Auréole

Auréole ("Halo" in French) was a Swiss watchmaking firm from La Chaux-de-Fonds active from 1868 through the 1970s. Founded by Philidor Wolf, the company was known as Fabrique Auréole from 1904. It specialized in mass-market watches at moderate prices.

Philidor Wolf

Philidor Wolf was born in Mulhouse, France. He moved to Switzerland in 1853 to apprentice as a watchmaker. His sons Jules Wolf and Emile Wolf followed in his footsteps, taking apprenticeships of their own in watchmaking in La Chaux-de-Fonds, with Emile achieving a watchmaker-technician diploma at the watchmaking school there. Emile later interned in England as a precision regulator.

Wolf is said to have founded his own watchmaking firm in 1868, but Philidor (or Philidore) Wolf is listed in Indicateur Davoine starting in the 1859 edition at Rue Jaquet-Droz 19, then Envers 30 in 1865 and 1866.

Philidor Wolf partnered with watchmaker Léopold Goetschel (or Gœtschel) from Niederhagenthal, naturalized in Neuchâtel, under the name Goetschel & Wolf by 1873. This company was located at Rue Léopold-Robert 5 in the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville in 1873. It relocated to Rue Jaquet Droz 32 in 1877 and next door to number 30 the following year, a fashionable location at the corner of Rue du Casino near the old Hôtel des Postes. It remained there through the 1883 census of businesses and (under Goetschel alone) for decades. The partnership was dissolved on March 10, 1890 by Wolf and Théodore Gœtschel, nephew of Léopold. Léopold Goetschel-Wolf and Philidor Wolf formed new companies on March 20, with Goetschel continuing at Rue Jaquet Droz 30 and 32 in partnership with his nephew, Théodore.

On March 20, Philidor Wolf formed a new company called Philidor Wolf & Cie with Charles Franck, former manager of Goetschel & Wolf. The company was located at Rue Neuve 16, upstairs from a clothing store in a high-profile location by the famous fountain at the end of Rue Léopold-Robert. Philidor Wolf dissolved this new company on June 30, 1895, continuing the business as Ph. Wolf next door at Rue Neuve 18, where the firm would proudly advertise Fabrique Auréole and "Horlogerie pour Tous Pays". The firm also operated a workshop in the adjoining building to the rear, at Rue du Marché 3.

His son Jules Wolf joined management in July 1901, though he had worked for his father since the early 1890s already. He would take over the firm and continue to manage Auréole for five decades.

It was said in the 1940s that the Auréole brand was registered in 1894, but the first registration listed in the official register is 1902. In January 1904 the company was officially renamed Ph. Wolf, Fabrique Auréole. Other brands at the time included Vade-Mecum, Philidor, L'Espero, and Verda Stelo.

In 1905, the workshops were transferred to Rue du Parc 128, in premises specially equipped for the manufacture of ebauches with interchangeable components and precision machine tools, though the prominent office sign remained by the fountain for years. The Rue du Parc factory proudly wore the Auréole name and was well known through the 20th century. The firm created its own movements in American size 11 and 13.

By 1914 Auréole was producing a 7.5 ligne movement, the smallest such movement with interchangeable components.

The new Fabrique Auréole was built at Rue du Paix 133 in 1917. On March 15, 1918 the firm was registered as a Société Anonyme, Fabriques Auréole et Vertex SA. The firm was directed by Jules Wolf and Emile Dreyfus.

The company continued to produce its own movements, including both shaped and round movements from 8 to 20 lignes. The firm also produced precision tools including branded Auréole micrometers in 1916. The company registered a new brand for the British market in 1919, John Bull's Watch.

Businessman Georges Bloch joined the administration of the company in 1922 along with Emile Wolf, the other son of the founder.

Jules Wolf and Emile Dreyfus split in 1927 with the former continuing as president of Auréole et Vertex SA while the latter took over Slam Watch Co. SA. The Vertex name was dropped in 1928, with the company known simply as Fabrique Auréole SA. A new SA called Compagnie des Montres Auréole (Auréole Watch Co.) was established on March 30, 1928 and the former Fabrique Auréole SA was merged into it in 1936. Jules Wolf was president of the new firm with his wife Mathilde Wolf (née Weill) also on the board.

The Vertex company continued as Cie des Montres Vertex SA (Vertex Watch Co.) alongside Auréole, and both relocated their offices to Rue Léopold-Robert 66 (the Minerva Palace) in 1939.

On January 5, 1942, Jules Wolf retired after 50 years, turning the company over to Charles Lutz and Willy Burkhardt. Their wives, Juliette Lutz (née Brandt) and Betty Burkhardt (née Bruat) became administrators in 1947. The new managers added waterproof watches and chronographs to the product lineup.

Marcel Choffat

In 1948 the company was taken over by Marcel Choffat. Although continuing to offer affordable watches, Choffat focused on increasing quality and production. Over the next two decades output of the Auréole factory at Léopold-Robert grew from 18,000 watches to over 370,000 watches annually.

The company was producing an automatic model by 1950 and a waterproof automatic watch two years later.

The primary markets for Auréole by the 1960s were North and South America and Japan, with Spain and Greece also represented.