beyer 2010
250 years of Beyer Chronometrie Zurich: the Jubilee Magazine
Editorial
Dear clients Dear friends For 250 years, time has been running in our favour; as the oldest clock and watch firm in Switzerland, Beyer Chronometrie can look back on a history stretching over a quarter of a millennium, and this year, in 2010, celebrates a milestone jubilee. Yet how relative time is. It can be measured in seconds, hours and days. But the further back in the past it lies, the
Family values throughout seven generations: Muriel Zahn-Beyer, René Beyer and Annette Beyer.
more difficult it is to define. We can only surmise through the stories we are told the circumstances, emotions and fates that shaped past eras. However, time as a measurable entity fades into a blur – even though in the here and now it seems to us to be so important. We were conscious of this fact when, during our research for this Jubilee Magazine, we combed through the archives, consulted with historians, and immersed ourselves in the lively exchange of correspondence between our ancestors and other protagonists from the watchmaking world. And we were impressed by what we discovered. Particularly the philosophy that appears to have so strongly characterised all seven generations of the Beyer watch dynasty: respect for tradition coupled with the wisdom to look ahead. Today, Beyer is in excellent shape. This is without doubt rooted in the work carried out by our forebears. But in the end, we owe our success to you. It is you who esteem Beyer as one of Zurich’s few traditional watch companies. You value our competence, which, rather than spreading it among various branches, we concentrate under one roof, in order to be able to provide you with Cover photo Gian Marco Castelberg, Image processing Debora Botella
the best possible service. And you appear to enjoy the very special ambience that prevails at Beyer Chronometrie. For this we thank you with all our hearts.
Yours P.S. This magazine is the result of many hours of untiring work – carried out, among other places, in a chilly archive. Many thanks to all those who, with their wholehearted commitment, have contributed to its success. 250 years of Beyer/2010
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Contents
beyer 2010
250 years of Beyer Chronometrie: the Jubilee Magazine
6 News
8 The Beyer saga 250 years of the watch dynasty in 25 chapters
24 Beyer Family tree The Beyer name takes root 26 Advertising motifs The most attractive advertisements from past years 30 Patek Philippe CEO Thierry Stern gets personal 34 Rolex André Heiniger – a lasting influence 38 IWC Gone fishing with Hannes A. Pantli 42 H ublot Jean-Claude Biver, the master of myths 46 Breguet About the Leonardo da Vinci of watchmaking 50 chopard From tradition springs friendship 52 Anecdotes Spontaneous recollections from Beyer’s partners 54 Vallée de joux Max Küng in the valley of watches
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For 250 years, the Beyer watch dynasty has been moving with the times: the family history in 25 chapters.
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Attractive advertisements: a selection of Beyer motifs.
60 250 years of watches How times have changed 64 The Golden Book The world visits Beyer 72 An inspiring future Visions of Beyer’s apprentices 76 A glittering success How the jubilee jewellery was created 78 bahnhofstrasse A journey through time spanning 250 years
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Impressum
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250 years of Beyer
Beyer Chronometrie AG, Bahnhofstrasse 31, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland, tel. +41 (0)43 344 63 63, www.beyer-ch.com Publisher: René Beyer. Project management: Claudia Walker. Concept & art direction: Adrian Hablützel, artdepartment@ggaweb.ch. Concept head of copy: Matthias Mächler, textmaechler.ch. Editor: Simone Bischofberger-Gumpp, Monika Leonhardt. English translation: Wordmaster English Translations, Joyce Brun-Doling, wordmaster@bluewin.ch. Image processing: Max Sommer. Printing: Fotorotar, Egg ZH. This magazine is a climate-neutral print product.
250 years of Beyer/2010
Photo: Christian Schnur (1), Hans Schürmann (1)
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What’s happening at Beyer
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Signs of the times: a foray into 250 years of horological history.
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Patek Philippe and Rolex, IWC and Hublot, Breguet and Chopard: the people behind the famous brands.
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The world chooses Beyer: pictures and quotations from the Golden Book.
Where time begins: author Max KĂźng penetrates the secret of the VallĂŠe de Joux.
Byline Blindtext
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78
Where frogs once croaked: when Bahnhofstrasse was still a ditch. 250 years of Beyer/2010
News Tonhalle concerts
Culminating on an auspicious note Jubilee Agenda
In the 2010 jubilee year, as always, regular clients of Beyer Chronometrie can look forward to some exclusive treats.
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250 years: How times change Exhibition at the Clock and Watch Museum Beyer (public event), 15 April–15 October Patek Philippe Guided tour of the manufacture in Plan-les-Ouates, 26 & 27 April
Beyer Chronometrie has exclusively booked the Tonhalle concert hall on 7 & 8 October, when its jubilee year comes to a climax with two first-class concerts.
IWC Guided tour of the manufacture in Schaffhausen, 21 & 28 May
On the first evening, the legendary Beyer Patek Philippe concert will be held for the 13th time in the large Tonhalle concert hall in Zurich. The Stern and Beyer families will be taking their most faithful clients on a musical journey through time. In line with the history of Beyer Chronometrie, the concert starts with compositions from the 18th century,
A. Lange & Söhne Guided tour of the manufacture in Glashütte, 10 & 11 June Beyer Jewellery Event for Ladies In the Traumgarten in Thalwil, 17 June Polo Championships 26–29 August in WinterthurOhringen Jaeger-LeCoultre Guided tour of the manufacture in Le Sentier, 3 September Beyer Patek Philippe Concert in the large Tonhalle concert hall, Zurich, 7 October Beyer Jubilee Concert in the small Tonhalle concert hall, Zurich, 8 October White Christmas Ball, November Please note that personal invitations will be sent for all our events. The dates are subject to change.
and promises a wealth of superlative highlights. The second evening is dedicated to Beyer’s loyal companions – its staff, brand representatives, business partners and personal friends. This occasion, too, will be marked by a colourful array of both musical and culinary delights.
Internet
Keeping up with the times On our website, www.beyer-ch.com, you can find background information and all kinds of interesting facts about the history of time and the instruments used to measure it. There are also details of the latest jubilee news, Beyer events and the newest creations from the clock and watch fairs.
Exhibition
A 250-year old history In a special exhibition, “250 years: How times change”, Beyer provides an insight into its eventful history. The exhibition can be visited from 15 April until 15 October at the Beyer Clock and Watch Museum, located in the shop basement (see page 60).
250 years of Beyer/2010
Beyer watch
A rarity to mark Beyer’s jubilee
Available from the spring: the Beyer jubilee watch.
Two special-edition Beyer watches have been created to celebrate the firm’s milestone anniversary: a top-quality masterpiece from Patek Philippe (see page 33) and a men’s watch launched under its own label. The latter features a microrotor movement indicating the frequency of the heartbeat. This rare movement is otherwise only produced by Patek Philippe and Chopard, and accounts for the exceptionally flat shape of the timepiece. The Beyer watch is designed and manufactured by the Jura-based firm, Aerowatch, in close collaboration with René Beyer. Despite its fascinating mechanism, finest finishing and excellent quality, the lean production process allows the watch to be offered at a highly attractive price. The jubilee watch, which will be available in the autumn, is limited to just 250 pieces and costs around 7 CHF 3,000. For further information, please contact our sales staff (tel. 043 344 63 63) or visit our website, www.beyer-ch.com.
Archive
Sales
The Beyer puzzle
Record figures thanks to the “crisis”
Two hundred and fifty years of history and entire rooms overflowing with mementos, photographs and documents – how and where does one start to organise such a wealth of information? We commissioned the external archival office, Docuteam, to bring some order to our archives. All the documents were laid open on the table, sorted, and filed away again Records spanning 250 years: Beyer’s archive in a clearly structured manner. It was an enormous task that took weeks to complete. Then the research work began. The existing documents were supplemented with additional information from state archives, register offices, municipalities and other authorities. Gradually, the many jigsaw pieces were fitted together to make a comprehensible, exciting story. A brief summary is related in “The Beyer Saga” (from page 8).
250 years of Beyer/2010
Beyer Chronometrie has launched itself into its milestone anniversary with the wind in its sails; 2009 was the best business year of all time. Never before has the firm generated such a high volume of sales. It seems that many customers are once again preferring to invest in long-term stores of value than in speculative financial assets.
beyer film
Moving moments A professional camera team has filmed Beyer’s staff at work and captured the unique ambience that prevails at Beyer Chronometrie. The result is an interesting seven-minute film about a company that ticks in a perhaps little bit more personal way. You can view the Beyer film on our website, www.beyer-ch.com.
History
THE 8
BEYER
SAGA The Beyer watch dynasty has been keeping pace with time for 250 years: a turbulent family history in 25 chapters. by Claudia Walker, Monika Leonhardt, Barbara Klingbacher and Matthias M채chler
250 years of Beyer/2010
Photo Katrin Walther
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250 years of Beyer/2010
History
1
4.
The very beginning
The generations
Historic documents first mention the existence of a watchmaker called Beyer in 1760.
2 Travelling years 10
The Beyer family originated from the German town of Donaueschingen, in the southwest of Baden-Württemberg, where the Beyers worked as watchmakers and traders. In 1822, 23-three year old Stephan Beyer brought the name and the company to Switzerland; he spent a number of years studying and travelling, during which the qualified clock- and watchmaker worked first in Basel, and later at the watchmaker’s, Wildberger, in Schaffhausen. There he met his later wife, Katharina Gärtner (Chapter 7), with whom he founded the Swiss Beyer dynasty.
3 Beyer becomes Swiss For Katharina’s sake, Stephan Beyer remained in Switzerland and in 1827 applied for Swiss nationality. Not, however, in Feuerthalen, where they lived. That would have been futile, for Stephan Beyer was Catholic, Feuerthalen a Protestant village. And so he tried in Rheinau, where his fiancée was registered as a citizen. Even in this Catholic town, it was a close decision. At the municipal meeting, the Rheinau electorate voted 30 to 27 in favour of granting him citizenship.
Matthäus Beyer 1712 – ca. 1800 Katharina Götz 1724 – 20.12.1802 Marriage: 16.7.1754 Martin Beyer 1766 – 5.6.1829 Katharina Merz 21.9.1771– 25.1.1828 Marriage: 2.3.1795 Stephan Beyer 1799 – 26.7.1863 Katharina Gärtner 26.7.1805 – 19.6.1864 Marriage: 10.9.1827 Theodor Beyer 15.10.1827 – 21.3.1870 Karoline Danioth 15.11.1831 – 19.2.1915 Marriage: 1853 Adelrich Beyer 20.11.1858 – 31.10.1915 Marie Valentine Meylan 6.4.1858 – 10.11.1892 Marriage: 26.5.1883 Anna Brügger 5.11.1864 – 19.6.1944 Marriage: 26.7.1894 Theodor Julius Beyer 19.4.1887 – 3.6.1952 Emilie Mathys 14.8.1900 – 7.10.1955 Marriage: 3.7.1922 Theodor René Beyer 20.7.1926 – 19.8.2002 Annette Wild 13.7.1933 Marriage: 8.7.1961 René Beyer 5.6.1963
The good old days: Stephan Beyer (sitting) with his sons, 1863. Second from right is Theodor Beyer, René Beyer’s great-great-grandfather. 250 years of Beyer/2010
The spirit of the times, 1892: Adelrich (kneeling) next to his son, Theodor Julius (with basket), and Marie Valentine (4th from l.). On the far right, Johann Gustav Beyer.
One of the first families in Zurich to drive a motorcar: Emilie and Theodor Julius Beyer-Mathys with Theodor RenĂŠ and Irma Marguerite, around 1930.
Annette und Theodor Beyer-Wild with son, RenĂŠ Beyer, 1992.
250 years of Beyer/2010
History
5 Watches & spices In around 1830, Stephan Beyer founded a “watchmaker’s and spice shop” in Feuerthalen. Presumably the watchmaker also travelled to markets in the region, trading in spices. At this time, the family were still not able to make a living from watchmaking.
6 Move to Zurich Very early on, the Beyer family showed that they had a good nose for prime business locations. In 1860, Theodor Beyer, the eldest son of Stephan Beyer, opened a clock and watch shop on Niederdorfstrasse, which already in those days was one of the best locations in the city. Very conveniently, the building lay between Niederdorfstrasse and Limmatquai; when later on business life focused along the river bank, Theodor Beyer simply set up his shop window on the other side of the building. From 1863, Theodor Beyer ran the business together with his younger brother, Johann Gustav, under the name of “Gebrüder Beyer” (Beyer Bros.). However, this alliance proved to be short-lived. In 1867, Johann Gustav opened his own watch shop in Riesbach and Theodor Beyer changed his company name to “Th. Beyer”. In 1877, the business moved to the elegant new building belonging to the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt on Paradeplatz. The Beyer shop on Limmatquai around 1870: already in the early days, Beyer advertised its presence with a giant outdoor watch.
