- Sep 23, 2001
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The Watchmaking Schools of Switzerland and their School Watches
Dix Ecoles d’Horlogerie Suisse – Chef-d’Oeuvres de Savoir-Faire. (The Ten Swiss Watchmaking Schools and their Masterpieces of Horological Know-How) By Antoine Simonin and Estelle Fallet. Published 2010 by Editions Simonin, Neuchâtel (Switzerland). ISBN 978-2-9700573-3-8. Hardcover, 568 pages, 30 x 24 cm, over 1400 illustrations, most of them in color. The book is written in French. With a preface by Jean-Claude Biver. Includes 2 appendices, picture credits, bibliography, index. Available from the publisher www.booksimonin.ch for Swiss Francs 180 (ca. US$ 170) plus postage or borrow from the NAWCC library.
The ten watchmaking schools of Switzerland have been pillars of the horological know-how and tradition of Switzerland from the time the first one (Geneva) was founded in 1824 to the present. Six of them are still operating today (Geneva, Le Locle, Bienne, Porrentruy, Solothurn/Grenchen, Le Sentier), while four (La Chaux-de-Fonds, St. Imier, Neuchâtel, Fleurier) have merged into larger regional schools. The history of these schools has been told once before: In 1929 the Association of Swiss Watch School principals published a 272 page volume (with over 130 additional pages with advertising) describing - in a somewhat self promoting format - the seven schools then operating. In spite of its limitations that long out of print book [Linder (Editor): Les Ecoles Suisses d’Horlogerie – Die Schweizerischen Uhrmacherschulen, Zurich 1929] is much sought after by horological collectors, and if it can be found at all sells for over $200 a copy.
The new book (originally planned to coincide with the special temporary exhibit on the same subject in Geneva in 2008) is dramatically different and much more informative. It deals not only with the schools as institutions, but devotes a substantial portion of its space to the surviving artifacts of the schools, specifically the unique ‘School Watches’ the graduates of all schools were required to design and build themselves (based on an ebauche) in order to gain their certification as watchmaker. The ten main chapters of the book deal with the ten schools in the order they were founded, and vary in length from 20 to 70 pages. Each of these chapters has two sections, a historic section describing the history of the school, written by local experts (Estelle Fallet, Claude-Alain Künzi, Pierre-Yves Donzé, Hélène Pasquier, Maurice Evard, Anne-Marie Cruchaud, and Vuk Djurinovi) and a ‘Catalog’ section describing selected surviving school watches. The catalog sections vary from 15 to 40 pages per school, with each page describing and illustrating one to three objects per page. The majority of these are highly customized and individualized pocket watches with unique movements, some with complications (and in some cases also unique cases), but the catalog also includes wristwatches, clocks and one of kind horological tools.
Most of these objects are currently in private collections and many have never been published before. A large number of them where exhibited in the 2008/2009 special exhibit at the Museé d’Art et d’Histoire in Geneva. The combined catalog sections amount to nearly 200 pages, and in the opinion of this reviewer are reason enough to purchase this weighty volume. Each artifact is shown with a superb illustration of the movement, often accompanied by additional pictures of dial, case or technical details.
The historical sections on the individual schools are also richly illustrated, with portraits of key people, reproductions of gorgeous vintage technical drawings, facsimiles of regulations and curricula, workshop images etc. In some cases the book includes short specialized essays by additional authors relating to a particular aspect of a school’s history. These ten schools, solidly rooted in the last decades of the 19th century, with their insistence of training ‘complete watchmakers’, people able to produce an entire watch from scratch, were a key element in forming the culture of the Swiss watchmaking industry. Understanding the history and values of these institutions will enhance the readers understanding ofor the Swiss watch industry as a whole. A short chapter on the future of horological professional education and several appendices (including a massive index and a substantial bibliography) conclude the book. The book – like all titles by Editions Simonin - is well made, strong paper, well bound, great photography (mostly by Bernard Muller), and printed in high resolution.
Does the book include references to all known Swiss school watches? Of course not. Weighing it at over 10 pounds (4.8 kilograms) it already is a massive volume. The selection of objects ultimately shown reflects the contacts and know-how of the publisher, who has collected Swiss school watches for decades, and is probably the foremost expert on Swiss school watches, one of the more intreaguing and interesting sub-sectors of watch collecting. While most serious collectors of pocket watches will enjoy studying this book (even those whose knowledge of the French language is far from fluent), I consider it a ‘must buy’ for anybody with a particular interest in individually made and customized watches, and for horological scholars focusing on the role of horological education in horological history.
