Gala
Gala was a watch brand through most of the 20th century. Originated around 1900 by Favre Frères of Cormoret in the Saint-Imier valley, it was taken over by Liengme in the 1930s and continued through the 1970s.
Favre Frères
The Favre family has a long history in watchmaking in the small village of Cormoret, located near Courtelary on the road to Villeret and Saint-Imier in the Saint-Imier valley. The firm of Favre Frères first appears in Indicateur Davoine in 1883 and is listed as a Fabrique d'Horlogerie alongside Edouard Droz, Oscar Robert, and numerous members of the Favre and Liengme families. According to Lexicon des Jura, the Favre family purchased the "Moulin dessous le Village" ("windmill below the village") in February 1878 and replaced it with a new factory building. Opening in 1880, the Favre factory included a paddle wheel that produced 12 horsepower. Although Favre Frères thus dated only to 1880, the company claimed foundation in 1859 in 19th century advertising. The Favre factory at Route Principale 2 was later used as an auto repair garage by Jürgen Lutz but this business closed in 2019.
Favre Frères quickly rose to become the most important watch factory in Cormoret, producing gold, silver, and nickel watches in volume. They boasted of interchangeable components and having their own designs, including a key winding system, and that the factory produced everything in-house from raw materials. The initial Favre Frères product line was centered on 13 to 20 ligne cylinder movements. By 1886, Favre Frères opened a second factory at Neuveville as well.
In 1888, Favre Frères had developed an effective keyless works for setting the time using the crown, which was registered using the Archimède brand name. This also included a dust cover similar to later waterproof watches. Favre won a bronze medal at the Universal Exposition in Paris of 1889 but promptly refused the award since competitors they saw as inferior won gold or silver medals. Favre Frères developed a new 19 ligne anchor movement by 1895, which was marketed under the registered brand Rubin. The company would add an anti-magnetic watch offering by 1900.
Gala and L. & W. Favre
A new firm known as L. & W. Favre was registered in Cormoret by 1900 to market the new patented alarm movement created by Louis-Eugène Favre in 1898. Measuring 20 ligne, the Lépine movement featured a "morning alarm clock" function and was offered in a variety of executions in gold, silver, steel or nickel. Favre marketed this as the "Gala", and this would be the family brand for decades to come.
In 1918, L. & W. Favre was absorbed into Favre Frères, which offered the Veto brand as well. Favre Frères had apparently been using the 20 ligne alarm movement since 1913, selling it alongside their new 30 hour and 8 day movements and continued production of 12, 18, 19, and 20 ligne standard movements.
Liengme and Gala
As the Favre businesses merged, the Liengme family also consolidated their operations. By 1916, Liengme & Cie. had been established to encompass the family's 5-decade work in Cormoret, and the company had grown enough to advertise their ebauches and movements. Liengme specialized in compact movements for ladies watches, including 9 and 11 ligne anchor movements, but they also produced complete watches in the town. Another branch of the family, Serge and Jacques Liengme, produced a 5.25 ligne rectangular and 6.5 ligne oval movement, but this was absorbed into Liengme & Cie. SA by 1931.
By 1938, Liengme & Co. SA had taken over Gala from Favre Frères, consolidating all Cormoret watchmaking into a single company. The company was officially known as Fabrique des Montres Gala, and specialized in central seconds, shock-resistant, and anti-magnetic movements. The Veto brand was brought back by 1942 as well, with automatic and chronograph watches now added to the company's offerings. But alarm watches were no longer part of the lineup.
Gala was distributed in Latin America by Unver SA in the 1940s and by L. Becker (along with Princia and Titan) in the 1950s. Interestingly, Becker also distributed Technos watches, which were produced by Gunzinger Frères in Rosières and were unrelated to Technos SA, the large watchmaking machine company that was the other large company in Cormoret.
Gala would remain the company's primary brand after World War II, though Veto was also offered at least through 1962 and was deleted in 1979. Other brands used in this period include Orvie and Herlis. Kadalux and Suzana were also Liengme brands but were deleted in 1970, and Crocodile was deleted in 1971. Liengme also used the Shock-Stop and Stop-Chocs names on their anti-shock mechanisms.
Gala and Veto were registered by Ibrahim Salah of Bellmund in 1974, who also registered a number of other odd brands through the 1970s, but it seems that he did not own them. They were finally deleted by Liengme & Co. SA in 1987.
Later Uses of the Gala Brand
- Gala was a brand of quartz or transistor alarm clocks by Hanhart in the late 1970s
- Collection Gala was a sub-brand of Pierre Cardin watches in the late 1980s
- GALA International was the Italian distributor of Stendhal watches in the late 1980s
- Starting around 2000, Piaget used the Gala brand on diamond-studded ladies watches, notably the Piaget Limelight Gala which debuted in 2013 and was nominated for the GPHG award in 2021. At this time, Piaget claimed that the Limelight Gala dated to 1970 but this seems unlikely since the brand was still used by Liengme at this time.