Byline Blindtext
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beyond 7/08
The saviour: Karoline Beyer-Danioth.
7 Beyer’s strong women
Byline Blindtext
One would have to begin with the most dauntless wife of them all: Karoline BeyerDanioth. It was she who in 1870 rescued the still young watch dynasty. Sixteen years earlier, the daughter of a hotelier family from Andermatt had married Theodor Beyer. Together they had relocated the watchmaking business from Feuerthalen to Zurich and Karoline had even trained to become a watchmaker herself, which was uncustomary for a woman in those days. However, at the age of just 42, Theodor Beyer died. His son, Adelrich, was only 12 years old. But Karoline BeyerDanioth did not for a moment think of giving up. She took over the management, expanded the business, and in 1877 succeeded in renting representative premises in the splendid, newly built Palais de Crédit Suisse on the Bahnhofstrasse. She remained at the helm of the firm for 16 years. beyond 7/08
Karoline’s mother-in-law, Katharina Gärtner, was also a woman who knew exactly what she wanted – such as to stay in Switzerland after getting married. In 1827, in his application for Swiss citizenship, her fiancé, Stephan Beyer (Chapter 3), wrote that he had decided to apply for Swiss nationality “to please” Katharina. She was already in her fifth month of 13 pregnancy, which in those days was nothing unusual. She bore her husband a total of 13 children, of which only five reached adult age. The eldest, Theodor, later took over the company, which thanks to his mother had been built up in Switzerland rather than Germany. Marie Valentine Meylan, on the other hand, reformed the family. She was the daughterin-law of Karoline Beyer-Danioth, who had
The reformer: Marie Valentine Meylan. sent her son to train as an apprentice at Patek Philippe in Geneva. There the young Adelrich met Marie Valentine, who was the same age as him. She came from a well-known family of watchmakers; her grandfather had created the Meylan watches, which were among the finest of the day.
History
14
Love might be made in heaven – but even so the Church was against this particular match. For Marie Valentine was a Protestant. Despite this, Adelrich married her in 1883. The entire Beyer family was excommunicated from the Catholic Church, whereupon they converted to the Protestant faith. In 1887, son Theodor Julius was born. He had two sisters. At the young age of 34, Marie Valentine died in childbirth. Adelrich married again and had two sons; years later, Adelrich junior was to fall out with his half-brother, Theodor Julius (Chapter 10). In 1922, Theodor Julius married Emilie Mathys. Although she was only 22 years old, she had a very strong personality. In spite of having young children, she was actively involved in running the business.
With her self-confident manner, she was years ahead of her time and was not always popular. However, she succeeded in keeping the business going when her husband took part in jazz concerts in Zermatt as guest trumpeter. Emilie Beyer-Mathys also had a heart for students; she would make them hot coffee and occasionally slipped them a 20 franc note. She was one of the first ladies in Zurich to drive a motorcar and from 1931–1933 was president of the ladies’ division of the Zurich section of the Automobile Club of Switzerland. Emilie Beyer-Mathys also maintained regular contact with friends abroad, such as the famous composer, Franz Lehar, and his wife, Sophie, and during the war, she sent parcels containing coffee, chocolate and butter all over the world.
The self-confident Emilie Beyer-Mathys with Theodor Julius.
8 Golden handicraft Since time immemorial, Beyer has upheld the fundamental principle that top-quality handicraft has first to be learned. All of the firm‘s proprietors have undergone comprehensive training. Adelrich Beyer, too, sent his son, Theodor Julius, to the famous watchmaking school in Geneva, as well as to the best watchmakers in London, Brussels and Paris. In 1911, at the age of 24, Theodor Julius started work at his father’s firm.
9 Top prize Beyer launched a legendary competition to find the best design for a table clock, wall clock or grandfather clock. A total of 1,200 entries were submitted. No wonder – it was 1918, the war had just come to an end, the General Strike was on, and a sixth of the population were living under the existence level. The prize money offered by Beyer was a dizzying 4,000 Swiss francs – for a worker, the equivalent of more than 400 days’ salary.
10 Family dispute From 1915, the company was run by two brothers, or rather, two half-brothers. Theodor Julius Beyer was born from Adelrich Beyer’s union with his first wife (Chapter 7), while Adelrich Beyer jun. was the offspring of his second marriage. However, this partnership did not work out. Between 1920 and 1922, Theodor Julius conducted a lawsuit against his younger brother. He accused Adelrich of turning up to work too late or not at all, and when he did come Left the firm: Adelrich Beyer jun. 250 years of Beyer/2010
to work that he failed to do anything useful, held up the employees with his silly jokes, and with his moral conduct “overall caused considerable damage to the company”. The case was subsequently withdrawn when the brothers came to an out-of-court arrangement, whereby Adelrich agreed to be bought out. From 1922, Theodor Julius managed the business on his own and renamed it “Chronometrie Beyer, Zürich”.
11 The sales are on! In 1922, Beyer sold watches at discounted prices of up to 50%, sometimes even below their cost price. The Zurich Watchmakers’ Association was angered by this and published an advertisement warning of such business dealings. An interesting detail in this respect is that the proprietor of Beyer Chronometrie, Theodor Julius Beyer, was the president of this belligerent association…
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Adelrich Beyer (right) with an employee in front of the shop in the Crédit Suisse building, around 1910. In 1927, the firm moved to larger premises on the other side of Bärengasse.
Beyer’s special offer caused a stir, trouble with the watchmakers’ association – and counter adverts.
250 years of Beyer/2010
12 New premises For 50 years, Beyer had carried out its business at the Palais de Crédit Suisse on the Bahnhofstrasse, a magnificent building constructed by Alfred Escher. However, in 1927, the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt needed more space and terminated the rental contract. This proved to be rather convenient for Beyer, for it meant that the firm was able to rent larger premises in the brand new Orell Füssli building at Bahnhofstrasse 31. Beyer has remained at this exclusive address to this day.
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Moving with the times: Beyer Chronometrie from the outside around 1965 and inside around 1970. beyond 7/08
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beyond 7/08
History
14 Crisis 1934 was a sad year for the Beyer family. As a result of the world economic crisis, they were forced to sell their beautiful house on the Zürichberg and move into a modest apartment in the Kreis 3 quarter of Zurich.
15 The value of friendship In 1936, Beyer’s existence hung on a thread, a fate that it shared with many other companies during the world economic crisis. The collapse of various foreign currencies, the absence of German clients and the devaluation of goods caused considerable problems for the company. However, here Beyer’s strong, longstanding business relations paid off: banks came to the rescue and the landlord reduced the rent. And as in the past Beyer had supported such suppliers as Rolex and Patek Philippe in difficult times, they now returned the favour (Chapter 25). Together, they managed to bring the firm through the hard years.
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16 Adventurous He loved motors, speed and jazz: Theodor Julius Beyer taking part in the race on the Klausen Pass.
13 Motor sport Theodor Julius Beyer was not just the owner of Beyer and president of the Watchmakers’ Association; he was also president of the Zurich Motorcycle Club and later became member of the Sports Commission
of the Automobile Club of Switzerland. His enthusiasm for “hot wheels” stemmed from his involvement as timekeeper at major motorcycle races, particularly the annual race on the Klausen Pass. And it did not just limit itself to timekeeping; Theodor Julius Beyer was a passionate motorcyclist and took part in such races himself.
This watch truly travelled far before it came to rest in the Beyer collection around 1960. But it was to take another 50 years before state-of-the-art technology confirmed for once and for all that this prototype of a Rolex ExThe watch worn by Sir Edmund Hillary when he became the first man to climb Mount Everest.
plorer was the first watch to reach the highest point on earth. It was worn by Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953 when he became the first person to climb Mount Everest. Nowadays, this adventurer’s watch is exhibited at Beyer’s Clock and Watch Museum in Zurich (Chapter 19).
17 Witnesses of the times When Patek Philippe began producing electric clocks and watches, in 1968 Beyer followed suit. Its department for electronic time measurement and acoustics existed until 1993. From the clock at the meeting point at Zurich railway station, to the display panels of the Forch local railway line, to the flower clock at Bürkliplatz, Beyer clocks can still be found in public places all over the city.
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Theodor Beyer cataloguing the exhibits at the Topkapi Palace museum in Istanbul.
18 Competence Over the years, the Beyer family had accumulated a wealth of knowledge about measuring time. Official bodies, such as the Swiss National Museum, also took advantage of its expertise. In 1971, the company’s reputation even reached as far afield as Istanbul. Theodor R. Beyer and his wife, Annette Beyer-Wild (Chapter 24), were invited to the museum at Topkapi Palace, where they were asked to catalogue the horological exhibits. This journey resulted in a lifelong business relationship between the museum and the Beyers.
19 Museum In the meantime, the private clock and watch collection belonging to Theodor R. Beyer had grown considerably, and the large basement of the store on the Bahnhofstrasse was still unused. Two facts, one idea: the collection should be made accessible to the general public. In 1971, the Clock and Watch Museum Beyer opened its doors in the shop basement.
History
24
20
In the course of time
New generation
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In 1986, Theodor R. Beyer suffered a heart attack. René Beyer cut short his stay in the USA, where he had been working and travelling, and returned to Switzerland to take over the running of the family firm, together with his mother, Annette Beyer. In 1996, the operational management was wholly transferred to 33-year old René Beyer, representing the seventh generation of family proprietors. The firm was given a complete facelift, both inside and out.
Driving lessons: Muriel and René Beyer.
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The sister In 1994, René Beyer’s sister, Muriel ZahnBeyer (born in 1964), returned from the USA and took over responsibility for human resources and marketing. She developed the new museum concept and the strategy for the jewellery atelier. In 2003, she left the company to set up her own personnel agency. Together with Annette Beyer as an honorary member, Muriel Zahn, René Beyer and Dr. Peter Max Gutzwiller make up the Board of Directors of Beyer Chronometrie.
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The Beyer clock
21 Jewellery
In 1989, on the initiative of Annette Beyer, the family firm started selling jewellery, which proved to be a huge success. In 2002, Beyer decided to set up its own jewellery atelier. Since 2003, four goldsmiths have been successfully creating masterpieces from gold and jewels.
Yet another business deal between friends: René Beyer put his expertise at the disposal of the watch manufacture, Aerowatch, in the canton of Jura, during their reorganisation measures. In return, the family-owned firm agreed to make special Beyer watch dials in a variety of price categories. In 2003, the first Beyer wristwatch was launched on the market.
Annette Beyer accompanied her husband all over the world on his search for rare clocks and watches, worked at Beyer for 15 years and still impresses today as a “lady of the world”. Mrs. Beyer, in what way were things different in earlier times? We took over the company during the war, when it was running at a loss and nobody had any money. And we were more loyal to our suppliers: we only dealt with Patek Philippe, Rolex and Chopard. We fostered a close friendship with these families. These days, the product range is broader and the company enjoys an excellent position in the market. Nevertheless, my children say that nowadays it is more difficult to run the firm. Human resources management has changed, and the watch brands are increasingly run by managers rather than owners. What luxury did the Beyers treat themselves to in those days, during the hard times? They owned a car very early on – the 90th to be licensed in canton Zurich. I still drive with the licence plate, ZH 1090. That was without doubt a particular luxury. The Beyer women have always been very strong personalities. Why was that? Because we had to be; it was war, or their husband had died early or he didn’t take a particular interest in the firm. Somebody had to make sure that business continued. And if you were in the shop, you were Mrs. Beyer, and dealt with kings, actors and musicians. Or with Maradona. What was he like? Completely normal. In those days, when he was at his prime, he trained with his team in Zurich. He used to telephone every day to ask if I was there and would then drop by. 250 years of Beyer/2010
Byline Blindtext
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Owns a world-famous collection of antique doll automata: Annette Beyer in 1983 with the “Piano player� (Paris, 1865). 250 years of Beyer/2010
History
He bought himself a Nautilus with diamonds, which was actually a ladies’ watch. His fiancée and her mother also received beautiful watches – as well as those of his teammates who had played him good passes. In the course of eight days, I sold him 12 watches.
