Auréole
Auréole 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 founded his own watchmaking firm in 1868.
He partnered with watchmaker Léopold Goetschel from Niederhagenthal, naturalized in Neuchâtel, under the name Goetschel & Wolf by 1883. This company was located at Rue Jaquet Droz 30 by the 1883 census of businesses. The partnership was dissolved on March 10, 1890 by Wolf and Théodore Gœtschel, nephew of Léopold. On March 20, Philidor Wolf formed a new company called Philidor Wolf & Cie with Charles Franck, former manager of Goetschel & Wolf, located at Rue Neuve 16. The same day, Léopold Goetschel-Wolf formed his own company at Rue Jaquet Droz 30 and 32 with Théodore Gotschel.
Philidor Wolf dissolved this new company on June 30, 1895, continuing the business as Ph. Wolf at Rue Neuve 18 and Rue du Marché 3. His son Jules Wolf joined management in July 1901. He had traveled to Germany in 1894 and was preparing to represent the family form there.
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 and offices were transferred to Rue du Parc 128, in premises specially equipped for the manufacture of ebauches with interchangeable components and precision machine tools. 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.