Fortunat Mueller-Maerki (Sussex, NJ) August 2010
Dix Ecoles d’Horlogerie Suisse – Chef-d’Oeuvres de Savoir-Faire. (The Ten Swiss Watchmaking Schools and their Masterpieces of Horological Know-How) By Antoine Simonin and Estelle Fallet. Published 2010 by Editions Simonin, Neuchâtel (Switzerland). ISBN 978-2-9700573-3-8. Hardcover, 568 pages, 30 x 24 cm, over 1400 illustrations, most of them in color. The book is written in French. With a preface by Jean-Claude Biver. Includes 2 appendices, picture credits, bibliography, index. Available from the publisher www.booksimonin.ch for Swiss Francs 180 (ca. US$ 170) plus postage or borrow from the NAWCC library.
The ten watchmaking schools of Switzerland have been pillars of the horological know-how and tradition of Switzerland from the time the first one (Geneva) was founded in 1824 to the present. Six of them are still operating today (Geneva, Le Locle, Bienne, Porrentruy, Solothurn/Grenchen, Le Sentier), while four (La Chaux-de-Fonds, St. Imier, Neuchâtel, Fleurier) have merged into larger regional schools. The history of these schools has been told once before: In 1929 the Association of Swiss Watch School principals published a 272 page volume (with over 130 additional pages with advertising) describing - in a somewhat self promoting format - the seven schools then operating. In spite of its limitations that long out of print book [Linder (Editor): Les Ecoles Suisses d’Horlogerie – Die Schweizerischen Uhrmacherschulen, Zurich 1929] is much sought after by horological collectors, and if it can be found at all sells for over $200 a copy.
The new book (originally planned to coincide with the special temporary exhibit on the same subject in Geneva in 2008) is dramatically different and much more informative. It deals not only with the schools as institutions, but devotes a substantial portion of its space to the surviving artifacts of the schools, specifically the unique ‘School Watches’ the graduates of all schools were required to design and build themselves (based on an ebauche) in order to gain their certification as watchmaker. The ten main chapters of the book deal with the ten schools in the order they were founded, and vary in length from 20 to 70 pages. Each of these chapters has two sections, a historic section describing the history of the school, written by local experts (Estelle Fallet, Claude-Alain Künzi, Pierre-Yves Donzé, Hélène Pasquier, Maurice Evard, Anne-Marie Cruchaud, and Vuk Djurinovi) and a ‘Catalog’ section describing selected surviving school watches. The catalog sections vary from 15 to 40 pages per school, with each page describing and illustrating one to three objects per page. The majority of these are highly customized and individualized pocket watches with unique movements, some with complications (and in some cases also unique cases), but the catalog also includes wristwatches, clocks and one of kind horological tools.
Most of these objects are currently in private collections and many have never been published before. A large number of them where exhibited in the 2008/2009 special exhibit at the Museé d’Art et d’Histoire in Geneva. The combined catalog sections amount to nearly 200 pages, and in the opinion of this reviewer are reason enough to purchase this weighty volume. Each artifact is shown with a superb illustration of the movement, often accompanied by additional pictures of dial, case or technical details.
The historical sections on the individual schools are also richly illustrated, with portraits of key people, reproductions of gorgeous vintage technical drawings, facsimiles of regulations and curricula, workshop images etc. In some cases the book includes short specialized essays by additional authors relating to a particular aspect of a school’s history. These ten schools, solidly rooted in the last decades of the 19th century, with their insistence of training ‘complete watchmakers’, people able to produce an entire watch from scratch, were a key element in forming the culture of the Swiss watchmaking industry. Understanding the history and values of these institutions will enhance the readers understanding ofor the Swiss watch industry as a whole. A short chapter on the future of horological professional education and several appendices (including a massive index and a substantial bibliography) conclude the book. The book – like all titles by Editions Simonin - is well made, strong paper, well bound, great photography (mostly by Bernard Muller), and printed in high resolution.
Does the book include references to all known Swiss school watches? Of course not. Weighing it at over 10 pounds (4.8 kilograms) it already is a massive volume. The selection of objects ultimately shown reflects the contacts and know-how of the publisher, who has collected Swiss school watches for decades, and is probably the foremost expert on Swiss school watches, one of the more intreaguing and interesting sub-sectors of watch collecting. While most serious collectors of pocket watches will enjoy studying this book (even those whose knowledge of the French language is far from fluent), I consider it a ‘must buy’ for anybody with a particular interest in individually made and customized watches, and for horological scholars focusing on the role of horological education in horological history.
Fortunat Mueller-Maerki (Sussex, NJ) August 2010
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