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What did you like best about your work? My husband always walked through the shop hoping that nobody would speak to him. I, however, loved working on the front, with clients from all over the world – and I think they liked me, too. Many of them brought gifts with them: flowers, chocolates or wine. Some told how they had first visited our shop as a child, holding their father‘s hand. Nowadays, they come with their grandchildren. Or, like the jazz pianist, Oscar Peterson, they send us a New Year’s card every year. You spent a lot of time travelling with your husband. Was it really as exciting as it sounds? It was often exciting, but sometimes also very boring; in the antique shops, my husband would immediately disappear into the corner with all the clocks and watches, and could spend days there. I was more attracted by the old toys. That was how I discovered doll automata. I became passionate about collecting them and also wrote a comprehensive book on the subject. You weren’t as interested in the watches? Of course I was interested in them, too. Sometimes I helped my husband at an auction. I often told him that he should not spend vast amounts of money on the watches. So during the bidding for the famous “Sympathique” by Breguet, he stopped and didn’t dare go any higher. So I continued bidding on his behalf. That pleased him no end. If you could start all over again, what would you do differently? I would probably do everything exactly the same. Of course, the fact that everything turned out so well involved a certain measure of luck. But if you think positively, you can also influence fate a little.
25 The watch brands Beyer has always represented the most prestigious watch brands of the day. Of the partnerships dating from the 19th century, only Patek Philippe and IWC have remained to the present day. However, since then a number of excellent new brands have been added to Beyer’s portfolio.
Around 1842:
Patek Philippe
The collaboration with Patek Philippe dates back to the early years of the manufacture from Geneva, which was founded in 1839. For both companies, it is their longest business relationship. Way back in 1880, Adelrich Beyer was apprenticed to Patek Philippe, where he also met his future wife (Chapter 7). In turn, the present-day CEO of Patek Philippe, Thierry Stern, spent some time at Beyer to gain some practical experience. This very close relationship has endured over the generations, and the friendship has been particularly profound since the Stern family took over Patek Philippe in 1932.
1932: Rolex
Beyer has long since been the exclusive representative of Rolex in Zurich and surrounding area. The two companies enjoy a very close relationship. For example, in 1933 Theodor Beyer developed a vacuum device with which Rolex could test “the first really waterproof watch in the world”. However, the Oyster models failed the test. Rolex continued to improve the watch until it succeeded in proving itself in the Beyer vacuum device. During the war years, as well as when the half-brothers, Theodor Julius and Adelrich, settled their dispute (Chapters 10 & 15), Beyer received financial support from Rolex. In turn, Theodor Beyer shared his technical expertise with the fledgling company at a time when it was still not particularly well known in Switzerland, and promoted it in specialist circles and among private customers in German-speaking Switzerland.
Around 1932:
Jaeger-LeCoultre
1893: IWC
The Schaffhausen manufacture was founded in 1868. A long and highly successful cooperation with Beyer started just 25 years later. The nearness of Schaffhausen to Feuerthalen, where Beyer first established itself in Switzerland, facilitated the collaboration in the early years.
The manufacture from the Vallée de Joux was founded in 1833 by Antoine LeCoultre, and in 1903 joined forces with a chronometer manufacture from Paris called Edmond Jaeger. Numerous spectacular innovations by Jaeger-LeCoultre are currently in the private possession of the Beyer family and displayed in the Clock and Watch Museum Beyer. Among them is a famous world record-holder: the smallest watch ever made. 250 years of Beyer/2010
1972:
1984:
2000:
Chopard
Cartier
Piaget
Chopard was founded in 1860 by LouisUlysse Chopard. In 1963, the firm was sold to the Scheufele family, with whom the Beyers are particularly befriended.
After gaining some experience abroad, René Beyer was quite clear in his mind: such a highly renowned brand as Cartier definitely belonged in the Beyer portfolio. Cartier creates beautiful watches with very interesting movements – and has been doing so since 1888.
One of Piaget’s specialities is its mastery of the ultra-flat movement, and even today this innovation inspires the firm’s watchmakers to bring forth their finest creations. The real design breakthrough started in the early 1960s with the manufacture of extravagant, colourful masterpieces. Beyer was particularly impressed by Piaget’s unmistakable style, which has endowed it with a large number of top sellers.
1984:
Breguet
Breguet and Beyer have worked closely together for many years. Together with the entire watch industry, Beyer Chronometrie was highly relieved when Nicolas G. Hayek integrated this tradition-steeped company into his Swatch Group and helped it to flourish once more.
1994:
A. Lange & Söhne
The A. Lange & Söhne manufacture was founded in Glashütte, Germany, in 1845. In 1904, it sought to collaborate with Beyer, but the Swiss firm declined out of loyalty to Patek Philippe. In 1948, A. Lange & Söhne was expropriated. After the reunification of Germany, the founder’s greatgrandson, Walter Lange, set up a new company, Lange Uhren GmbH, which presented its first collection in 1994. Beyer was immediately greatly impressed by these exclusive watches.
2006:
Hublot
A friendship develops into a partnership: Jean-Claude Biver took over Hublot, developed the brand and paved the way for an intensive collaboration with Beyer.
1984:
Breitling
Breitling has always attached great importance to quality of workmanship, and its movements are designed to guarantee reliability, functionality and efficiency, even in unpredictable and extreme situations. This completely concurs with the philosophy of Beyer Chronometrie, which immediately saw eye to eye with the proprietors, the Schneider family. Together, the two companies have organised numerous spectacular customer events. 250 years of Beyer/2010
2006:
Jaquet Droz
1997:
Baume & Mercier
Only manufacture watches of the very finest quality: the philosophy of the Baume brothers is still upheld at Baume & Mercier in the canton of Jura to this day. The casual elegance and high-grade materials met with a favourable response at Beyer and perfectly complement its portfolio.
Jacquet Droz is the newest brand in the Beyer portfolio, although the manufacture has existed since 1738. In all its watches ticks a mechanical automatic calibre with a double-barrel movement, featuring a 68-hour power reserve. In order to present the distinctive clock face in a fitting manner, Jacquet Droz has revived the timehonoured art of “grand feu” enamelling.
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History Werkstatt
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The Beyer family tree
A name takes root: since Josef Beyer was born, 330 years have passed – during which new branches, tendrils and offshoots have sprung forth. Firmly anchored in tradition, today the Beyer family tree proudly spreads out its magnificent canopy of leaves. 250 years of Beyer/2010
Advertising motifs
A glimpse into the archive
Over the years, the art of advertising watches has also changed.
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von Monika Leonhardt
250 years of Beyer/2010
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250 years of Beyer/2010
Advertising motifs
“Abounding in charm and elegance: gentlemen favoured hair pomade and aircraft epitomised great adventure.�
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250 years of Beyer/2010
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250 years of Beyer/2010
Patek Philippe and Beyer – since 1842
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“I don’t wear new watches on principle”
Thierry Stern, the young CEO of Patek Philippe, is an old friend of René Beyer. They both have much in common – including the responsibility that comes with being born into a watch dynasty. by Simon Brunner Photo Hans Schürmann
Mr Stern, who know more about watches, you or René Beyer? (Laughs) Hmm, I think René knows more about the various brands and the worldwide trends. My knowledge about Patek Philippe is probably greater – at least, I hope so. René Beyer is around the same age as you… No, no – he’s four or five years older (laughs again). But we’ve followed a similar career path: we both learned about the business from our fathers, and also both took charge of the family firm at a young age. However, he represents the seventh generation of his family, with me, it’s only the fourth. What is your earliest recollection of the Beyer family? René’s father and mine often used to meet in Basel, Zurich or here in Geneva, and passionately discuss the latest fantastic acquisitions they had made for their museums. I was fascinated when I listened to them talking shop, although I didn’t understand very much. No pranks among boys? I saw René too seldom for that. It was only when we took on responsibility for our businesses that we intensified our relationship; we travelled together to visit clients and discussed what we could do for the watch industry – something that René was passionately interested in. Does he give you advice on possible new creations? Yes, although it’s not easy for a retailer to develop new ideas. But René has this ability to immerse himself in old books about watches, study patents, analyse the competition, and then come up with something new. How heavily did the burden of family tradition lay on your shoulders as a teenager? No more heavily than today. Unfortunately, both for me and for René, it stays 250 years of Beyer/2010
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beyond 9/2009
Patek Philippe and Beyer – since 1842
with you all your life. You often think: Should I take the risk – and by making one mistake possibly destroy an entire history? But that also applies to many people in their careers.
But not everyone is a member of a watch dynasty… René and I could also have chosen a different career; that’s possible here in Europe. In Asia, it would be more difficult; there, family dynasties are carved in stone.
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Unveiling ceremony in Geneva: in 1996, René Beyer presented Philippe Stern with a Kazes installation to mark the opening of Patek Philippe’s new manufacture.
Did you ever consider entering a different profession? No, I always looked forward to one day being able to design watches, manage the company, and carry out marketing activities. For retailers it’s perhaps more difficult. I suppose there are fewer opportunities to develop your abilities. A manufacture like ours unites more than 50 different professions. What work do you like best? I love creating new watches. At Patek, the owners are always involved in developing new models. We don’t fetch in star designers. No outsider could ever create a genuine Patek watch. But you also have to run the firm. I employ highly qualified people to look after the financial side of things or to carry out tasks that require somebody who can do the job better than me. I, on the other hand, have to convey our traditional values: respect, the family, a love for one’s work. The same applies to René: he can employ the best salespersons, but in the end it is his job to communicate to his staff what it is that sets Beyer apart from the rest. How do you explain Patek Philippe to your children? My boys are six and eight years old. They know that our watches are very costly, but they don’t understand why. They don’t have a trained eye; they haven’t yet developed a sense for rare things
“A Patek Philippe is never a fashionable accessory.” and aren’t aware of the craftsmanship that is necessary to produce a watch.
Can you remember your first Patek Philippe? In our family, we receive our first Patek for our 20th birthday; before that we are considered too young. After all, you don’t give a 16-year-old a Ferrari. I received a Nautilus, reference no. 3700 JA, an automatic. Is it easy to you to decide every morning which watch to wear? I always take the same one, an Aquanaut. It’s a robust, casually elegant watch, and is well suited to me. I don’t wear new watches on principle. That wouldn’t be fair to our clients – they often have to wait over a year for that particular watch. Our customers
should wear our new creations, not me.
How difficult is it to introduce new ideas in such a tradition-steeped firm? In order to really have the “Patek feeling”, you need to work here for at least 10 years, to talk to people, travel, and learn about the company history. A Patek Philippe is never a fashionable accessory. It is much rather intended to be passed down through the generations. Nevertheless, I have different ideas to my father. He would perhaps choose a white dial, whereas I would take a grey one. Have you never had the desire to create totally bizarre watches? When I was younger, it might have been 250 years of Beyer/2010
A Patek for Beyer To mark Beyer’s milestone anniversary, Patek Philippe has made an exception – and is producing a limited-edition chronograph with the Beyer logo. Patek Philippe is paying tribute to Beyer by producing a new men’s wristwatch in a limited edition of just 50 pieces and, in honour of the firm’s jubilee, bearing the Beyer logo. Thus the Rolls Royce among the watch brands is making a special exception for its very special friends, for Patek Philippe only rarely produces double-name watches.
A pure Patek movement
good to gain experience at a large group, such as Richemont. But now? Such conglomerates are managed by businessmen, not watchmakers. I have great respect for Mr. Hayek, but he is an entrepreneur, not a watchmaker. Primarily he is not there to serve a quality brand; he is faced with other problems, and also has a responsibility towards his shareholders.
The classic among the watch companies
Patek Philippe was founded in 1839 by Antoine Norbert de Patek, and today belongs to the Stern family, who have been managing the company for four generations. Thanks to its unique complications and timeless elegance, the brand is regarded as the measure of all things and achieves top prices at auctions. The independent family firm employs 1,300 staff and produces around 40,000 watches a year. In 2009, Patek Philippe developed its own, extremely stringent quality seal. In 2001, the Patek Philippe Museum opened in Geneva. Its magnificent collection documents in a unique manner the development of the art of watchmaking from the 16th century until the present day.
The jubilee watch features the latest manual winding chronograph movement, which is entirely developed and manufactured in Patek Philippe’s own workshops. In the course of five years, the manufacture has mobilised its entire knowledge and skill to perfect this exceptional mechanism, and intends to incorporate this watch into its standard product range at a later date as a neutral model. The Beyer version is made from yellow gold. The dial displays at six o’clock the Beyer logo and on the case back a special engraving. It will be presented to the public at the jubilee concert jointly hosted by Patek Philippe and Beyer on 7 October. It can, however, already be ordered. CEO René Beyer reserves the right to make the final decision relating to sales of this timepiece.
