Moeris

Moeris

Moeris takes its name from its main line of product, and the story is typical of a Swiss manufacturer that managed to survive from 1883 to 1970, when it was absorbed by Tissot.

History

Moeri & Jeanneret (1883 - 1900)

Fritz Moeri and Julius Frederic Jeanneret Saint Imier founded a company in 1883 with the aim of producing watches. Jeanneret had started a business in 1866, and had had an official approval getting an honorable mention at the Exposition of the Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1881. The company continued until the sudden death of Jeanneret, in 1899. In 1882, Jeanneret also had changed his own company to Jeanneret & Fils.

Moeri Fritz (1900 - 1956)

On the death of Jeanneret the company was dissolved, probably due to problems with the widow of Jeanneret, who had taken an active part in the conduct of society, and became Fritz Moeri SA.o in full. Fabrique des Montres SA Moeris.

Development

Fritz Moeri SA was a typical Swiss company of a good standard, which maintained its market position thanks to its philosophy. Moeri probably did not have the technical qualities of a Favre-Jacot, but instead of driving your business to the manufacture of decent Ebauches, develop their interests going in two directions, the clock for measuring ultra-short intervals and chronographs of high precision.

The patent of 1904

In 1904 Moeri filed a patent for an entire movement, a caliber 19 ', called "Non-magnetic, blinking a little' s eye on the American market. The basic fact is that Moeri failed to follow the American method of cuts completely interchangeable with their tools. This movement is, of course, the basis of future production.

Moeris Invar (1905) Invar is an alloy discovered by Swiss physicist Charles Eduard Guillaume (1861-1938) in 1896. The characteristic of 'the same and have a coefficient of linear expansion of less than ten times compared to' steel. Indeed, a particular variant of the 'Invar, known FeNi36, with 36% of nickel, has an even better behavior, but it was very difficult to work. Guillaume received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1920. Guillaume came from a family of watchmakers rather note, and he immediately understood as the practical application 's unchanged over the rockers, but the complication of mechanical processing of the alloy led him to organize a group of companies that experience the practical implementation of the new rockers. Moeri had both the instrumentation of mind required for this pioneering work, and took part in the trial along with the most resonant names of Swiss industry, achieving excellent results

Milan (1906) The world class Moeri himself, and his company, led to his appointment to the Jury of the contest during the Universal Exhibition in Milan in 1906. His watch got a special award given out Main competition Moeri the presence of the jury, and this was the final affirmation of the brand.

Registered trademarks With the development of the 1905/06 Moeri had put in a good light in the world of Swiss watchmaking, and of course worked to turn fame into sales. In fact, c 'were two roads, a greater effort and longer term, ie create a brand image, a "brand" as we say today, the way of Omega and Zenith for example, or working on the price / quality and market breakthrough "petty." There is, of course, since you know the reason for choosing Fritz Moeri but we can observe the effects. Between 1910 and the 30s the Fritz Moeri SA produced a myriad of marks registered or otherwise, such as Avon, Belvedere, Cherub, Convenience, CUDOS, Civitas, Darnley, Daswood, Excellence, Excellence, FM, Frimosa, Grand Prix, Guntyme, Maoris, Moeris, Moeris Patent, Odaglas, Replica, Rywood, Sekuer, The Bahadur, The Forms, tikkini, Timeball and the list is probably not complete. This effectively means that Moeri exploited the outstanding quality of their movements for small productions that sold well, but do not we pay special marketing efforts to its main brand, Moeris.

GSTP (1939 - 1945) Moeris Clocks have, as a rule, movements that are very beautiful in terms of finishing. In the years around 1925 he produced variations of the latest 19 'of 1904 they had success, so that several copies still circulate today marked Alpina not Moeris, the 19B and 19D. These beautiful solid movements allow the Fritz Moeris know you're not into convulsions of Swiss industry from 1926 onwards, and to deal with a major customer, the British War Office to 'the beginning of World War II, turning out a large amount of pieces that were branded GSTP and purchased from the War Office.

Post-war (1946 -1956) The end of World War II found the Fritz Moeris SA in good condition and were produced variants of the final 19 ', the 19H and 19J, with good success and at the same time also included gauges for wristwatches, from the tiny 5 'ladies' to 10, 11 ', 10. Moeris is a fact that was one of the best manufacturers of movements remained independent and sound cash position. In 1956 he obtained a great success Moeri image, but also in terms of turnover, providing both Seiko Citizen that a lot of movement. This situation, however, could not last long, since Moeri had become essentially a "strategic" for the 'Swiss industry as a whole, and thus had to be "controlled." In the late '60s, then. The Fritz Moeri SA is absorbed by Tissot, which in turn was merged in 1931, along with Omega and others, and that through SSIH 's contribution of the Division Moeri Fritz "was trying to find space in the market increasingly dominated by Japanese and by quartz movements. Currently everything is gathered together in Swatch.

Considerations Moeris, especially with products from the main line, Moeris, is a manufacturer unjustly forgotten and movements of the family started from 19 in 1904 are really good technically and generally well finished: they are movements that have a lot more space in the literature than in the ordinary course of business, which is a shame in terms of the collection. The movements of the series 19, in particular, played perfectly 's watch "type" of its period, or may form a continuous line in time and technical evolution of good Swiss watch industry from 1904 to 1956. Because the manufacturer is not well known, moreover, can be found on the market at affordable prices, usually well below the absolute value of the movements themselves. Of course it is easy to find movements with the unchanged budget, even in the initial form, similar to the rocker Earnshaw, then with two supports and screws isochronism. The rocker Invar, however, differ from those Earnshaw immediately since there are obvious the two cuts for the expansion at the supports.

1970: Aquired by Tissot becoming the "Moeris Department" within Tissot.