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Borgel Cases

There is a great deal of misinformation concerning Borgel cases and the development of the waterproof watch case, so here I am going to try to set the record straight based on factual evidence. I am sure that in the attempt I will get some things wrong, so please forgive me and point out my mistakes as gently as possible. If you have any comments, corrections, requests or suggestions, then please feel free to email them to me at You don't need to copy the email address, just click on it. Oh, and if you have a Borgel cased watch, or any watch with an unusual case an FB-with-a-key mark in it, I would love to see a picture of it. I look forward to hearing from you! Regards - David

François Borgel

François Borgel was born on Friday the 22^nd of August 1856, the son of Laurent Borgel and Marie Besson. He started in business under his own name in 1880. In local records he is described as a "watch case fitter" and I have seen reference to his workshop being recorded in 1888 at 17 Rue de Coravin, Geneva. This appears to contain a small spelling mistake. There is a Rue de Cornavin in modern day Geneva, and Jaquet and Chapuis illustrate the workshop of a Geneva chamber worker, or cabinotier, in the St-Gervais quarter at 16 Rue de Cornavin. The subject of the illustration is an "emboîteur" or boxer-in, one of the principal case making trades of the boxer-in or springer, the joint finisher and the polisher.

Cabinotiers Geneva was the name given to the 4,000 watchmakers of the city during the second half of the 18th century. These watchmakers working in "cabins", sometimes tiny, under the roofs of houses. The English term is "garrets". So Borgel started his business as a watch case fitter in a garret workshop in the watchmaking district of Geneva, surrounded by other workers in the watchmaking trade.

Swiss patent specifications do not carry the address of the patentee, but the British patent of Borgel's screw in watch case, No. 20,422 dated 1891, gives his address at the time as 1 Place Cornevin, Geneva. There is no Place Cornevin in present day Geneva, but there is a Place de Cornavin, which seems a likely candidate, and the Rue de Cornavin leads to this square. The change of address indicates an improvement in Borgel's circumstances.

Borgel registered his "marque de fabrique", or makers mark (trademark), in Geneva on 17^th March 1887 as shown in the registration published in the official Swiss trademarks register, the "Archives de l'Horlogerie. Marques de fabrique et de commerce Suisse. Enregistrés par le Bureau fédéral â Berne." The registration shows that François Borgel was a manufacturer (fabricant), an important distinction from a mere reseller of others items, and his registered (déposée) trademark proudly bears his intials FB and the Clé de Genève (Key of Geneva), a symbol from the coat of arms of the town of Geneva, which was well known as an important centre of watch making. It also shows he was making "Boites de montres" literally boxes for watches, or watch cases, in gold (or) silver (argent) and steel (acier), and also other horological items.

First Patent

On the 3^rd of December 1888 Borgel was granted a Swiss patent on a new process for making metallic plates for watch cases, medallions and other jewellery. (Brevet N^o 16. Nouvelle composition des plaques métalliques servant à la fabrication des boîtes de montres, médaillons et autres bijoux. ) The process was to apply a layer of gold onto an iron or steel plate, then remove some of the gold with a graver to expose the iron or steel below. This would give the appearance of a steel item with pieces of gold attached to it. He evidently used this process with success for his own watch cases because in 1889 a report by a Mr Tripplin of the French International Watch and Clock Making Exhibition of 1889 recorded that "A Geneve exhibitor, M. Borgel, shows artistic case making, a steel case with encrustations of gold struck us favourably...". With his own business, and now this eye catching patented technique, Borgel was starting to forge his own way and make a name for himself.

Borgel Screw Watch Case

Borgel's famous patent for the one part screw in watch case design that now most often bears his name was published on 28 October 1891 with the Swiss "Brevet" or Patent, number 4001. (CH4001, François Borgel à Genève. Nouvelle boîte de montre.) This patent was also registered in the UK on 24^th November 1891 with British Patent number 20,422, and in America with US patent number 478,734 dated July 12^th, 1892.