«Wir hatten das Gefühl, der Mount Everest habe nachgegeben.» How has your partnership with René Beyer changed over the years? When you know each other so well and work so closely together, you have a great degree of trust in each other. And sometimes heated arguments, too. A relationship is like a child as it grows: at first, it is temperamental and emotional, but slowly becomes more even-tempered and mature. I would say that René and I have now passed the adolescent stage. 250 years of Beyer/2010
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Rolex and Beyer – since 1932
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“Even today, I’m a little nervous when I visit Rolex” No entrepreneur has influenced René Beyer more than André Heiniger, CEO of Rolex from 1963 to 1992. Calling on him was like making a state visit. And his answers became engraved in young René Beyer’s memory for ever. by Matthias Mächler Photos Mathias Zuppiger
O
n each occasion, he was given a new suit, a new tie and shining shoes, and was sent to the hairdresser’s: already as a child, for René Beyer a visit to Rolex was a ceremonious affair. The ambience that prevailed during the car journey was a mixture of fear, curiosity and anticipation. For little René and his sister Muriel, one thing was quite clear: this was something important. That meant being on their very best behaviour. For as the up-and-coming generation, the Beyer children represented nothing less than the future of the family firm.
René Beyer: “We were taken from one receptionist to the next, from the ground floor right up to the management level. It was like a ritual. And then when we got to the top floor, we were met by an incredibly elegant décor with a bar, a personal butler, the directors’ dining hall and Mr. Heiniger’s private dining room.
That made a great impression on me. The clocks on the walls showed the time zones of the Rolex branches in all the continents. For me, they were like windows onto the big wide world.” The fact that the Beyer family was invited into the Rolex kingdom in the first place had two reasons. During his military service, René Beyer’s father, Theodor, served under André Heiniger in the rank of private. Moreover, Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf was a close friend of the Beyers, who had actively helped him build up the Rolex brand. Nevertheless, invitations of this kind were unusual. André Heiniger only dined with his personal friends, an honour that could not be bought. Besides the Beyers, only one other Swiss dealer enjoyed this privilege.
“The building was surrounded by water, like a castle, in which André Heiniger ruled as a kind of Sun King. Unlike the 250 years of Beyer/2010
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The Oysterquartz Datejust has accompanied René Beyer since his confirmation – the advice from Rolex legend, André Heiniger, for even longer.
250 years of Beyer/2010
Rolex and Beyer – since 1932
“No other watch has accompanied me for so many years. It’s a part of me – almost a kind of time machine.”
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other watch company bosses, he celebrated luxury. This led to various anecdotes doing the rounds. For example, once when he went to Florida to play golf, he made the waiters take off their watches, which he then dunked in a drink. If they were not waterproof, he gave the owner a Rolex. André Heiniger was an incredibly charismatic person, a man who loved life, and who had an answer for everything. He was direct and undiplomatic, and spoke in a way that everyone could understand. Whenever the conversation got round to his competitors, he would thunder: ‘They should be squashed like flies!’ As a young boy, I was particularly amused by that.” Later, as a young man, René Beyer occasionally asked Heiniger for some fatherly advice. You could always ask him anything – provided you were not afraid of the answer. His discussions were accompanied by a bottle of Yvorne de l’Ovaille and a plate of Bündnerfleisch, sometimes with only two people sitting at this huge, opulent dining table, Heiniger always at the top end. And everything that the young René Beyer heard, he committed to memory forever.
“When I asked him about the secret of his success, he replied: ‘Of 100 good pieces of advice, you should dismiss 99 and then unwaveringly pursue the remaining one.’ Another of his guiding principles was: ‘If in doubt, it’s better to do nothing at all than something that you will later regret.’
He also advised me to represent just a small number of watch brands, but the right ones. And not to do things just for the sake of it. Never once did I fare badly by following his advice.” His first watch was his
far-sighted policies that fascinate René Beyer most. For example, that important decisions should always be made on a long-term basis, so that you can grow with your partners. And, of course, he is also greatly impressed by the technical advances made by the manufacture.
first love
Although René Beyer likes the diversity of the various watches and labels, his heart has always beaten particularly strongly for the green and gold brand with the crown. After all, his first “real” watch was an Oysterquartz Datejust. He received it at his confirmation, and wore it during his watchmaking training, later when he did military service, and then when he was working and travelling in the USA. To this day, he keeps it close by him, in a cardboard box containing his many watches, all packed up in little plastic bags. The expression on his face when he looks at this watch is one of love.
“No other watch has accompanied me for so many years. It’s a part of me – almost a kind of time machine, for when I look at it, I am transported back to that key stage in my life, which was characterised by an atmosphere of change. I would probably still wear it now and again if for professional reasons I didn’t have to wear watches from our own current collections – which of course are also beautiful.” Nowadays, as a person who knows the watch industry inside out, it is Rolex’s
“Rolex has developed the first robots to polish watches, a task that otherwise is still done by hand. These robots are incredibly precise; if you were to place musical instruments in their hands, they would play more accurately than any orchestra. Rolex is a fascinating company, and in terms of technology an astronomical ten years ahead of the rest of the industry. That’s why for me, a visit to Rolex is still a highly moving experience. And, if I’m honest, it still makes me a little nervous.”
Crowning glory
Rolex was founded in London in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf. In 1915, the company moved to Switzerland, from where – first from Biel and later from Geneva – it conquered the world. In Biel, an enormous complex is currently under construction; covering an area of 400,000 cubic metres, it is the largest private building site in Switzerland. From 2012, it will serve as Rolex’s head office. The company employs around 5,000 staff and since January 2009 has been managed by Bruno Meier, only the fourth CEO in the company’s 100-year-old history. Rolex is regarded as one of the most coveted (and most copied) watch brands in the world. The symbol with the crown is long since a legend – and a yardstick for the entire watch industry. 250 years of Beyer/2010
Close ties already in the founding years: Hans Wilsdorf with Emilie Beyer (right) and her son, Theodor. The personal correspondence between the two families fills files.
IWC and Beyer – since 1893
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Two men in a boat Their favourite place to meet is a fish restaurant. Now, for the first time, by Matthias Mächler Photo Hans Schürmann
250 years of Beyer/2010
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IWC icon Hannes A. Pantli and RenĂŠ Beyer are casting their lines together.
250 years of Beyer/2010
IWC and Beyer – since 1893
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ear Rüdlingen, in Schaffhausen, the Rhine river burbles past an idyllic spot where beavers build their lodges, Little Egrets nest, and pike, catfish and zander hunt for prey in the still water. The conservation area around the Old Rhine floodplains is sprawling and wild. “That’s just typical,” says Hannes A. Pantli, dipping his oar into the water. “The manufacturer has to ferry the retailer around.” René Beyer, who has made himself comfortable in the stern of the wooden boat, retorts, “Just make sure we don’t capsize, or else you’ll also have to go diving for my IWC.” The men continue to banter. The one who catches the first fish has to invite the other to a meal. Beyer hands Pantli a flask filled with lucky schnapps, so that he has a hint of a chance. Although he is fully aware of the record that Pantli broke back in the autumn at this very location, when he pulled a monster of a catfish out of the river weighing in at 30 kilos and measuring 1.70 metres in length. The episode with the catfish rekindled their long-standing plan to go fishing together. René Beyer recalls, “During a seaangling expedition in the United States, it happened several times that I visited friends who had photos of Hannes on display. So I thought it was high time to experience him in the flesh.” As they have been enjoying a business relationship for almost thirty years, the two men finally decided to follow up their words with deeds – at home on the Rhine. Nonchalantly ignoring the unwritten fisherman’s rule that says you should stand while fishing, René Beyer casts the bait attached to the colourful rubber fish into the middle of the river. Meanwhile, Pantli, remaining steady as a rock, sets his sights on the shallows near the riverbank. He suspects that pike and catfish are lurking there among the roots. “What are you doing fishing in that murky water?” laughs Beyer. “That reminds me of the first time you visited our company.” Pantli grins. The story has become a
classic in the watchmaking world. In 1972, Pantli was hired by IWC Schaffhausen as the sales delegate for Northern Europe and had to stand in for the senior sales manager for Switzerland at short notice. “I was utterly clueless when I arrived at Beyer Chronometrie with two cases full of watches,” recalls Pantli. “I showed Theodor Beyer our pendant watches for necklaces. He said, ‘Listen, you’re new here. I’ll tell you why no one will buy these. When a woman gets up from the table, the watch is bound to knock against the edge of the table. You should only use cheap watches for things like this.” The first step is the hardest
A dramatic pause, then Pantli’s eyes twinkle mischievously. “Then I said, ‘If that’s the way you think, Mr. Beyer, you might just as well drive to work in a Volkswagen as in a Ferrari.’” Theodor Beyer stood up and left the room. An employee told Pantli that he could pack up his things and leave. He was totally taken aback – but then greatly relieved when Beyer returned shortly afterwards and wanted to see the collection after all. “When I returned to Schaffhausen, my boss wanted to know how the meeting had gone. ‘He bought 429,000 francs’ worth,’ I told him. ‘Is that OK?’ My boss looked at me and said, ‘That’s our largest order ever.’” That marked the beginning of an intensive collaboration. Pantli climbed the corporate ladder and today serves on the IWC Board. In reference to the IWC doyen, twenty years his senior, René Beyer says, “His word carries enormous weight in the watchmaking industry because he always has the necessary distance to look beyond his own nose and seek solutions for the entire industry. Thanks to his innate sense of justice, he has never been just a boss, but always a person, too.” Pantli also has words of praise for his colleague. “René has always remained downto-earth and has never been snobbish, despite having an exclusive shop on the Bahnhofstrasse. Even in particularly
successful times, he was always modest and unassuming. You can’t say that about everyone.” That is another reason why it has become tradition for IWC to take its foreign guests to Beyer’s Watch and Clock Museum in Zurich as a highlight at the end of their trip. Suddenly there is a tug on Pantli’s line. The rod bends so much that it is clear that a big one has taken the bait. Pantli enters the fight, lets out a bit of line, reels it back in, and then repeats the ritual until the line is short and the fish has to be directly beneath the boat. Beyer is on hand to help. Spellbound, they wait to see what will emerge from the water. And then, whoosh! – the tip of the fishing rod line springs violently upwards; the fish has managed to tear itself loose. “That’s something that fishing has in common with the watch industry,” muses René Beyer. “Both require time, intuition, and a lot of patience. Often more than you might expect.” To console Pantli, he hands him the flask and says, “Naturally it’s frustrating when a big one slips through your fingers.” The two men pack up their gear, comforted by the thought that star chef André Jaeger at the Fischerzunft restaurant knows more successful fisherman than themselves. And that he knows better than anyone else how to prepare their catch. For a table is awaiting them at the Fischerzunft. After all, the two businessmen still want to reel in a few more ‘big fish’.
IWC Schaffhausen
The IWC manufacture has American roots; it was founded in 1868 by watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones, but sold not long after, in 1879, to the Schaffhausen industrialist, Johannes Rauschenbach-Vogel. Since 2000, IWC has belonged to the luxury goods group, Richemont. It employs around 700 staff, 550 of them in Schaffhausen. 250 years of Beyer/2010
“That’s something that fishing has in common with the watch industry: both require a lot of patience.”
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beyond 9/2009
Hublot and Beyer – since 2006
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The master of myths
Jean-Claude Biver is the cult figure of the watch industry, unorthodox and likeable. René Beyer talks about his friend, the CEO of Hublot. Recorded by Matthias Mächler
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For me, there is no greater hallucinatory experience than lunch with Jean-Claude Biver. He’s a phenomenon, with a charisma that radiates far beyond the watch industry. And yet it’s not his incredible success that fascinates me, but his qualities as a human being. His aura is captivating. Everyone from auxiliary workers to captains of industry can relate to his way of talking. He is so spontaneous that people are overwhelmed by his presence, his energy and his empathy. It is almost as if Biver is solely concerned with the here and now – and he never gives less than one hundred percent. Spontaneity coupled with empathy
The essence of Biver is perhaps best illustrated by the following story. When a female colleague passed away and the minister taking the funeral service started reading out the eulogy, Biver could sit still no longer. For him, the whole thing was too impersonal. He stood up and asked for permission to speak. Then he began to talk, describing the deceased so vividly that it was if she were there among them. Each person present could picture her in their mind’s eye, exactly as they had known 250 years of Beyer/2010
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Cordiality has a name: Jean-Claude Biver.
250 years of Beyer/2010
Hublot and Beyer – since 2006
“Jean-Claude is the antithesis of kitsch. But also of diplomacy.”
