Gédéon Thommen – Revue
The small town of Waldenburg had for centuries, sat on the important Basel – Geneva trade route through the Jura mountains in Switzerland. The constant traffic supplied the town with an income that supplemented the local agricultural industry. However, in the 1850s the trade route was disrupted when the Basel-Olten railway line bypassed the town. This threatened the town’s population with unemployment and poverty. As a result, in 1853 the town decided to enter the watch and clock-making industry and founded the “Société d’Horlogerie à Waldenburg” (Waldenburg clock and watchmaking company).

The intention was to manufacture ébauche movements in a purpose-built factory. However, the enterprise didn’t flourish and in its first couple of years of operation, the factory generated a deficit of over CHF 35,400. In order to relieve the municipal debt, the business was sold in 1859 to a local merchant, Gédéon Thommen (1831 – 1890) from Waldenburg and the watchmaker Louis Tschopp from Biel. Thommen had already been a member of the Board of Directors since 1857. After the restructuring by Thommen, the company began to recover. Manufacturing and assembly methods were fundamentally improved. In addition, particular importance was attached to the production of quality watches. Tschopp retired in 1869.

Gédéon Thommen was now the sole owner and renamed the company “Gédéon Thommen – Uhrenfabrikation” (watchmaking). In 1870 Thommen patented the “System der Auswechselbarkeit der einzelnen Werkbestandteile” (interchangeable component system). This ground-breaking patent allowed for the manufacturing of interchangeable watch components. This made it possible to transfer to a series or assembly-line production system. Also, in 1870 Thommen introduced the “Remontoir-Patent”, which was for a winding system via a crown rather than a key.

The new manufacturing methods had an immediate effect on production. In a new factory, in 1870, 4,000 watches were produced. By 1890 the output had increased to 13,000 watches per annum. Thommen was becoming less and less dependent on suppliers, as the growing company could produce complete movement blanks in its own factory. In 1875, in parallel to the previous production of cylinder movement watches, Thommen started producing lever movement watches. The brand name of the watches during this period was GT.