The Borgel screw case was an early attempt to make wrist watches resistant to dust and moisture. The case back and middle part are in one piece, with no opening at the back. The front opening of the case is thickened and threaded internally with a fine thread. The movement, complete with dial and hands, is mounted in an externally threaded ring, and the glass is held in place by the bezel which is a push fit onto the end of the ring. The whole assembly of movement, dial, hands, glass and bezel in the threaded ring then screws into the case from the front.

At the time, the major concern of watch manufacturers was dust entering the case and contaminating the lubricating oil on the movement, causing it to thicken and become abrasive, slowing the action and wearing the pivots. The single front case joint and fine thread of the Borgel case reduces the opportunity for dust to enter the case, so the Borgel case was more dust resistant than a normal case with snap on covers.

But it was not water tight: the need for the movement to stop rotating when the 12 on the dial was exactly at the 12 o'clock position meant that careful adjustment of the bezel was necessary to get the bezel to screw down tight onto the case, and the winding stem and pin-set mechanism were still obvious points for dust and water to get in. But at the time Borgel invented this case the wrist watch was only a novelty item for ladies to wear, and real men carried pocket watches. The working environment for a pocket watch is relatively benign, tucked away in a warm dry pocket, only pulled into the outside world occasionally when its owner wants to know the time. For this environment, the Borgel case was a good solution. A good compromise between a case that provided additional protection for the movement, but didn't inconvenience its owner when he needed to wind the watch or set the time.

In order to get the movement in and out of a Borgel case the winding stem has to be made in two pieces. One piece is inside the movement as normal with a square end. The other piece with the winding crown is spring mounted on the side of the case, and has a hollow square end which engages with the square end of the piece in the movevment. To insert or remove the movement, the spring loaded crown is pulled out so that the piece of the winding stem attached to the case disengages from the piece in the movement and pulls clear of the movement. Then the movement and bezel with the crystal unscrews out of the front of the case in one piece.

Because of the split winding stem, the method of setting the hands is unusual. The crown in its normal position winds the spring as usual, but obviously the pulled-out position is now used to release the movement and so cannot be used to set the time. To allow setting of the hands, a pin just below the crown on the side of the case is pressed in, and the crown then moves the hands instead of winding the movement. This is called "pin set" or sometimes "nail set" because one has to use a finger nail to press in the pin.

The picture above right shows a Borgel cased pocket watch, and the picture to the left shows a Borgel cased wristwatch with the movement unscrewed from the case. On the wristwatch you can see the screw thread on the movement, and the holes where the winding stem and pin-set engage with the movement. Another notable feature is that the wristwatch has a tube projecting from the case with the winding crown mounted on the end of it. This is a carry over from the pocket watch, where the tube is called the pendant. On a pocket watch the pendant carrys the bow or ring to which is attached a chain or leather fob, and the watch hangs from this, hence the name pendant. Most wristwatches do not have a pendant, the winding stem simply projecting straight through the wall of the case with the crown mounted directly onto the end of the stem. But even for such wristwatches the term pendant was sometimes used instead of crown, for instance timing trials of early wristwatches often referred to positions such as "pendant up" and "pendant down".

The Borgel company made watch cases for many watch manufacturers including Alpina, Longines, Mido, Movado, H. Moser & Cie, Omega, Rolex and Zenith. Pritchard⁽²⁾ records that the company exhibited watches at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893. Named after Christopher Columbus, the Fair was a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the New World.

François Borgel was obviously a highly inventive man, and he went on to patent numerous further ideas as shown in the following table.

Date	Number	Title	Translation
8 October 1891	CH 4041	Montre avec boîte à fond fixe et raquette renversée	Watch case with fixed bottom and reversed regulator
12 November 1891	CH 4145	Boîte de montre perfectionnée	Improved watch case
20 April 1894	CH 8232	Montre perfectionnée à boîte vissée et tige brisée	Improved screwed watch case with split stem
25 June 1895	CH 10412	Moteur à ressort pour vélocipèdes	Spring engine for bicycles
12 June 1903	CH 28389	Boîte de montre perfectionnée	Improved watch case
23 July 1910	CH 53105	Dispositif de fixation de pendant aux boîtes de montres-calottes	Method of fixing pendants to watch cases

Louisa Borgel

Manufacture of Borgel cases continued after the death of François Borgel on 7^th March 1912. On 25^th October 1917 the FB marque was renewed by his daughter Louisa Beauverd-Borgel. She had evidently married a M. Beauverd, but retained her maiden name, perhaps indicating the importance of the Borgel business to the family fortunes.

