Charles-Albert Vuille

Charles-Albert Vuille was an industrialist focused on watchmaking in La Chaux-de-Fonds. He was long the administrator of Fabriques de Spiraux Réunies and was also a founding member of UBAH.

Biography

Charles-Albert Vuille was born on March 4 1866. Born to modest parents in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Vuille showed great promise and interned in Glasgow in 1886 before returning home to work.

In 1898, Fabriques de Spiraux Réunies selected the 32 year old Vuille to manage day-to-day operations of the balance spring cartel, which was founded just three years earlier. He remained director of the company until it became part of ASUAG in 1931, at which point Vuille retired. He had befriended Charles-Edouard Guillaume, whose invention of Invar and Elinvar revolutionized the spring and balance industry.

Vuille was in charge of the Fabrique Suisse de Balanciers à La Sagne and oversaw the merger of that company with others. He was also managing director of l'Usine des Reçues.

Vuille was called "intelligent, of an active and energetic temperament, experienced in all the finer points of business, a first-class administrator and a relentless worker, endowed with exceptional tenacity and patience" in his obituary. His tenure in charge of FSR and other organizations was long and prosperous.

He was one of the founding members of UBAH (Union des Branches Annexes de l'Horlogerie) and took over the presidency from César Schild, which he also held until his 1931 retirement. He was also one of the founders and an active supporter of the Laboratoire Suisse de Recherches Horlogères in Neuchâtel and for many years was a member of the Commission Cantonale de l'Observatoire.

Vuille died at 83 years old on May 25, 1949. He was already quite sick for some time and did not long outlive his wife, who died on March 6. She had long been a partner and collaborator of his, assisting with many of his activities.