La Trame
La Trame was a brand of watches produced by the Rossel family in Tramelan and Bienne. The firm is best remembered for the Unitas brand, which was acquired by A. Reymond in 1926.
Jules Rossel
Jules Rossel was a watchmaker from Tramelan who established a watchmaking business in his own name in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1883. This failed in July 1895 but he established a new business back in Tramelan-Dessus with Adrien Rossel on April 1, 1896. The firm of Jules & Adrien Rossel registered brands Titania and La Trame but was liquidated in 1903.
Adrien Rossel-Conrad took over the brands, becoming known as Fabrique de Montres "La Trame" in 1918.
Unitas
- See Also: Unitas
A new company called La Trame SA was registered as a public limited company on June 6, 1918 with Jean or Hans Fink as president and Jean Uhlmann as secretary. The company was renamed Unitas Watch Co. SA on October 30, 1918 and registered the Unitas brand on March 4, 1919. Unitas issued new stock in 1921 with Hans Fink as president, Hermann Burri as vice president, and Gaston Girod as secretary and Jean Uhlmann removed.
The firm of A. Rossel-Conrad continued independently under Henri Rossel, operating as "Fabrique de Montres La Trame." The two companies operated independently for a few years.
The Unitas watch company specialized in anchor watches in the same market as ARSA and was also located in Tramelan. The firm had a patented 19 ligne movement with Lépine or savonette small seconds that was the predecessor of today's ETA 6498, which still bears the company's name.
Unitas Watch Co. increased share capital from 200,000 francs to 450,000 francs on November 22, 1921. The board of directors consisted of Hans Fink, president, Hermann Burri, vice-president, and Gaston Girod, secretary. Victor Chatelain was commercial director while Hans Fink was technical director. At a meeting on October 3, Victor Chatelain replaced Jean Uhlmann on the board of directors.
Following the bankruptcy of Hans Fink on March 27, 1923, his shares were cancelled and he was removed from the board. Hermann Burri took over as president with Gaston Girod remaining as secretary and Jämes Mathey joined the board. On July 16 of that year Victor Châtelain was removed with Bernard Gabus taking his place on the board. Gabus represented High-Life, a distributor of both Unitas and Berna watches.
On May 8, 1926 Unitas declared bankruptcy. Sensing an opportunity, Auguste Reymond purchased the company in December. Gaston Girod, Hermann Burri, and Jämes Mathey were removed from the board of directors, replaced by Auguste Reymond himself along with Ferdinand Kaiser, and Georges Capitaine. Bernard Gabus resigned as director as well.
Unitas was soon split from ARSA and merged into Ebauches SA. It remained a producer of watch movements in Tramelan for decades, eventually being merged into ETA.
La Trame
In 1930, the firm of A. Rossel-Conrad, Fabrique de Montres "La Trame," moved to Bienne.