In the 1920 edition of the Indicateur Davoine we find the advertisement shown to the right, promoting the business of Louisa Beauverd-Borgel as the successor of Louisa Borgel, so evidently after her father's death in 1912 she must have carried the business along under her own name. The text roughly translated says "L. Beauverd ~ Borgel, successor of Borgel L. (Impermeable Borgel screw cases. - Case caps of one piece with screw-on dust guard. New Type. - Cases of 3 pieces with screwed on dust guard. - In gold of all purities, silver, steel, gold plate). - Factory and Office rue des Pecheries 10, Geneva."

Note the address; 10 Rue des Pecheries (The Street to the Fisheries, or to the fishing wharfs on the banks of the river Rhone). The business has relocated from the central Place de Cornavin address to a more commercial area, which must have due to the expansion of trade requiring larger workshops, but I don't yet know when this occurred.

Louisa obviously took after her father in inventiveness, and registered at least 3 patents. It was from the first of these that I discovered her first name. The patents are shown in the table, the first under her own name only, the second and third with Charles Rothen and Achille Faivre. Charles Rothen's name occurs again later, but this is Achille Faivre's only appearance in the story.

Note that the Swiss patent office was now showing both the original registration date and the publication date on patents: previously only the publication date was shown. I have used the original registration date in the table, which is usually over a year earlier than the publication date, but is the priority date from which the invention is protected, when and if the patent is finally approved and published.

Date	Number	Title	Inventor
24 November 1916	CH75467	Dispositif de fixation d'un fond de boîte de montre à la carrure de celle-ci	Louisa Beauverd-Borgel
19 October 1917	CH78295	Boîte de montre	Louisa Beauverd-Borgel, Charles Rothen and Achille Faivre
12 July 1919	CH84785	Dispositif de fixation d'une couronne à la tige de remontoir d'une montre	Louisa Beauverd-Borgel, Charles Rothen and Achille Faivre

Charles Rothen

Charles Rothen went on to publish at least four patents under his own name. The first one, CH88223 registered 5^th March 1920 and published 16^th February 1921, was subsequently "adopted" by Taubert et Fils in 1925 (see below). The case back and middle part were made in one piece, like the original Borgel case. The movement was carried in a ring d which dropped or hinged into the case, the winding stem tube e passing through a slot cut into the side of the case. The uppper part of this slot was sealed by a tongue of metal f soldered to the stem tube. For clarity I have coloured the ring d, winding stem tube e and tongue of metal f in red.

The bezel c carrying the crystal screwed into the case from the front, in a similar way to the original Borgel case, but in this design the movement did not rotate. This design provided an alternative to the Borgel case that was easier to manufacture, which was perhaps better sealed around the winding stem, and did not require the pin-set complication. I am really kicking myself because I had a watch with a case made to this patent before I knew what it was, and now that I want to photograph it of course I cannot find it. If anyone has a watch with a case like this I would be very grateful for some pictures of it, and in fact if anyone has any case stamped with the Borgel FB with key logo that is in any way unusual I would be very interested to see it, and if possible buy it to add to my collection.

It seems that this design was not very successful because I have only ever seen the one example I mentioned above.

Because Charles Rothen's name appears along with Louisa Beauverd-Borgel on two of the patents mentioned above, he was presumably an employee of the Borgel Company. The adoption of his 1921 patent No. 88223 by Taubert et Fils would seem to indicate that he became an employee of theirs when they took over the Borgel Company. His third patent in the table below was registered in 1928 under his own name, clearly after the takeover of the Borgel Company but strangely with no mention of Taubert et Fils.