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her. There were smiles as Jean-Claude related a story that perfectly illustrated her character. Then the entire congregation began to cry, because the deceased woman seemed so present in their minds. And if eternity really does exist, then everyone felt it at that moment. Jean-Claude also arouses the same type of emotions when you talk to him, because he perceives each individual as they really are and believes in the good in everyone. And because he never pretends to be something he isn’t. He is the antithesis of kitsch. But also of diplomacy. He is aware of that, and he often jokes that at Hublot he runs a “democtatorship”, that is, more of a dictatorship than a democracy. You have to present him with an absolutely watertight argument before he will change his mind. He would never alter his opinion, not even a millimetre, simply to preserve the peace. He tells people outright if he doesn’t like something. But he tells them with such warmth and sincerity that, coming from him, even a criticism sounds like a compliment. High Praise from the Michelin Guide
I am constantly amazed at how skilled he is at motivating people, how he makes everyone around him feel valued. His employees always seem to be freshly “switched on” by him – not like with a Christmas tree, where it’s special the first time, but already by the fourth time almost boring. Biver has the gift of being able to
draw the best out of everyone. Probably also because he’s a master of myths. Take his cheese, for example. The Michelin Guide wrote that you have to try it at least once in your life, otherwise you’ll never know just how good cheese can taste. It is indeed mild and tangy at the same time, because Biver prepares it in the traditional way over an open fire, using special wood. And because he puts himself in the situation of his alpha cow. It’s always important to him to understand everything right down to the very last detail. A secret solved
Jean-Claude will describe his cheese in such detail that you can practically taste it on your palate before you’ve even tried it. Biver’s passion is contagious. And as the complicated process used to produce his cheese is no longer economically viable, he doesn’t sell it. He gives it to friends, business partners and first-class restaurants. And in doing so, he also feeds the myth. I think you could leave Biver at the North Pole and two months later he would be successfully running a gourmet restaurant there. I regard it as an incredible privilege to know someone like Jean-Claude Biver, and to be able to count him among my friends. The traditional Alpine processions of the cows or the celebrations for his sixtieth birthday are events from which I have returned home inspired and warm at heart, and always with the feeling that I have received much more than I could ever give.
Or, to put it more boldly: Jean-Claude has an angelic quality about him. As if he has solved the secret of always being able to see only the best in everyone and everything. There is one single reason why we have included Hublot in our product range – and that is Jean-Claude Biver. Because of him, I wear my “Big Bang” watch as often as I can. When I do, I feel closer to him; it’s like he’s a part of me. Jean-Claude has won a place in my heart more than anyone else in the watch industry. He is so thoroughly decent, so respectful, so careful with everything. For example, he even has a cardboard box in his office where he puts his shoes to dry when it’s raining, so that the carpet doesn’t get wet. A truly amazing person.
Jean-Claude Biver
Born in Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Biver returned Omega to world-class status, and transformed the ailing Blancpain manufacture into a highly successful company. When Biver took over Hublot in 2004, he took the watchmaking world by surprise with his “Big Bang” model. By juxtaposing seemingly contradictory materials, he created a watch that stands not for tradition, but for an ultramodern future. With this watch, he succeeded in turning the company around within the space of a year: Hublot’s net profit was equal to the total revenue for the previous year.
250 years of Beyer/2010
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Biver likes his cows almost more than his watches. And naturally his cheese is regarded as among the best in the world.
ÂŤWir hatten das GefĂźhl, der Mount Everest habe nachgegeben.Âť
250 years9/2009 of Beyer/2010 beyond
Breguet and Beyer – since 1984
“Breguet means watches. Watches mean Breguet” 46
Abraham Louis Breguet is regarded as the Leonardo da Vinci of watchmaking. One of his most famous watches is exhibited at the Swiss National Museum – thanks to the Beyer family, who almost became the owners of the Breguet manufacture. by Matthias Mächler
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t was 1991, Switzerland was celebrating the 700th anniversary of the Confederation, and the National Museum was planning to open a branch in Frenchspeaking Switzerland, in the magnificent Château de Prangins. The museum was looking for a prize exhibit, an object with both a local connection and international cachet: in short, an absolute bijou. Enter Annette and Theodor Beyer, who had been acting as honorary advisers to the museum for many years. Thanks to connections reaching to the most hidden-away corners of the watchmaking world, the Beyers knew of an exhibit that would take connoisseurs’ breath away: Emperor Napoleon I’s travelling clock, a magnificent pendulette with the calendar day and month, a moon phase disc and a starry sky. This work of art was made from bronze and gold in 1796 by the great master, Abraham Louis Breguet, the visionary watchmaker from Neuchâtel, who later moved to Paris and made horological history. The clock had survived battles and entire military campaigns, hailstorms of
bullets, conflagrations and epidemics. How often must General Bonaparte have sat before it in the evening, listening to it ticking and asking himself how he should proceed and how his decisions would influence the course of time? Spurred on by the historical significance of this timepiece, Annette and Theodor Beyer spent weeks negotiating with its owner. The watchmaking world bows down
Thanks to Beyer, the travelling clock belonging to Emperor Napoleon found its way into the collection of the Swiss National Museum.
At the same time, the Beyers exerted their influence in the upper echelons of the manufactures. And succeeded in achieving the practically unthinkable: the watch industry, which was not exactly flourishing at the time, bowed down to this great historical figure. In a demonstration of solidarity, the company heads reached into their own private coffers and together raised sufficient funds to purchase the famous pendulum clock. Moreover, so that the clock would not be the sole object at the Château documenting Breguet’s roots, the Beyer family bequeathed to 250 years of Beyer/2010
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A Swiss in Paris: Abraham Louis Breguet (1747–1823).
beyond 9/2009
Breguet and Beyer – since 1984
the National Museum two more Breguet watches from its own collection. Ten Breguets in Zurich
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And that collection is considerable. Today, ten original Breguets are on display at the Clock and Watch Museum Beyer – that is, if they are all there. Occasionally, one or the other goes on a journey, to be exhibited at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Museum of Modern Art in New York or the Louvre in Paris. “For watch lovers, an antique Breguet is the measure of all things,” says René Beyer. “Even now, six out of ten watch functions are attributable to inventions by this genius.” Breguet spent up to 30 years working on a single piece, and created the most famous pocket watch of all time: the “MarieAntoinette”. For many years, Breguet was by far the most frequently copied watch brand in the world. As Beyer says: “Breguet means watches. Watches mean Breguet.” However, Breguet’s descendants were not able to replicate this Renaissance success, neither in technical thanks to Hayek nor in economical terms. In The Breguet watch manthe 1980s, the company was ufacture was founded on the brink of collapse – and in 1775 by Abraham was offered for purchase to Louis Breguet. He pioneered such milestone Beyer Chronometrie. “My inventions as the spiral father wanted at all costs that spring, the tourbillon the firm would be put in good and the first wristhands and not go out of busi- watch. In the 1980s, the ness,” recalls René Beyer. But company was “clinithe takeover and the ensuing cally dead”, producing just under 500 watches costs were simply more than a year. Thanks to the the Beyer family could handle. intervention of Nicolas Finally, Breguet was saved G. Hayek, Breguet is by Nicolas G. Hayek, who now one of the five leadincorporated the company into ing watch brands in the world. the Swatch Group and invested an estimated 100 million Swiss francs in putting it back on its feet. “No one had a greater impact on the watch industry than Breguet,” says René Beyer admiringly. “Until, that is, Hayek arrived on the scene. Perhaps he is the reincarnation of the great master himself.”
Someone who wants to know everything Nicolas G. Hayek epitomises the watch industry like no other: René Beyer is one of the many to have witnessed his enormous commitment.
Mr. Beyer, when did you speak to Mr. Hayek for the first time? That was on the telephone. One day, the phone rang and Mr. Hayek was on the line. In his courteous manner, he enquired about the large clock that our electrical clock department at the time had made for the concourse at Zurich Main Station. And for which the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) had chosen – of all things – a Japanese watch manufacturer as sponsor. That evidently bothered Mr. Hayek. But what did he want from you? He wanted to know everything about this clock and about our collaboration with the SBB. I was able to reassure him that the sponsor had nothing to do with us. He then succeeded in persuading the SBB to replace the Japanese brand just a year later. He had no objection to the new Mondaine logo, even though the brand didn’t belong to him. At least it was Swiss. Is that characteristic of him – that he doesn’t just think about his own brands, but about the Swiss watch industry as a whole? That’s certainly true. But that was the task confronting him when, in the early 1980s, the Swiss government entrusted him with 100 million Swiss francs to rescue the ailing watch industry. This sum has long since been paid back in the form of taxes. So the collaboration between Hayek and yourself didn’t begin until later? First of all, Mr. Hayek turned his attention 250 years of Beyer/2010
49
With the purchase of Breguet, he fulfilled a dream: Nicolas G. Hayek. to Swatch, and only later to the Haute Horlogerie brands. It was only after, thanks to him, Breguet had regained its position as a world leader that we started working together.
What do you particularly remember when you think of him? Until just a few years ago, no Saturday went by without Mr. Hayek telephoning sometime after 4 pm to ask how sales of his brands were going. These conversations rarely lasted very long. As soon as he had found out what he wanted to know, he politely ended the conversation and hung up before I even had the chance to say goodbye. What is your relationship with him now? It’s one characterised by mutual respect, but also by mutual assistance, for example, with exhibitions. Hayek took our antique Breguet watches with him to St. Petersburg 250 years of Beyer/2010
and to the Louvre in Paris. In return, he loaned us some pieces for an exhibition at our museum. And whenever we meet at Basel World, he always wants to know exactly what I think of his latest creations. Incidentally, that’s something very special about him – how thoroughly he always wants to be informed about everything.
Is that the reason for his success? That, and also his incredible intuition, his indefatigable fighting spirit, and his gift of being able to analyse a balance sheet so accurately that within a matter of minutes he knows whether it’s worth becoming involved or not. These traits, as well as something rebellious and unbureaucratic, must be in the Hayek genes. His son Nick is exactly the same. What went through your mind when you met Nick Hayek for the first time? I wondered why he hadn’t been drafted in
earlier. He’s cut from the same cloth as his father; he’s highly charismatic, far-sighted and as quick as a flash. Sometimes we get together with friends in Biel, or meet by chance in our favourite confectioner’s on the left bank of Lake Zurich. We both regret that in today’s hectic times such encounters are seldom, because it would be so important to discuss the key issues affecting the watch industry.
How important are the Hayeks for the future of the watch industry? Nicolas G. Hayek can be compared with no other leading entrepreneur in Switzerland. If a Hall of Fame for the watch industry were to exist, he would certainly enjoy a prominent place. But Nick Hayek will also come up with plenty of good ideas. I think that we can look forward to the Hayeks and to the future.
Chopard and Beyer – since 1972
From tradition springs friendship
150 years of Chopard and 250 years of Beyer: two family firms have every reason to celebrate. Their very special friendship, for example. 50 by Nicole Althaus
Y
ou can choose your business partners, but you have to find your friends – or so the saying goes. While that is true, the one doesn’t necessarily preclude the other: sometimes you go looking for a business partner and wind up finding a friend. That is how it was with Karl Scheufele and Theodor Beyer. And very rarely, this friendship is passed on along with the business to the next generation, to be carefully fostered by the sons – as is the case with Karl Friedrich Scheufele and René Beyer. When this happens, friendship and business intermesh like two wheels of a watch movement. Thus the business relationship between Chopard and Beyer can also be regarded as a perfectly interlocking watch mechanism. What began in 1972 with the first delivery of Chopard watches to Beyer is reaffirmed as often as possible with a meal together at a top restaurant. For many years, not only signatures are exchanged, but also ideas, experiences and friendly advice: “Mr. Beyer senior was a role model for both generations of the Scheufele family,” recalls Karl Friedrich Scheufele, who already knew about Beyer as a child, albeit only from hearsay. Occasionally the names of business partners would come up at the dinner table; that of “Beyer” was
mentioned particularly frequently. Thus Scheufele had already come to admire the knowledge and expertise of this muchcited man long before he set eyes on him for the first time – as a youngster at a watch fair in Basle. One cog engaged with the other, a respected person became a mentor, the mentor a friend, and the intermingling of friendship and business slowly but surely took its course. Karl Friedrich Scheufele relates: “Before I opened my own watch manufacture in Fleurier in 1996, I often asked Teddy and René Beyer for advice.
