Universal Genève
Universal Genève is a Swiss watch manufacture.
History
Descombes et Perret
Numa-Emile Descombes (1863-1897) and Ulysse Georges Perret (1868-1933) founded an etablissage workshop and watch dealership on January 18, 1894 in Le Locle. In 1897 Numa Descombes died at just 34 years of age, so Georges Perret was forced to seek a new partner.
Perret et Berthoud
On July 22, 1897, the firm became Perret & Berthoud with the addition of Louis Berthoud, and moved to a new headquarters at Rue Daniel JeanRichard 7.
Early on, the company specialized in simple watches, but the addition of Berthoud gave it additional experience in complications. He soon introduced a chronograph with a 30-minute counter in 1897, establishing the company in this new market. A surprising design trademark dated September 2, 1898 describes a wrist chronograph with a pusher between the lugs at 6:00. Known as "Universal Watch Extra", this was not produced commercially. In 1917, during the first World War, Universal did produced their first bracelet chronograph watch line using a 17 ligne monopusher movement.
Universal Genève
In 1918, Universal opened a sales office in Geneva, and the administrative center of the company was soon relocated to the city at Rue de l'Arabesque.
Raoul Perret (1901-1973) took over management of the firm on the death of his father on August 12, 1933. He soon concentrated the firm in Geneva, closing the Le Locle factory. The company was officially renamed Universal Genève in 1937.
Under Raoul Perret, production of watch movements was taken on by the Martel factory, which was also transitioning to the sons of the firm's founder. Perret took a seat on the board of Martel and provided funding to construct a modern factory there. Although still an independent company, the Martel factory wore the name "Universal" on the facade in 1941 and was treated as "in-house" by the Geneva firm.
In the 1930s, the focus was on the production of wrist chronograph models with the models Colonial, Compur and the very successful Compax chronograph range. The first major move came in 1934 with the introduction of a two-button chronograph to rival those of Heuer and Breitling.
In the fifties, Universal patented, among others, a jumping central seconds, an automatic with bidirectional rotating central rotor and the "Microtor", an automatic with off-center planetary rotor (also called micro-rotor). In 1954 the company launched the Polarouter, predecessor of the well-known wristwatch model "Polerouter". In 1956 a new production facility in Geneva was established and thus the entire production was shifted there. The Martel factory was purchased by Zénith in 1959.
Movado-Universal and Bulova
In 1960, Universal joined together with Movado of La Chaux-de-Fonds to form "Movado-Universal". The two companies were roughly the same size, managed by their founding families, and with strong sales in the American market. Universal and Movado shared movements in this period and developed joint products. But the companies remained mostly independent.
In 1966, Montres Universal Perret and Berthoud SA, as it was then known, was acquired by the American watchmaking giant, Bulova Watch Co. The August announcement was made simultaneously by Raoul and René Perret and Harry Henshel in Geneva and New York. Universal then employed 225 workers at the Carouge factory in Geneva, and these soon began producing watches for both brands. This acquisition came just a few months after Hamilton acquired Büren, and as Elgin and Timex were also moving production to Europe and the US Virgin Islands. These moves were spurred not just by the profitability of American companies but also the devaluation of the US dollar after the fall of the Bretton Woods monetary agreement and the liberalization of the Swiss watchmaking industry.
Universal and Bulova remained somewhat separate from a product development and sales perspective, but this did give Universal access to Bulova's tuning fork movement technology, resulting in the 1968 introduction of the Universal Unisonic line. Universal would go on to use Bulova's tuning fork emblem on the dial of their watches, leading to some branding confusion between the two.
The 1960s and 1970s also saw continued technical innovation. Cal. 2-66 and 2-67, released in 1966, were the brand's first ultra-thin micro-rotor movements. A decade later, in 1975, Universal released Cal. 74, the world's thinnest quartz movement.
The Universal factory in Geneva became increasingly unprofitable for the group in the 1970s and by 1983 it was facing bankruptcy. The group announced in March that it would close the factory despite gaining debt relief and restructuring.
Montres Universal SA
The assets of the company were taken over by a new firm, Montres Universal SA of Geneva, under Jean-Claude Maibach in June, 1983. This company struggled to regain its former status despite the closure of the factory and the global preference for quartz watches. But the company, funded by the public economy department of Geneva and Saudi investors, nevertheless saw some success in the mid-1980s.
Re-Birth under Stelux
In 1989 the Stelux group bought the company and the brand Universal. It was re-launched again in 2005, focusing on the Microtor and its heritage in chronographs. The Microtor was re-launched as Cal. UG101 in 2007.
- See also Universal calibres
Address
Universal Genève SA
Route des Acacias 6
Case postale 515
CH-1211 Genf 24
Tel. : 022 / 307 78 80
Fax : 022 / 307 78 90