Date	Number	Title	Inventor
1921	CH88223	Boîte de montre.	Charles Rothen
1923	CH102074	Dispositif de fixation d'une anse à une boîte de montre, de boussole, de médaillon etc.	Charles Rothen
1923	CH105158	Brevet additionnel subordonné au brevet principal nº 102074 Dispositif de fixation...etc.	Charles Rothen
1928	CH124164	Boîte de montre hermétique.	Charles Rothen

Semi Hermetic

An alternative design to the Rothen case discussed above is often referred to as the "Semi Hermetic". This had a similar one piece case back and middle with screw on bezel, but in this design the bezel was carried down much closer to the tube for the winding stem so that the tongue of metal, item f in Rothen's design, was not needed. The picture to the left shows one of these Semi Hermetic case manufactured by the Borgel company with the FB-and-key trademark. But there is no indication that this design was patented, and one sees lots of these type of cases without the FB-and-key trademark. Presumably the originator of this design failed to protect it with a patent, and cases to this design were manufactured freely by Borgel and other companies.

I have seen mention of gaskets being used with this design to seal around the winding stem tube where it passes through the case side. Examining the watch in the picture under a glass reveals no sign of any gasket, or any possibility of one because there is no continuous groove where the stem tube passes through the case wall or any other feature which could carry a gasket. If you have seen a case with such gaskets, and even better still can send me some pictures of one, then please get in touch.

Taubert & Fils

By 25 January 1925 the Borgel marque had been acquired by Taubert & Fils (Taubert and Sons). On this date the new firm registered patent CH 112153, the heading of which is shown to the left, proudly declaring "Manufacture Des Boits Borgel, Taubert & Fils". This patent is noted as an additional patent, subordinate to the main patent No. 88223, the patent registered by Charles Rothen.

I do not know why Louisa or her family decided to sell the business to Taubert & Fils. Perhaps Louisa died, which seems unlikely as she would have been only about 50 years old, although she could have died prematurely due to accident or disease. But if Louisa had died, then her husband could have carried on the business, so it seems more likely that the family decided to cash in and retire by selling the business. Perhaps Louisa's husband was successful in his own right and wanted his wife to give up her involvement in the business. This was the end of the Borgel family in watch case making, but not the end of the association of the Borgel name and the famous FB-with-a-key trademark with watch cases.

In their first advertisement, shown on the right, Taubert & Fils describe themselves as "Manufacturers of Borgel cases" and "Successors of Louisa Beauverd-Borgel, a house founded in 1880." Taubert & Fils make great play of the Borgel name and trade mark in their advert - it appears no fewer than five times - so this must have represented an important acquisition to them. Perhaps it transformed the fortunes of a small, previously relatively unknown case maker. The advert says they make "Borgel screw watch cases and all other screw systems". Around the FB trademark the advertisement says "Ouvrage soigné et garanti exigez notre marque de fabrique" (Properly finished and guaranteed products require our trademark). They certainly carried on using the FB trade mark into at least the late 1950s, and don't seem to have developed any other trade mark of their own. The advertisement finishes with "Seule la boîte de montre à vis Borgel protège hermétiquement le mouvement de votre montre" (Only the Borgel screw case hermetically protects the movement of your watch).

Taubert & Fils re-registered the FB-with-a-key trademark on 23^rd January 1926 as shown in the picture on the left. In British Patent Specification GB 385509, which was published in 1932, the inventors introduce themselves as "Marcel Taubert, Paul Taubert Père (father), Paul Emile Taubert Fils (son), and Bernard Taubert, trading as Taubert & Fils, all of Swiss nationality, and all of Rue Pêcheries, 10, Geneva, Switzerland." The firm of Taubert & Fils is now recognised as one of the finest Geneva-based case makers, specialising in water-resistant cases and working for many firms, including Movado, Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. The firm later became Societe Anonyme Tabert Frères or Taubert Frères SA (Taubert Brothers), so presumably when the father Paul Taubert died, his sons decided to rename the firm. We know from the court case discussed below that this occurred before May 1931. The 1945 Directory of Swiss Manufacturers and Producers records Taubert Frères SA, Watch case factory, 10 Rue des Pêcheries, Geneva

As watch case technology developed towards a fully water tight case, case backs with screw threads that screwed into the case middle part replaced snap-close backs. At first these threaded case backs were milled to provide a grip to tighten and release them by hand. To get a tighter seal than possible by hand tightening for the Rolex Oyster, in 1926 Wilsdorf designed a tool that engaged with the millings and enabled greater torque to be applied than by hand. On October 3^rd 1929 Wilsdorf applied for a patent for this tool, which was published on January 16^th 1931 under N° CH143449.