“Teddy Beyer said to me: ‘Watchmaking is a marathon, not a sprint.’” On one occasion, when I must have seemed particularly impatient, Teddy Beyer took me to one side and said, ‘Don’t forget – watchmaking is a marathon, not a sprint!’ This piece of advice between friends subsequently became a much-quoted guiding principle at Chopard. Even today, Scheufele still makes reference to it every time patience is called for in the firm’s business undertakings. Just as a beautiful watch increases in value from one generation to the next, a
friendship can also gain in significance over the generations. After all, it is not something that can easily be replaced if it breaks down. There are not many businesses like Chopard and Beyer that can boast a family history stretching back 150 and 250 years respectively. Tradition can only be created by a family whose members are innovative enough to operate successfully over a long period of time. A gift from Beyer: a Kazes pendulum clock
Today, this knowledge is the bond that links René Beyer and Karl Friedrich Scheufele, as the latter explains. “Only someone who knows what it means to sits at the helm of a ship that has been successfully navigated through choppy waters, first by their grandfather and then by their father, can really understand a person who is at the head of a family firm.” And only someone who has respect for his own history can appreciate the milestones achieved by others. Whenever Chopard had something to celebrate, the Beyer family was there. And vice-versa. In April 1985, to mark Chopard’s 125th anniversary, Theodor Beyer presented the company with a pendulum clock handcrafted by master clockmaker, Jean Kazes, which today hangs next to the entrance of the Chopard Museum in Fleurier. It is a place of honour for a gift inspired by friendship, a gift that symbolises like no other a bond where business and friendship interlock like two cogs in a watch mechanism.
A name of world repute
Chopard was founded in 1860 by LouisUlysse Chopard in Sonvilier, in the canton of Jura. In 1963, the company was bought by the German jeweller, Karl Scheufele. Today, the family enterprise, which has branches in Europe, Asia and North America, is the most successful jewellery and watch manufacturer in the world, employing some 1,700 staff. 250 years of Beyer/2010
51 ACHTUNG: neues bild neues bild neues bild - unbedingt mit karl friedrich scheufele!!!!!!!!!!
Two families, one heart: Karl Scheufele, daughter Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele and Annette Beyer, 1990.
With a swing in their step: Karin Scheufele and Theodor Beyer, 1985. 250 years of Beyer/2010
Navigating Chopard successfully into the future: Karl Friedrich Scheufele, 2006.
Anecdotes
Kaleidoscope of recollections 52
The Beyer family owe much of their success and, in particular, the enjoyment they derive from their work to the people who have accompanied them along the way. We asked some of them what springs to mind when they think of the name “Beyer”.
Via satellite to Glashütte
“
Ever since we launched the first Lange collection in 1994, Beyer has been a reliable partner who has untiringly helped us to re-establish our name as a well-known brand. We are linked by a relationship characterised by mutual respect and based on a pleasant, loyal and open friendship. I recall our Time Zone event in 2005, when René Beyer sent his greetings to Glashütte on a large screen via satellite. Our master watchmaker Andreas Gelbrich, who presented Beyer with a set of the first three Lange Time Zone models, enthusiastically reported: ‘René Beyer gave me a hearty welcome – he even had a supply of our Radberger beer.’” Walter Lange (founder) and the staff of Lange Uhren GmbH
Enthusiastic in Le Mans
“
René Beyer takes a professional approach to everything he does. He is passionate about beautiful things, always pays attention to the smallest detail, and
is constantly on the look-out for exceptional pieces. As a worthy heir to the ‘Beyer spirit’, which has contributed greatly towards the success of his company, René possesses the special attribute of making particularly high demands on quality of service and offering it to his customers. For us at Breitling, our trip with René to the 24 Hours race in Le Mans in 2003 was an unforgettable experience. It was particularly pleasant to be able to share in his enthusiasm for those exceptional moments that we enjoyed during that beautiful June weekend.” Théodore Schneider, CEO Breitling
Always with a smile on his face
“
The Beyer family have passed their knowledge down through the generations, and with the Beyer Clock and Watch Museum they possess an outstanding collection of horological objects. René Beyer is a cheerful, enthusiastic and passionate boss. He appreciates the good and beautiful things in life – antique watches, rare cars and especially gourmet cuisine. But what is most typical of him is that he always has a smile on his face.
When it comes to luxury watches, the staff at Beyer Chronometrie are the greatest specialists in Switzerland. This firm, which is a preferred partner, is characterised by its long-standing history, highly trained staff and outstanding professionalism.” Jérome Lambert, CEO Jaeger-Le-Coultre
A true world– wide reference
“
After thirty years in the industry, I finally managed to do business with Beyer in 2006. I would have waited even longer if necessary, for a partnership with Beyer is always worthwhile. I have fostered a very friendly and open business relationship with René Beyer for years, and admire how he remains true to his principles and how consistently he pursues his business philosophy and ideas. Today, I, together with Hublot, am finally sitting in the same boat as René Beyer and his team, and can benefit from this constancy myself. It is not without reason that Beyer is regarded as an absolute worldwide reference in our industry. If you’re familiar with René Beyer’s company, management and personal style, you can easily understand why.” Jean-Claude Biver, CEO Hublot 250 years of Beyer/2010
Affinity for quality craftsmanship
“
I recall with particular pleasure the first work I did as a watchmaker in 1999 under Muriel Zahn-Beyer – that was a major stepping stone into the art of watchmaking. When Beyer first commissioned us to produce its own brand, I frequently had occasion to experience René Beyer’s professionalism – as well as his passion for beautiful things. He asked me to find some good local craftsman, whom we then visited. I was very impressed by the interest and expert knowledge he showed during this trip.” Jean-Sébastien Bolzli, Sales & Marketing Manager, Aerowatch
A budding yodeller
“
What immediately comes to mind is the night when René Beyer demonstrated his talent as a yodeller. At an international sales meeting in Baden-Baden, we were discussing the challenges of the future with friends from America, Hong Kong, Japan and Russia. It was a tradition among us that each group should sing a song from their native country. The various performances were judged by a couple who happened to also be dining in the restaurant. René Beyer was the only Swiss present, but he didn’t let that deter him. He bravely stood up and started to yodel at the top of his voice – an unforgettable experience! Naturally, he ended up winning our little singing contest. Thank you, René, for these and the many other memorable moments!” Christoph Wellendorff, CEO Wellendorff
The search for marzipan bread
“
What impresses me is the professional manner in which he deals with customers and suppliers, but in particular 250 years of Beyer/2010
his friendly way of treating his staff and the correspondingly pleasant working climate at Beyer. I also like Mr. Beyer’s sophisticated sense of humour and his irony. When it comes to food, too, he also knows exactly what he wants. Once, he was looking for a particular type of marzipan bread in Dresden and refused to allow 95% humidity and a temperature of over 30°C to deter him. Luckily he had filled the pockets of his beautiful linen jacket with peanut brittle so that we wouldn’t go hungry during our search for the best confectioner’s in the city.” Frank Beske, Heads of Sales Switzerland, Lange Uhren GmbH
Touching kindness
“
His trust and loyalty impress me over and over again. During the launch of our first wristwatch collection, René Beyer gave us the benefit of his expertise, his brilliant ideas and his invaluable contacts. We were very touched by his kindness and patience.” Denis Bolzli, CEO Aerowatch
Pure joie de vivre
“
I’m particularly fond of René Beyer’s cheerful, fun-loving nature. He moves in Zurich’s social circles with an ease that is seldom seen in this industry. It is always a pleasure to meet him – such as at the opening of a boudoir-style shop on Bärengasse selling shoes with heels measuring 12 cm or more. On that occasion, Monsieur Beyer revealed a fervent enthusiasm for the portrayal of feminine beauty. I will also never forget the moment when, for a picture in our magazine, “Z”, he stood on a ladder and bit on the giant clock hanging outside his shop. Such moments elevate Beyer to an extremely high level of humanness, kindness and eccentricity.” Jeroen van Rooijen, fashion journalist & style critic at the Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Happy in St. Petersburg
“
During a trip to Russia in 1995, Teddy Beyer, Karl Langer and I had the opportunity to browse around the repository at the Eremitage in St. Petersburg. High up on a shelf, Karl discovered an octagonal-shaped box. When Teddy lifted the lid, we found ourselves staring down at the brass dial of a 16th century table clock in the style of Königsberg, with a long, finely crafted second hand made from blued steel. The slight movement had given the clock a little power, and the hand had moved on a few seconds. Teddy’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I’ve never seen such an old table clock with a second hand. And it has just moved again for the first time in 400 years!’ he said. Greatly moved, he gazed at the clock until it was returned to its place by one of the staff. During that trip, I got to know Teddy from a new, very personal angle.” Christian Pfeiffer-Belli, Editor-in-Chief Klassik Uhren, Ebner Verlag, Ulm
You can count on fairness
“
René Beyer is one of those rare people who place their passion for watchmaking and their fundamental principles in their dealings with customers above pure business interests – even towards non-customers. A good friend of mine, who until recently lived in America, told me that her new Jaeger-LeCoultre lost five minutes every day. The specialist watch dealer in Washington had said it would cost US$ 1,200 to repair it. I suggested that she should take her watch along to Beyer. With his expert eye, the watchmaker in Zurich quickly realised that the watch was magnetised – presumably from the metal detectors at the airport. The cost of the repair came to CHF 50. At Beyer, you can count on fair treatment.” Daniel Hug, head of Business section, NZZ am Sonntag
53
Vallée de Joux
Where time begins by Max Küng Photos Christian Schnur
54
What is it about the sparse landscape of the Vallée de Joux in Vaud’s Jura mountains that makes it such fertile ground for luxury watches? Cult author Max Küng set out to discover what lies at the root of this mystery.
55
Time seems to be of no importance here. But in the Vallée de Joux, appearances are deceptive.
250 years of Beyer/2010
Vallée de Joux
T
56
ime appears to be of no importance here,
the lake, stretching nine kilometres in length and one kilometre
in this high-lying valley situated at the end of the world, yet still
wide. Jaeger-LeCoultre is in Le Sentier. Breguet is in Le Brassus,
in Switzerland. Here, life proceeds at a leisurely pace. In the
where Blancpain also has its roots. L’Abbaye is home to Claude
cheese shop people stop to chat, horses linger in the meadow,
Meylan. Lemania was founded in L’Orient all those years ago.
stoic and proud, and even the River Orbe takes its time to cover
And finally, it is not without reason that one of the best-known
the 16 kilometres that it spans from its source just past the French
chronograph mechanisms is called “Valjoux” – it is manufactured
border to its destination, Lake Joux. It leisurely meanders, winds
in a nondescript complex of buildings in Les Bioux.
and curves as if it had all the time in the world, and no desire whatsoever to empty into the lake.
The question naturally arises as to why all of these companies of world repute call this home, this short, narrow valley which,
Time appears to be of no importance in this secluded valley.
lying one thousand metres above sea level, hides away from the
And yet one soon senses that out-of-the-ordinary things happen
world, surrendering itself to the whims of the climate. Why are
here. Such as when you drive past one of those modern factories,
they all here, crowded around this small, unassuming lake? Why?
its façade bare und austere despite its melodious name, which
I would like to ask the jogger who is running along the path
you have heard of somewhere or have come across in a glossy
that leads around the lake, past the billboard flaunting a political
magazine. You are filled with a feeling of foreboding when you
advertisement, past the rowing boats on the shore, past the ducks
see men and women in white coats, with bonnet-like caps on their
flying low over the water that reflects the forested ridge of Mont
heads, parading through the village like members of some obscure
Risoud, which is wide rather than high. But the jogger has no
sect – but who on closer observation turn out to be factory
time, and he is gone again as fast as he came, puffing and
workers. And if you still haven’t caught on, by the time you stop
steaming like a locomotive.
at the hotel in Le Brassus it will have dawned on you that this, in
I ask the waitress at the Alp La Bréguette restaurant, where
fact, is exactly what this valley is all about: time and timekeeping.
a cosy fire pops and crackles in the hearth, where guests eat cheese fondue for lunch, where an old enamel sign advertises
Tradition is at home in a spaceship
the Simmental breed of cattle, where outside there is nothing
The hotel is called Les Horlogers (The Watchmakers), the
but pastures and stillness and forests that are lying in wait to
restaurant is Le Chronographe (where, incidentally, you can
swallow you up. Brown farmsteads with large farmhouses crouch
enjoy a fantastic meal), and the pubs bear the names of Tourbil-
down low as if taking cover from the elements, the weather side
lon and Dual Time. The pictures on the walls are engravings
lined with tin or shingles to protect it from this natural fiend.
from bygone days, depicting watch movements, springs, screws
They look as if they would melt like Vacherin Mont d’Or, the
and complications. Directly next to the hotel stands the Audemars
cheese that comes from this valley, is named after a nearby
Piguet manufacture, modern and dark like an intergalactic
mountain, and even has its own museum. But the waitress replies
spaceship that has just landed. Watch companies huddle around
that she has no idea, she is not familiar with the history of this
250 years of Beyer/2010
“In bygone days, the Lac de Joux supplied the water for the ice used to cool Parisians’ drinks in the hot summer months.”
