Pierce 1883
Pierce SA is a Swiss watch manufacturer specializing in the production of mechanical chronographs and full calendar watches . The company was founded in 1883 under the name Manufacture des Montres & Chronographes Pierce SA by Léon Lévy and his brothers in Biel , Switzerland , one of the most important places in watchmaking history.
Company environment
In Biel the watchmakers were among their own kind, as more than 1700 watchmakers had settled there by 1859 . Because of their status, watchmakers and their families enjoyed perks such as free admission and waiver of the inmate allowance. By 1910 the company was already employing 1,500 people - when around 24,000 people lived in Biel at the same time.
Technical inventions and innovations of the company
At that time, chronographs were not yet a widespread type of watch. Waterproof watch cases, automatic movements, none of these were taken for granted. From the early 1920s, the Biel-based company began developing its own raw movements and stopped modifying basic calibers. These included the 13-line chronograph calibers 130 and 134 with ratchet wheel and vertical friction clutch. These models were produced with one or two crown pushers. Today these belong to high-priced collector's watches.
The wristwatches with Pierce automatic movement are among the world's first automatic movements for wristwatches that work in daily use . This is a unique development, the function of which was guaranteed by the fact that the “12.5-line” automatic movement was equipped with two rods on which a vibrating weight slid up and down, which was pulled up on one side via a “pay bar”. Pierce was also the first manufacturer to have its chronograph calibres certified in Switzerland as early as the 1940s. In the large group of interesting collector's watches from Pierce, the Duofon wrist alarm clock is also represented with two volumes for the ringing. One tone was strong and loud, the other very subtle. A small window in the dial provided information about which tone was currently selected. The “Correctomatic” from 1959 is one of the other milestones. This was an innovative watch in which the rate can be corrected from the outside using a pusher without having to open the case.
Individual evidence
- ^ Helmut Kahlert , Richard Mühe , Gisbert L. Brunner : Wristwatches: 100 years of development history. Callwey, Munich 1983; 5th edition, ibid. 1996, ISBN 3-7667-1241-1 , p. 34.
2. https://www.invenitetfecit.com/modeles/chronographe-pierce.html
3. http://judaisme.sdv.fr/synagog/hautrhin/gp/hegenh/horloge/pierce.htm