At about the same time other techniques were developed for tightening case backs, such as notches cut into the circumference of the case back, or a transverse slit, similar to the groove of a screw. These systems used special keys which engaged with the notches or slots, and are still familiar today. Rather than use slots or notches in the case back, the Tauberts designed a watch case that had flats around the circumference of the back and bezel, rather like the flats on a nut. By using 10 flats they could make each one quite small, making a very neat and attractive alternative to slots or notches. This watch case was the subject of a court case in which many interesting facts were brought to light.

Bréguet-Bréting versus Taubert Frères S.A.

The information about the court case in the following was extracted from the judgment of the Swiss civil Court of September 14, 1948 in the case of Bréguet-Bréting versus Taubert Frères S.A.

The court noted that Taubert Frères deposited on May 8^th 1931 a patent application which was accepted and published on August 31^st 1932 under N° CH 156807. This patent was also registered in the UK under N° GB 385509 which was applied for on May 9^th 1932 and published as complete accepted on Dec 29^th 1932.

The patent was entitled "Boîte de montre hermétique" or Hermetic Watch Case and, as you can see from two of the figures reproduced from the patent specification to the right, the bezel and case back both screwed into the case. Part of the patent specification was that the external circumference of the case back was made polygonal, with flats on it like a nut, instead of round. This allowed the use of an adjustable wrench, a vice, or a similar instrument for tightening and releasing the case back.

This design of threaded or screwed polygonal case back was immediately very succesful, and Taubert Frères either supplied or licenced cases featuring it to a great number of of watch manufacturers. They also supplied a polygonal wrench or key that fitted the polygonal form of the case back, allowing easy screwing and unscrewing.

The first picture to the left shows the inside of one of these case backs from a silver cushion case watch retailed by JW Benson of London. It is clearly stamped with the FB tradmark, and it has the polygonal external circumference. Underneath the FB mark on the left is stamped BRIT. PAT. for British patent and the number 385 509, and to the right the Swiss cross and the word BREVET, which is Swiss for patent, and this refers to the Taubert's Swiss patent 156807. Beneath these marks are the two reclining opposed Fs of the import hallmark for Glasgow, the date letter "o" for 1937 / 38 (although this is in an oval cartouche rather than the expected square with ogee base) and the .925 indicating sterling silver. Beneath this is the sponsors mark SFC of Schwob Freres & Co. Ltd.

The second image to the left shows the case back of a Patek-Philippe ref 1463J, the first water-resistant chronograph to be produced by Patek Philippe. The polygonal facets of the Taubert patent case back are clearly visible. The image of the Patek Philippe was kindly granted to me by Robert Maron of Thousand Oaks, California who sells very fine watches. I would dearly love to have a picture of the inside case back of that PP, but he hasn't obliged me yet!

In January 1941, the partnership of the sons of J. Bréguet-Bréting, Bienne, manufacturers of watch cases, asked Taubert Frères S.A. for a supply of polygonal keys. As a result of this Taubert Frères realised that Bréguet-Bréting were making watch cases with screwed polygonal case backs the same as theirs, and pointed out the existence of their patent. Bréguet-Bréting were dismissive of Taubert's patent, so Taubert sued in the Bankruptcy court of Bern for Bréguet-Bréting to cease manufacture of watch cases with polygonal case backs, for any existing counterfeited or imitated products to be destroyed, damages of 8,000 Swiss francs, publication of the judgement in newspapers to be indicated by the court, and legal expenses.