63
«Wir hatten das Gefühl, der Mount Everest habe nachgegeben.»
Vallée de Joux
“You can walk and walk, for hours on end, and the only human soul you will meet is yourself.” valley, she comes from France. She is one of the many people
tion. The farmers had to think of some way to survive the long,
who come across the border to work, because the valley has
lonely winters in this remote valley, which since time imme-
more jobs than inhabitants.
morial had been beleaguered by all kinds of adversity, from the plague to starvation, from fires to natural disasters. In order to
Cool ice for hot Paris
make ends meet, the farmers developed other skills. They became
I ask the day-trippers on the mountain I am climbing, the Dent
blacksmiths, soon learning to produce metal. This, in turn, became
58 de Vaulion, that stands 1,438 metres above sea-level, one and a
a basis for the art of watchmaking, providing the farmers with
half hours on foot from Le Pont. From up here you enjoy a
subsistence in the most meagre of times.
panoramic view that takes your breath away. A sea of fog lies like a fluffy duvet above Lake Geneva. Just behind it rise the Alps,
A very unusual forest
with Mont Blanc towering the tallest, but the view extends further,
And seemingly they did this so well that factories started to set
much further. The entire Alpine chain is at your feet. I wave to
up here. More and more of them came, and here they have
the Eiger. I nod to the Pilatus. At the foot of the Dent de Vaulion
stayed until today, in a day and age when we think that anything
lies the lake, the Lac de Joux, which you can hardly see because
can be produced anywhere – ideally where labour is cheapest.
the sun is reflected in it as strongly as if it were a mirror.
But that is not the case here. Perhaps because tradition conceals
So, as I said, I ask the day-trippers, but they shrug their
a secret which, in the end, is the key to the valley’s success?
shoulders and lean into the wind, which blows with a harsh
Oh yes, it is an extremely unusual valley, the Vallée de Joux.
severity, giving you an inkling of what it is like when it truly gets
And its forest, named Grand Risoud, too. It is the largest con-
cold down below in the valley. In the winter, reputed to be icy,
tiguous forest in all of Switzerland, stretching so far that when
chilling to the bone and absolutely merciless, it is so cold that
you are in it, you feel something that occurs only very rarely in
the lake freezes over. In the 19th century, people used large saws
this country: vastness of space and loneliness. You can walk and
to cut out great blocks, massive cubes of ice that they stored in
walk, for hours on end, and the only human soul you will meet
ice houses and then in the summer transported over the
is yourself.
mountain passes to the metropolises of Europe. That was back
In the heart of this dense spruce forest, a cabin stands at the
then, when on hot summer days in Paris, people still used the
start of the discovery trail known as Mas des Grandes-Roches.
incomparably clear ice from the Vallée de Joux to cool their
What looks like a witch’s house in a forest clearing is in reality
drinks.
the Apollo refuge hut, containing everything you might need if
A single-engine Cessna flies low over La Dent, traces a circle
you wanted to take shelter there: a stove, firewood, a table, a chair,
in the sky, waves with the tips of its wings, and then heads back
candles, matches, an axe and, of course – we’re in Switzerland,
towards Central Switzerland. I do not know if the plane would
after all! – a broom. It’s been a month since anyone wrote in the
have an answer. But the man at the post office in Le Brassus does
cabin guest book. I sit down and write, “This valley is so special
– thank goodness for public servants!
that it is like no other valley. Like this forest, it is brimming with
It was the proverbial necessity that was the mother of inven-
secrets and surprises. It is the perfect place to forget about time.”
250 years of Beyer/2010
Bahnhofstrasse
15
beyond 7/08
Clock and Watch Museum Beyer table clock with an exquisite porcelain case, ca. 1880.
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Signs of the times Times have changed since the Beyer dynasty was founded. And with them, the instruments that are used to measure the passage of time. A foray into 250 years of horological history. by Monika Leonhardt
250 years of Beyer/2010
Breguet No. 224 (1809): the personal chronometer owned by Alexander von Humboldt.
61
Das ist Blindtext nur f端r die Legende Das ist Blindtext nur f端r
All the clocks and watches depicted are exhibited at the Beyer Clock and Watch Museum.
250 years of Beyer/2010
Clock and Watch Museum
ca. 1760:
The beginning of clock time
62
The new age of horological craftsmanship began: in England, John Harrison built the very first watch, a marine chronometer with an accuracy of three seconds per day. This marked the invention of a reliable instrument for determining longitude at sea and for carrying out scientific explorations of the world. In everyday life, however, daylight continued to determine the passage of time, for very few people could afford a pocket watch. Wooden-gear clocks from the Black Forest, like the ones sold by the Beyer family’s ancestors, were the first timepieces to strike in the front parlours of the townspeople and farmers. In the European capitals of Paris and London, Swiss watchmakers, including Abraham Louis Breguet and Pierre & Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz, made a name for themselves. Their clocks, watches and automata, which united beauty and functionality in a demonstration of unparalleled watchmaking artistry, were greatly admired throughout Europe.
In 1894, all clocks in Switzerland were put forward half an hour.
1860:
Time is defined
1810:
First mass-produced Watches
Gradually, watches gained in importance. From around 1830 onwards, merchant ships were equipped with marine chronometers. Previously, these costly instruments had been reserved for the Navy. At this time, there was still no standard time as is shown on modern-day wristwatches. In Switzerland alone, there were several local times. The first massproduced watch, the “montre souscription”, created by Abraham-Louis Breguet, went on sale in 1797. These timepieces were sold according to the principle of subscription: on ordering, customers
were required to pay a quarter of the price as a down-payment. The watch proved to be very successful; over 700 pieces were made, attracting new circles of customers. In Geneva, Philippe Samuel Meylan, the great-grandfather of René and Muriel Beyer’s great-grandmother, Marie Valentine Meylan, made the finest watches of the day. These creations were sold as far away as Turkey and China.
Watch with chimes by Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz, ca. 1780
The first World Exposition, held in London in 1851, presented the products of the fledgling industries to the public, including watches from Patek Philippe & Cie, which caught the attention of Queen Victoria. They displayed a highly practical new feature – a winding crown instead of the customary key. At the 1862 World Exposition in London, Swiss watchmaker Adolphe Nicole presented the first pocket watch with a chronograph function. This allowed speeds to be measured and elapsed time to be recorded to fractions of a second. The arrival of the railway and spreading industrialisation made precise timing increasingly important. Switzerland produced the largest number of watches in the world and enjoyed an excellent reputation. In 1894, standard time zones were determined at the International Meridian Conference. In Switzerland, clocks were immediately set half an hour ahead of the Berne mean time, which until then had been used as the official timescale. Around the turn of the century, new buildings and furnishings often followed the style of past epochs. Beyer’s porcelain clock from around 1880 in the finest Rococo style, as was the fashion in the 18th century, is a wonderful example of this era of historism. 250 years of Beyer/2010
Rolex Oyster (1933) from the first series of water-resistant watches.
1910:
Wristwatches conquer the world
Wristwatches, until then exclusive playthings for women, became firmly established; in 1910, Rolex received its first chronometer certificate for wristwatches. During the “roaring twenties”, watches became increasingly sophisticated and ornate: in 1925, the Paris Exposition des Arts décoratifs showed geometrically shaped watches in what is now known as “art deco” style. In 1929, Jaeger-LeCoultre developed what is still today the smallest mechanical watch in the world, the famous Calibre 101. At this time, automobiles were the main source of fascination, with the result that chronographs with a tachymeter scale were avidly used to measure ever increasing speeds. Already in 1916, Heuer was granted patents for pocketwatch chronographs that could measure hundredths of a second. In the 1930s, the wristwatch established itself thanks to a revolutionary new invention by Rolex: in 1926, the company developed the first waterproof wristwatch and patented it under the name “Oyster”. Beyer Chronometrie, which worked closely with Rolex, began selling the first water-resistant watches in 1933. Inscribed on the dial were both names: Rolex und Beyer.
tre Electronique Horloger in Neuchâtel launched the “beta 21”, the prototype of the first battery-operated quartz clock, which led to the production of wristwatches. The time display, too, was the focus of experimentation: the first watches with a LED display went on sale in 1971 and cost as much as a small motorcar. Design grew in importance: one fascinating piece is the flattest quartz watch in the world, which is just 1.98 mm thick and has a wafer-thin gold plate as a dial. It was developed by a consortium of watch companies (Eterna, Longines, Concord). 63
Today: A mix between fashion and art
The first Swatch produced by entrepreneur Nicolas G. Hayek was launched on the market in October 1982. This marked a positive turning point for the Swiss watch industry, and triggered a completely new approach to watches; cheerful, cheeky, colourful and cheap, they now started to be worn as fashion jewellery. Mechanical watches also experienced a revival, perhaps most impressively with the IWC “da Vinci”. This watch, which was made from 1985 onwards in small editions, was the first chronograph with an eternal calendar, and was a worthy masterpiece of watchmaking artistry. Might the popularity of mechanical watches have something to do with the fact that these meticulously fashioned works of art, with their ever moving cogwheels, symbolise the course of existence today just as much as they did 250 years ago?
1960:
The crazy quartz watches
The 1960s and early 1970s marked a “crazy age”; watchmakers experimented with all the watch components, inventing, among other things, the Bulova Accutron, which used resonating tuning forks to regulate it. In 1963, Beyer was the first shop in Switzerland to sell this timepiece And the next technological revolution was just around the corner: in 1967, the Cen250 years of Beyer/2010
In 1979, the “Delirium” by Eterna was the thinnest quartz watch in the world.
250 years: How times change
From 15 April until 15 October 2010, the Beyer Clock and Watch Museum is presenting these and other timepieces from throughout the ages in a highly interesting exhibition, comprising pictures and documents relating to the history of Beyer Chronometrie.
The Golden Book
Sometimes the door opens and in comes a familiar face. Usually, this face quickly becomes a person, as normal as you and me. Nevertheless, we like to ask such visitors to sign our Golden Book. And we are proud if these celebrities leave in it their mark as a person.
Byline Blindtext
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The world visits Beyer
Byline Blindtext Photo bab.ch / Interfoto
Ursula Andress
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250 years of Beyer/2010
The Golden Book
Elton John
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Mario adorf
Harrison Ford
250 years of Beyer/2010
Giulietta Fellini Franz Lehar
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pierce brosnan CES Keiser
Jerry Lewis Horst Tappert
250 years of Beyer/2010
The Golden Book
The Rolling Stones
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Bhutan Royal family
Eric Clapton
Teddy Stauffer 250 years of Beyer/2010
Empress Soraya of Persia
250 years of Beyer/2010
The Golden Book
Udo J端rgens
Rage Against the Machine
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Prince Franz Josef II And Princess Gina of Liechtenstein
Romy Schneider
250 years of Beyer/2010
Kool & the Gang
Nick Heidfeld
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Tony Curtis
Diego Maradona
250 years of Beyer/2010
The years ahead
An inspiring future
Beyer’s watchmaker apprentices particularly esteem the tradition surrounding their chosen craft. Nevertheless, we asked them to sketch the watch of the future. by Matthias Mächler Photos Nathalie Bissig
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“
For me, the watch of tomorrow will shift from the wrist to the nose, as a convenient all-in-one solution. For one thing is clear: in future everything must be easier to operate and should also weigh less. After all, we continually want things to be increasingly hassle-free. Whenever you push the little button on the frame of your glasses, the time appears in the right-hand lens. After three seconds, it automatically disappears again. Of course, the numbers are only dimly visible – just strong enough, so that you can still see through your glasses properly. The other lens could be used as a display for the navigation tool, which could be connected to your iPhone, for example. Then you would always have your hands free. And when you are driving, you wouldn’t be distracted by a monitor outside your field of vision. Another future scenario that I could envisage is a mixture of traditional and modern – the Neuchâtel pendulum clock
doubling up as a DVD device. Under the clock face, there’s a glass door that looks like a trapezium. There you could install a small screen complete with DVD player; the clock movement would be powered electronically. Or how about the gadget for the modern woman: an ultrathin piece of film with an integrated time display, which you could attach to your fingernail. It would be available in all colours in line with the current fashion trends. The watch would work using a microchip and the digits would shine through the film. The man’s version would be more of an acoustic nature – a chip that you put in your ear and that sends a signal once an hour. If you want to know the precise time, you simply pull on your earlobe and the chip tells you exactly what time it is. Come to think of it, perhaps I should discuss this idea with the hearing-aid manufacturer, Phonak … Generally speaking, I think that a young generation that can’t afford expensive
Roger Meili (aged 17), second-year apprentice watches would be ready for a boom similar to when quartz watches came on the market. These watches would have to be cheap, cool and trendy. I already see this with my apprentice watchmaker colleagues at school. We know all about tradition and hold the high-calibre mechanical movement in great esteem. But a James Bond gadget, something really way-out, is also sure to catch on. And since nowadays more is technologically possible than ever before, I think that some of us would like to move beyond the boundaries of tradition and into a crazy future.”
