Ernest Künzli

Ernest Künzli (1857-1921) was an industrialist primarily remembered for the ebauche factory he founded in Court.

Ernest Künzli was born in 1857 in Malleray, where he spent his youth and completed an apprenticeship in ebauche production.

Künzli married Bertha Thalmann, daughter of a prominent watch merchant, which connected him to the Jeanneret family of Saint-Imier. He moved to the town to work in the factory of his father-in-law, Fritz Thalmann, following his marriage. In 1885 he returned to Malleray to run a workshop for the manufacture of ebauches for his father in law.

A few years later, the authorities in Court invited him to move his workshop to their village. He joined forces with Arnold Hänni to found the factory Hänni & Künzli there. The partners were successful and this factory became prosperous and a driver of the economy in the village. In 1892 prominent La Chaux-de-Fonds watchmaker Rénold Kocher joined this business.

In 1897, Künzli left the association to focus on the trade of complete watches before moving to Neuveville to found a watchmaking supplies factory there. By World War I Künzli was nearing the end of his career and sold this factory at the start of the war.

Ernest Künzli died on November 8, 1921, in Neuveville. He was survived by his widow, Bertha Künzli-Thalmann.