The court case continued on for a number of years, during which the patent expired due to the passage of time, and in June 1945 Bréguet-Bréting went into liquidation. The lawsuit was continued against the two former associates and on November 28, 1947, the Bankruptcy court found in favour of Taubert Frères and ordered the defendants jointly to pay Taubert Frères the sum of 45,000 Swiss francs as damage interests. During the court case, industry experts appointed by the court were asked to comment on the Taubert design, and they remarked that it was "superior to the Wilsdorf design and other designs using notches or slots cut into the case back, both technically and aesthetically."

Poinçon de Maítre / Responsibility Mark

Since July 11, 1934, all precious metal (gold, platinum and palladium cases) watch cases made or imported into Switzerland must carry a poinçon de maítre or responsibility mark to identify who is responsible for guaranteeing the purity of the metal used to make the case. These marks are recorded by the Swiss Federal Assay Office and are stamped only on the watch case, not on the bracelet.

Watch case makers who are or were members of a collective, l'Union Suisse pour l'Habillage de la Montre (USH), use one of the six poinçon de maítre collectif or collective responsibility marks shown in the picture. From left to right they are:

1. Hammer-head or hammer without handle
2. Hammer with handle
3. Marquee
4. Crossbow
5. Geneva Key
6. Shield

The individual case makers are identified by a two or three digit registration number which is stamped where the xx is shown in the picture.

Manufacture Taubert were registered to use both mark number 1, the hammer head, and mark number 5, the Geneva key. Why did they have two registered marks? I have no idea. In both cases their registration number was 11, so if you ever see a case with either the hammer head mark or the Geneva key mark stamped in it, and 11 where the xx are in the picture, you know it was made by the Taubert company. You can see the Manufacture Taubert registration for the Geneva key symbol in the picture to the right.

Cyma Gold Borgel Cushion Case Wristwatch

Pictured right are the case marks from an interesting watch and case. The movement is a 15 jewel Cyma, and the case is a one piece design, without an opening back, made of 9 carat gold. The case has a screw bezel which, when removed, allows the movement, in a ring and further protected by an inner dust cover, to swing out on a hinge. The inner dust cover can then be removed to reveal the movement.

The case is marked inside at the top with the Borgel FB-with-a-key mark, and at the bottom with the collective responsibility mark of the Geneva key with the number 11 on the lever, the mark for Manufacture Taubert. I have highlighted this mark because it is not easy to see on the reduced size image.

Then, working down from the top, the other marks are:

A Swiss patent, referred to in the case back by the word PATENT followed by a cross for Switzerland and then the number 155 519. This patent for a for a "Boîte de montre" was deposited on 17th March 1931 by Schwob Frères & Cie SA of La Caux-de-Fonds and published on 30th June 1932. I have shown some figures from the patent in the picture on the left so you can see they match the watch case. The Glasgow import mark of two facing Fs and the date letter n for 1936. The 9 and 375 purity indicators for 9 carat gold. The initials SFC in a fancy cartouche, which stand for Schwob Freres & Co. Ltd.

Schwob Freres retailed watches manufactured by Tavannes / Cyma, who Schwob Frères had a part in setting up. So it looks like Schwob Freres designed and patented the case, and then had cases to this patent design manufactured by Taubert to take Cyma movements, and then Schwob Freres & Cie imported them into Britain and retailed them.

The images of the watch and case were kindly supplied to me by Simon Collier, who usually has some interesting watches for sale at All Time Classics.

Other References To Taubert Frères

An entry in the Geneva Register of Commerce dated 15^th July 1950 refers to Taubert Frères, giving the management as Marcel, Paul and Bernard Taubert of Neuchatel. After the patent registered by the three brothers in 1940, Bernard Taubert went on from 1947 to register at least 24 Swiss patents under his own name, with no mention of his brothers.

Pritchard⁽²⁾ records the following information:

Taubert, Manufacture Vacuum Genève

Trade Marks:	"FB" with a key (1883)
History:	The company registered its name in 1883 as a maker of pocket watches, movements, and cases. The company was listed in 1966.

