Achille Hirsch

Achille Hirsch was a watchmaker in La Chaux-de-Fonds active from at least 1890 through the 1930s. The company produced watches using the Vigilant and Invar brands, later adopting these names for the company. They were also closely associated with the Nouvelle Fabrique de Tavannes, which bore the Vigilant Watch brand name on the facade.

Achille Hirsch

Achille Hirsch was a watch merchant active by 1890 in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

By 1897 the company produced steel and electro-plated gold watches using the Vigilant brand and had just introduced a new watch under the Tosca name.

By 1900, Hirsch was focused on the exclusive sale of the Unicum brand pocket alarm clock and also sold watches with 6 different dials under the Vigilant, Tosca, and Normal brands. A new gold plated watch later that year was branded Corona, with Velox, Climax, Rugby, and Principal also used. By 1901, Hirsch aded the Omnibus brand as well.

By 1910 the company was known as Achille Hirsch & Fils as his sons joined management, and it was Fils de Achille Hirsch & Co. by 1916. It was also using the Montres Invar and Vigilant Watch Manufactory names by this time, along with Crêtets Watch Co. But this company was deleted from the register in 1926.

Vigilant Watch

Achille Hirsch used the Vigilant brand as early as 1897 but appears to have lost the claim after the 1930s.

In 1944, Cervine SA of La Chaux-de-Fonds was claiming Vigilant (along with Metoda, La Vogue, and Ruby) as brand names.

Nouvelle Fabrique de Tavannes

See Also: Nouvelle Fabrique de Tavannes

In 1900 the wealthy residents of Tavannes decided to build a new factory ("nouvelle fabrique") for lease to an industrious watchmaker. They had done the same a decade earlier with great success, resulting in the massive Tavannes Watch Co, and hoped to repeat this closer to the center of town. The factory was leased to Salomon Hirsch in 1901 and produced watches for Achille Hirsch. Indeed, it bore the "Vigilant Watch Manufactory" name across the facade! Salomon Hirsch purchased the factory in 1906 from the residents for 100,000 francs, minus 15,000 which had been committed to expand it.

The Nouvelle Fabrique de Tavannes would be a major site of production for Achille Hirsch through the war, and would remain connected with the company through a temporary post-war shutdown in 1920 until it was bankrupt in 1929.

Montres Invar

Compagnie des Montres Invar was registered by 1903, and Hirsch transferred ownership of some of his watch designs to this company that year.

By 1930 the company had been renamed Montres Invar. The company advertised itself as "Précision Chronométrique" ("Chronometric Precision") in stylish poster-style artwork produced by the Mettler company. It was still officially called Société Anonyme des Usines Fils de Achille Hirsch & Co. and was located on Rue Léopold-Robert 94-96 in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Montres Invar is named for the nickel-iron alloy of the same name, which was commonly used in balance wheels.

The company still used the Vigilant, Minimax, Apt, Metoda, and Starter brands as well, and specialized in export watches for the Americas, including Latin America, and the Far East.

Brands used in later years by Compagnie des Montres Invar included Amora, Anna, Aristocrat, Catedral, Dandy, Elyon/Immerfort, Grandmaster, La Vogue, Metoda, Nonesuch, Pathfinder, Reis, Stentor, Tontina, Ultonia, Uptown, Utmost, Velox, and Worthy. The company used a key or a stylized V (for Velox) as logos.

Compagnie des Montres Invar of La Chaux-de-Fonds was liquidated in 1992. The company was then located at Rue du Grenier 24 with the administrator listed as Salomon Hirsch. It had been listed there since 1985, when it was managed by Simone Hirsch.