William Borle

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William Borle (* 1869 ; † 1948 ) was a Swiss industrialist and explorer.

Life

William Borle married Rose Jéquier in 1894. In 1900, he and his brother-in-law Paul Jéquier founded a watch factory in Fleurier . From 1904 to 1905 he had the Villa Les Frênes built in Fleurier, which was planned by the architects Louis-Ernest Prince and Jean Béguin in the local style . His factory merged in 1915 with two more to watch company Fleurier Watch Co .

In 1924, Borle and his compatriot Henry Vallotton joined the Tranin-Duverne mission of the French Edmond Tranin and Gustave Duverne . It was the first automobile to cross Africa from the Atlantic to the Red Sea . Borle had met Duverne at the Paris Motor Show . Tranin and Duverne as well as Borle and Vallotton each drove a 10 HP Rolland Pilain . In Zinder , about halfway along the Tranin-Duverne mission, Borle and Vallotton sold their car to Léonce Jore , the governor of Niger .

While Tranin and Duverne continued their journey eastwards, Borle and Vallotton traveled south via Kano and Lagos through Nigeria . William Borle then organized a Swiss scientific expedition through Angola together with the doctor Georges Hertig , which was carried out from 1928 to 1929. In addition to the two men, Borle's son Marcel Borle and the botanist and zoologist Albert Monard from the Natural History Museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds took part. Marcel Borle shot the documentary Voyage en Angola about the expedition on behalf of his father and wrote an extensive travel journal.

William Borle and Paul Jéquier retired from the management of Fleurier Watch Co in 1945 . Borle died three years later.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ François Jéquier: Une entreprise horlogère du Val-de-Travers: Fleurier Watch Co SA. De l'atelier familial du XIXe aux concentrations du XXe siècle . La Baconnière, Neuchâtel 1972, p. 54 .
  2. ^ A b Philippe de Coulon: Les Ébauches . La Baconnière, Neuchâtel 1951, p. 198 .
  3. ↑ Claire Piguet: Se loger dans la nouvelle société industrial neuchâteloise . In: Art + Architecture in Switzerland (=  Art + architecture en Suisse / Arte + architettura in Svizzera ). tape 67 , no. 2 , 2016, p. 35 ( e-periodica.ch [PDF; accessed December 11, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Gustave Duverne: De l'Atlantique à l'Océan indien (Konakry – Djibouti) avec la mission Tranin-Duverne, November 1st 1924- April 9th ​​1925 . With a foreword by Antonin Brocard and woodcuts by Marcel Arthaud. Gianoli et Valentin, Paris 1926, p. 2–3 and 28 .
  5. ↑ a b Conférences 2018–2019. Société Neuchâteloise des Sciences Naturelles, University of Neuchâtel , accessed on January 9, 2019 (French).
  6. ↑ Register du commerce . In: La fédération horlogère suisse. Organs officiel de la chambre suisse de l'horlogerie . 60th year, no. 40 , November 29, 1945, p. 685 ( core.ac.uk [PDF; accessed January 9, 2019]).
personal data
SURNAME Borle, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss industrialist and explorer
DATE OF BIRTH 1869
DATE OF DEATH 1948