The reference to "Taubert, Manufacture Vacuum" is intriguing - what does it mean? The image to the right shows the Taubert FB-with-a-key mark with the word VACUUM underneath in a Movado case back.

In 1959 / 1960 an evacuated "vacuum" watch case was invented by Hans Ulrich Klingenberg. He was a salesman for Glycine until 5th January 1966 when he established his own company: Vacuum Chronometer Corporation in Biel-Bienne. This was the first day upon the abolition of the "Statut horloger", which had prohibited the entry of newcomers into the watch industry for almost 40 years. The case was made in one piece with a flat mineral, later sapphire, crystal seated on an 0/ring gasket, with two clamps positioned at 12 and 6 holding the crystal sidewise and retaining it from falling out should the circa 85-90% vacuum be impaired for any reason. Normally the vacuum inside the case was sufficient to hold the crystal in place.

The first vacuum watch was introduced by Glycine, naturally, and then similar models followed from Longines, Waltham and Technos. The wording "Taubert, Manufacture Vacuum" implies that Taubert may have made the cases for Klingenberg.

The date given by Pritchard of 1883 obviously predates the 1887 that I have above for Borgel registering his mark, and indicates that Borgel first registered his trademark in 1883. We know from the Taubert & Fils advert that the Borgel company was actually founded in 1880, so it is not surprising that Borgel would have registered his trademark soon after that.

The End Of The Line?

The Taubert company went into liquidation in 1974. The Swiss register of collective responsibility marks shows that the firm's registration was cancelled on 16 May 1974. The final patent registered under the name Bernard Taubert, CH608322, was published in 1979. The applicant for this patent was Monique Bouchet, whereas previously Bernard had applied for all his patents in his own name. Perhaps the absence of his brothers from the patents after 1940 indicates that they had left the company, and perhaps Bernard himself either died or retired in 1974 leading to the liquidation of the company, and patent CH608322 was applied for by Monique Bouchet after his death as a mark or respect or memoriam.

The Line Continues!

The reason that I headed the previous section with "The End Of The Line?" with a question mark is that the Taubert design of case with the polygonal, or more correctly decagonal for 10 sides, screw back is still in use today by the West End Watch Co.

Taubert Patents

The table below is an incomplete list of patents by Taubert. I will expand it to cover more of their patents soon.

Date	Number	Title	Inventor(s)
1925	CH 112153	Boîte de montre.	Taubert Fils Manufacture Des Boites Borgel
1927	CH 119762	Montre.	Taubert Fils Manufacture Des Boites Borgel
1929	CH 130942	Boîte de montre hermétique.	Taubert Fils
1932	CH 156807	Boîte de montre hermétique.	Taubert Fils
1939	CH 207232	Dispositif hermétique de poussoir au remontoir pour chronographe.	Taubert Freres
1939	CH 206762	Dispositif de ressort antagoniste pour poussoir de chronographe.	Taubert Freres
1939	CH 207378	Dispositif de montage hermétique pour montre à mouvement de forme.	Taubert Freres
1941	CH 218691	Boîte de montre.	Taubert Freres
1941	CH 217009	Boîte de montre.	Taubert Freres
1942	CH 222297	Remontoir étanche.	Taubert Freres
1947	CH 248901	Lien extensible.	Bernard Taubert
1948	CH 257308	Lien extensible.	Bernard Taubert
1948	CH 257309	Lien extensible.	Bernard Taubert
1951	CH 273458	Boîte de montre.	Bernard Taubert
1951	CH 274905	Boîte de montre étanche.	Bernard Taubert
1951	CH 274906	Boîte étanche, notamment pour montre.	Bernard Taubert
1952	CH 281492	Boîte de montre à lunette rotative.	Bernard Taubert
1952	CH 287285	Montre-bracelet.	Bernard Taubert
1954	CH 304087	Remontoir étanche pour pièce d'horlogerie.	Bernard Taubert

While searching for records of cases made by Taubert & Fils or Taubert Frères I investigated Sotheby's Auctions. I found they had sold at least 13 watches between 2006 and 2009 where the case was attributed to Taubert. The Sotheby's watch expert obviously knows his subject very well, which I suppose is what you should expect! These were mainly watches by Patek Philippe, but there was also one by Movado. Some interesting extracts from two of the sales are noted below.