250 years of Beyer/2010
Navigation on the left, time on the right, and the signal from an iPhone: Roger’s favourite vision of the future.
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“In future, everything must be easier; we continually want things to be increasingly hassle-free.”
The accessory for the fashion-conscious: colourful fingernail watches.
250 years of Beyer/2010
The years ahead
“ Andreas Fausch (aged 18), fourth-year apprentice.
An idea that really gets under your skin: an implanted watch.
I pursued the idea of an armband on which nothing analogue can be seen at first glance. It just looks like a piece of jewellery, a trendy accessory. For I’m convinced that in future, people will want to decorate their bodies more than ever before. Even today, it’s not just women who wear jewellery, but men, too, particularly the younger generation. This piece of jewellery would need to be very light and pliable, so that you can pull it over your hand and onto your wrist. As far as the material is concerned, I’d use rubber – in all kinds of colours, both conventional and bizarre. The watch in this armband would be fully electronic, that is, free from any mechanical components. It would vibrate slightly once every quarter of an hour, and twice on the hour. It would still need to have a small display so that you could read the exact time. However, I wouldn’t place that on the back of the wrist, but discreetly on the underside, over the pulse.
250 years of Beyer/2010
“Jewellery will increase in significance, particularly among men.”
Another idea goes even further than that – namely under the skin. A chip is transplanted wherever you want under your skin and the time shines through, like a kind of living time tattoo. Of course, a battery would first need to be invented that would last a very long time, so that you wouldn’t have to keep operating the watch out from under your skin in order to change the battery. I also have an idea that could be used in a novel or a film: a pill that extends your conception of time, that is, a sort of timetelling device that you could swallow. Anyone taking such a pill would have the ultimate feeling for time; in the same way as a painkiller gets rid of your headache, a time tablet would intensify your sense of time. You would always know to the very second how late it was. Of course, these are all flights of fantasy – I love traditional mechanical watches too much. It is because of them that I decided to train as a watchmaker. I am particularly fascinated by the moon phases. They also without doubt represent one of the biggest trends with respect to wristwatches. Not just as a gimmick, but because people are becoming increasingly interested in the power of the moon and the stars. Perhaps one day I’ll invent an extension to this function, which allows you to determine your personal horoscope or biorhythm.”
250 years of Beyer/2010
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Roger’s jewellery watch: “My design comprises a rubber armband that vibrates every quarter of an hour.”
Jewellery workshop
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A glittering success
From the sketch to the computer animation: a complex path.
At Beyer’s jewellery workshop, some very special rings are being created to mark the firm’s jubilee – in a process that is just as unusual as the design itself. by Matthias Mächler Photo Martina Meier
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The creator of the jubilee jewellery: head of Beyer’s jewellery workshop, Carlo Mutschler.
s always when he is asked to create a new piece of jewellery, two hearts beat in Carlo Mutschler’s chest. On the one hand, the head of Beyer’s jewellery workshop is looking forward to the most creative area of his work – the process of designing. Especially as he enjoys the complete confidence of the Beyer management, who give him an entirely free hand in developing his concepts. On the other, he now has an empty pad of paper lying in front of him, while his head is spinning with ideas, shapes and symbols. First of all, he has to separate the good ideas from the very good ones. “First I
look for a basic pattern,” explains Mutschler. And since this particular anniversary was simply crying out it, he started playing around with the number 250 – fully aware that there is scarcely anything more difficult than fashioning an attractive piece of jewellery from a number. “You should only notice the number at second glance,” says Mutschler, who then began the lengthy process of sketching and discarding. He experimented with a sweeping snake shape, which led him to an ornamental design, and finally ended up with a form that is both sensual and dynamic. “This ring symbolises Beyer’s history – an ‘all-round’ success, but curving and 250 years of Beyer/2010
On the front
The goldsmiths at Beyer Chronometrie do not just work hidden away in a little room in the back. They also serve in their shop and provide customers with competent advice. The still young department, whose staff work for the equivalent of 2.4 full-time jobs, was set up in 2003 and broke free from the shadow of the watches three years ago; nowadays, the firm’s own jewellery is the third strongest brand sold by Beyer Chronometrie.
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Variations in yellow and white gold – for both casual and glamorous occasions.
twisting, just like the path to success,” laughs Mutschler. “The brilliants represent the years that were sometimes fat, sometimes lean, but that were always marked by continuity.” The brilliants measure between one and two millimetres in size. Depending on the model, each ring is adorned with between 25 and 35 stones. However, they are only set in their correct position after the ring has undergone an unusual process. Using the tools of our time
For the first time in Beyer’s history, the jewellery workshop tried out a new production process developed by a small com250 years of Beyer/2010
pany based in the canton of Neuchâtel, whose computers can scan in designs, transpose them into three-dimensional objects, and shape them into pieces of jewellery – well, at least that’s the theory. “If you think that this method considerably simplifies our work, you’re greatly mistaken,” says Mutschler. In any case, a Beyer collection, with its low production volume, never reaches the point where jewellery could be mass-produced thanks to computer technology. “We simply regarded it as an experiment to see if we could produce jewellery using state-of-theart tools,” explains Mutschler. However, his sketches were a little too sophisticated
for the computer. Once the drawings had been processed by the computer, and Mutschler had made the finishing touches on the screen, the milling machine created a three-dimensional wax model. However, as the computer can only roughly estimate the impact of a drawn line on the finished shape, it took a number of attempts and modifications before Mutschler was finally satisfied. And that was just the beginning. Using the wax model, a mould was made out of silver, and from that, the first blank was produced – which, however, needed to be perfected by hand before it could be used as a cast for the rubber mould. This in turn was used to create the final piece of jewellery. Finally, the cast skin was removed, the last uneven areas were smoothed out and the surfaces polished, all tasks that required several more hours of work by hand for each ring. Despite the work done by the computer, countless production steps and hours of work were necessary before the jubilee rings finally sparkled in Beyer’s display window. “The advantage is that we can now make three different sizes that are absolutely identical; that would be very difficult to achieve by hand,” says Carlo Mutschler, and adds proudly, “And in a way it’s satisfying to see that even the most modern computers cannot replace our traditional handicraft and our skilled eye.”
Bahnhofstrasse
250 years of Beyer/2010
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The street alongside the Fröschengraben in 1860: the Sprüngli building already existed (left arrow). Nowadays, Beyer Chronometrie is located on the plot of land on the right of the picture (arrow).
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Where frogs once croaked When the Beyer dynasty began, the Bahnhofstrasse was nothing more than a smelly ditch. A journey back in time to the year 1760.
by Thomas Meyer
Bahnhofstrasse
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In 1927, the “Zum Grabenhof” building (built in 1918) made way for the Orell-Füssli courtyard, where Beyer Chronometrie is still housed today. If you stand in front of Zurich Main Station, next to the Alfred Escher monument, and look down the Bahnhofstrasse, lined with its lime trees and flags, you enjoy quite a different view than you would have done 250 years ago. In those days, you would have been standing on a large meadow in front of the mighty walls of the city fortifications. To the left and right flowed the water from the River Limmat and the River Sihl, the latter having already been freed of the felled timber that had been transported downriver from the Sihl forest to Zurich’s sawmills. On this meadow – the present-day Platzspitz – sheep grazed. At least, that is, when the Zurich cantonal troops were not holding shooting practices there. Behind the city walls rose the most distinctive building, the huge Rennwegtor (Rennweg Gate), a tower-style fortress that formed part of the mediaeval fortifications. When, in the 16th century, Zurich’s population grew to an impressive 8,000 inhabitants, the fortifications were bursting at the seams, and a new wall – the so-called “Schanzen” – needed to be built. Its course is still partly documented by the presentday Schanzengraben moat; by the Botan-
ical Gardens, the over-four-century-old walls still remain standing to this day. At that time, the Bahnhofstrasse (lit. Station Road) did not exist, quite simply because the railway was yet to be invented. Instead of a street, there was a ditch; in 1760, the place where trams now glide past exclusive boutiques was home to entire colonies of croaking frogs. They delighted in the romantic, but not particularly fragrant, muddy ditch, which was simply known as the Fröschengraben (frog ditch). Until then, it had formed a city boundary, running in an almost straight line from the lake to the Rennwegtor. However, in the new, extended Zurich, it suddenly assumed a central position. Across the bridge
On the other side of the ditch, a row of grand houses was built; also a leafy path along the bank, where wealthy ladies in white, flowery, satin clothes could enjoy a stroll, accompanied by gentlemen dressed
in collarless greatcoats and the knickerbockers that were fashionable at the time. Emanating from Augustinergasse were the distinctive smells of handicraft – of leather tanning, dyeing and confectionery making. A picturesque little bridge led from the Augustinertor (St. Augustine’s Gate) over the Fröschengraben to the newly built Pelikangasse, where the still undeveloped Talacker began – a scene that is hard to picture when you stand on this spot in front of Max Bill’s Pavilion sculpture today. A short distance further along the canal, past the turrets of the old ramparts, from where watchman would be on the lookout for fires night and day, you came to Neumarkt – today’s Paradeplatz – and finally to the lake. It was a scene of almost rural idyll, although the two riverbanks represented two completely different eras: Mediaeval on the left, Baroque on the right. However, this picture was soon to change. In 1832, Zurich’s Grand Council decided to raze the fortifications, with their ramparts,
No one was interested in the Pestalozziwiese; until 1857, it served as an executioner’s square and to this day has remained unbuilt on. 250 years of Beyer/2010
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Zurich, 1724: The railway station was yet to be built on the large meadow next to the city fortifications. The extended city was protected by ramparts. towers, walls and ditches, to the ground. From a military point of view, they were no longer necessary, and their narrow gates hindered the ever-increasing flow of traffic. In 1838, the Hotel Savoy was erected, followed in 1846 by the railway station, with its modest three tracks. Both buildings gave new impetus to the discussions on transport planning. Initially, the authorities wanted to run a railway line along the Fröschengraben to link the lakeside villages; however, this idea was discarded in favour of a wide promenade with plenty of reserve space. And thus the idea of the Bahnhofstrasse was born. From wasteland to boulevard
Thus between 1864 and 1867, the Fröschengraben was filled in – an opportunity seized by many local inhabitants to dispose of their refuse. Although the new Bahnhofstrasse between Paradeplatz and the Rennwegtor already opened in 1864, the unpaved country road was still a far cry from the splendid avenue it is today. It was not until 1890 that the last building plot was finally sold. Incidentally, nobody was interested in the small patch of meadow known today as the Pestalozziwiese; 250 years of Beyer/2010
until 1857, it served as an executioner’s square, and remains unbuilt on to this day. Initially only residential houses were built, but around the turn of the century businesses started to establish themselves here. In 1859, the Sprüngli building was erected, and the photographer Johannes Ganz set up shop here. In 1877, the clock and watch company Beyer, moved into the magnificent new building belonging to the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt. In 1882, the stationer’s shop, Landolt-Arbenz, opened its doors, shortly after the Zürcher Strassenbahnen AG started operating horse-drawn trams along the Bahnhofstrasse. The barren building land rapidly transformed itself into a smart boulevard, and finally into the main centre of trade, fashion and, of course, chronometry. So if you stand at the feet of the statue of Alfred Escher and look down the bustling Bahnhofstrasse, you will be amazed at how quickly time changes the world. Just three lifetimes ago, this place was completely given over to frogs. And you are left to wonder what sight will meet the eyes of a person standing in this same very place 250 years from now.
Sanctuary of the witnesses of the past
Zurich’s history is documented at the Architectural History Archive at Neumarkt 4. Here, the witnesses of the past are carefully filed away: plans, documents and photographs, illustrating the changes to the city’s architecture. Competent staff are on hand to help visitors find all kinds of information – sometimes even things you would never think of looking for. A treasure trove for history sleuths. Highly interesting information, as well as impressive drawings and photographs, can be found on the Wikipedia website (www. en.wikipedia.org) under the keyword “Stadtbefestigung Zürich”.
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