The daily gazette., 1876-12-30
Matchmaking in America,
A FOREIGNERS TESTIMONY.

-
SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE AupuI-
THEATRE OF THE PRIMARY COLLEGE
OF LA CHAUX-DE FoSDs, TUESDAY TIE
liTH OF NovEEBER, BY NJ. EDoUARp
FAvRE-HERRET, MEMBER OF THE IN
TEENATIoNALI Jury ON WATCHES OF
TIE EXHIBITION AT PHILADELPHIA,
AND ONE OF TIE SWISS COMMISSION
ELS TO THE UNITED STATES.
MI. Arnold Grosjean, President of the
Board OF Commerce, announced that NJ
EDoUARo FAvREPERREE, Member of
the international Jury on Watches of the
EXhibitloH at Philadelphia, had kindly
consented to repeat, at la Chaltx de Fonds.
the speech already delivered by him at
Loclc al Neuchatel, on the situation of
the Industry OF Matchmaking in the
United States,
TIE ADDRESS.
'GEN1LEMEN: | must, to start with.
announce to you that you have not an
orator before you, but manufacturer,
and as such | ask your indulgence. / shall
give you information which, unluckily, is
not cheerful on the condition Of Swiss
matchmaking compared with the Ameri-
can competition. | shall tell you of facts
simply, sVchaS have seen them, such as
l have understood them. Frankness is
here more necessary than anything else,
forit is not by palliating the bad sides of
difficult situation that we can succeed
in improving 10.
''For .Ong time We have heard here of
an American competition, without believ-
ing it. The skeptics-and there were
many of them-denied the possibility of
competition at once so rapid and so i'm
portant. To-day we are forced to believe
the pcoo,s oI'it, and TO acknowledge the
existence of formidable manufacture.
eve have had the proofs of it under
our own eyes; we have seen the American
factories, and we have been able to satisfy
ourselves exactly as to their power. We
have treated the American manufacture
as we have treated the neighboring manu-
tactures-in the future. of which we did
not wish to believe at first; and which
form to-day a most serious competition.
refer to Besancon, Bienna, st. Inier,
AIorat and Schafi'hausen.
principal market for our watches-our
milk-cow, so to speak. To-day we must
earnestly prepare to struggle with the
Americans on the fields where hitherto
we have been the masters. