach an agreement to settle the company's debt at 50% with the Banque Cantonale Neuchâteloise, the company was liquidated on October 31, 1930. Still, only the adjacent houses and the building itself were sold, with the watchmaking tools and supplies liquidated February 13 1931.
Ebauches SA
A new company named Nouvelle Fabrique de Tavannes SA was registered on May 2, 1932. Capitalized at just 12,00 francs, the company aimed to re-start production in the now-old "New Factory" building. It was administrated by Georges Droz of Mont-Tramelan and Edouard Haenni of Reichenbach. Droz and Haenni were replaced by Maurice Eberlé of Le Locle on June 24, 1933, and the company was renamed "Nouvelle Fabrique SA" on December 15, 1934. Finally, on December 22, 1937, the company was re-capitalized at 15,000 francs.
The factory struggled through the 1930s. Like many other companies, the factory came under the control of Ebauches SA in 1942 at the same time as Derby in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Still called "Nouvelle Fabrique", the factory in Tavannes remained a production site for Ebauches SA for decades but was shut down after 1962.
The company, Ebauches Tavannes, joined the Fabriques d'Ebauches Réunies in the 1970s and became a quartz movement assembly specialist. A production line of analog quartz movements was set up in November 1977, supplying FHF, another member of Ebauches SA but oddly not a member of FER.
Later Use of the Building
The Nouvelle Fabrique building remained vacant for a few years before being purchased by the Canton in 1968 to become a workshop for patients of the psychiatric clinic of Bellelay. The residents of Tavannes opposed housing the patients on sight, though the workshop operated through the 1970s.
The original factory building was demolished in 1987, leaving only the low, flat-roofed 1917 L-shaped workshop, which remains to this day.