Fritz Marti
Frédéric "Fritz" Marti (1892-1983) was a Swiss engineer and businessman famous for inventing Incabloc and leading Portescap.
Early Life
Frédéric "Fritz" Marti was born in Lyss in 1892. His family were poor farmers, with a few cows and horses, and young Fritz worked in the fields. He was sent to Bevaix to learn French, showing quick aptitude for learning. On the advice of an aunt, his father sent Fritz to the technical school in Berthoud. He lived with his aunt there, working hard around the house and studying late into the night.
Marti moved on to the Technicum in Saint-Imier, obtaining a cantonal certificate and gaining his first exposure to the watch industry in the watch town. His next step was Zurich, where he earned a baccalaureate at the Lémania Institute before entering the polytechnic university. His skills there earned him a spot as a laboratory assistant, meeting Georges Braunschweig, is future business partner. Marti also served as an assistant to Albert Einstein at ETH for a time.
On graduating from ETH with a degree in mechanical and electrical engineering, Marti received offers to work in the United States. But World War I had started and he was instead called into the Swiss military. After the war he instead applied for a position as director of the Technicum in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Declaring "Knowledge has no age", the president of the committee hired the young and talented Marti.
Watchmaking
Despite taking the prestigious position as director of the Technicum in La Chaux-de-Fonds at a young age, Fritz Marti resigned in 1919 to join his friend from ETHZ, Georges Braunschweig at his family watchmaking firm, Election. His responsibilities there included examining manufacturing plans, and Marti quickly learned much about the business of manufacturing watches. An accounting scandal erupted at Election and the firm was facing bankruptcy in 1930.
Marti saw first-hand the fragility of the balance staff and sought to better protect watches against shocks. His invention would be called Incabloc, and was a combination of a conical jewel with a movable cap held in place with a clip. Seeing the potential of the invention, Marti brought in Henri Quaile and Roland Beck to form Le Porte-Echappement Universo SA to commercialize it. Raising 50,000 francs, the company was incorporated on January 21, 1931. Bloch was removed at the general meeting of the firm in 1934, replaced by Marti's old friend (and heir to the Election company), Georges Braunschweig.
Marti remained with the firm for many years, overseeing massive growth and market share for his invention, a shift to electronics and micro-motors, and the quartz crisis.
Death and Legacy
Fritz Marti died on December 24, 1983, at the age of 91. He was widely memorialized and remembered as a "genius" with many eccentric hobbies.