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 from La Chaux-de-Fonds, who hoped to build a successful ebauche business. 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. In 1906 the factory was sold to Hirsch outright, and it soon bore the "Vigilant Watch" brand used on the company's watches.
Louis Hutter and Louis Maeder
Management of the company was taken over by Louis Hutter by 1913, and Louis Maeder joined management by 1916. The pair would run the firm 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. 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.
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.
Ebauches SA
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. It 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.