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.

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. It was leased the following year to Salomon Hirsch from La Chaux-de-Fonds, who promised to build a successful business. But the 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. In 1906 the factory was sold to Hirsch outright, and it gradually found success. The factory was expanded in 1917.

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. This issue hit the Nouvelle Fabrique in 1929, which faced bankruptcy the following year. It fell to Marc Germiquet, the town notary and lawyer, to straighten things out. Like many other companies, the factory was sold to Ebauches SA in 1942. It remained a production site for the firm for decades but was shut down during the crisis of the 1970s. The building was demolished in 1987.