 

Francis Baumgartner

I have seen many instances of watch cases bearing an FB mark being attributed to Francis Baumgartner. This seems to be an error based on the common initials of FB for François Borgel and Francis Baumgartner. However, all the actual FB marks that I have seen so far have been the FB-with-a-key mark registered by François Borgel and used by his successors, initially his daughter Louisa Beauverd-Borgel and later Taubert & Fils. So far I have come across NO evidence for the involvement of Francis Baumgartner in these innovative case designs. I am trying to go back to original sources, such as the trademark registrations and patents that I have referred to, to get at the real truth.

In January 2010 I came across this image in a TimeZone forum. As you can see it is an 18 carat gold Patek Philippe case back, and it bears the collective responsibility mark of a small key with the number 2 stamped on the lever. Thanks to TimeZone member candle7 for permission to use the image, and for the information that the watch is a 1962 Patek Philippe ref. 3434.

The collective responsibility mark number 2 was registered to F. Baumgartner SA of Geneva. Now I have known for some time that the number 2 was registered to F. Baumgartner, but I, like I think many others, had assumed that this referred to Baumgartner Frères SA as discussed below. But as I was studying this image it occurred to me that Baumgartner Frères SA were a maker of low priced ebauches, and therefore would not be likely to be supplying solid gold watch cases to Patek Philippe. Also, Baumgartner Frères were based in Grenchen, not Geneva. This does point very clearly to the existence of a Geneva based case maker called F. Baumgartner SA (where the F may or not have stood for Francis) supplying high quality solid gold cases to Patek Philippe, whose existence I had previously doubted.

The owner of the watch, candle7, has informed me that the case is a snap back. Just metal on metal, no rubber gasket and no marking anywhere to indicate the watch was ever water resistant. So there is no evidence from this one item at least that F. Baumgartner SA made water resistant watch cases. I have also trawled through lists of patents and I could not find a single patent registered to F. Baumgartner, unlike Borgel and the Tauberts, who between tham registered dozens of patents relating to water resistant watch case designs.

So this does not change my conclusion that the FB-with-a-key mark was only used by the Borgel family company and then, after the takeover of the Borgel company, by Taubert et Fils, later Taubert Frères. If you know any more about F. Baumgartner SA, Genève, then please let me know

Baumgartner Frères SA, Fabrique d'Ebauches

The name Baumgartner Frères, often rendered as Baumgartner, F, occurs. Could this be a reference to, or in some way related to Francis Baumgartner? It would appear not; there is not mention of a Francis in the firms history, and the firm was well known as a make of low priced ebauches, or watch movements, not of watch cases.

Arnold Baumgartner completed an apprenticeship as a watchmaker and became inspector, then head of production at the firm Adolf Girard. In 1899 he opened a factory to make incomplete watch movements, or ebauches, based on the Roskopf "montre proletaire" (laborer's watch) design, which was intended to be sold for the low price of 20 Swiss francs (then a week's pay of an unskilled laborer) but still be of excellent quality. He was soon joined by his brothers Ernest and Emile, and the company took the name Baumgartner Frères. In 1916 the firm became Baumgartner Frères SA Grenchen (BFG). In 1923 the company was listed as a maker of ebauches, and in 1925 it was one of a group of 25 ebauche makers that collaborated to form Ebauches SA. In 1974 the company celebrated its 75^th anniversary and said that BFG was the world's largest maunufacturer of Roskopf ebauches. In a booklet to celebrate the anniversary "75 ans BFG 1899-1974" the company claimed that 10% of all the watches manufactured in the whole world used a BFG movement. The company ceased activity in 1982.

If you like what you see, or have any comments, requests or suggestions, then please feel free to email me at You don't need to copy the email address, just click on it. I look forward to hearing from you!

Regards - David

References

2. Kathleen H. Pritchard Swiss Timepiece Makers 1775-1975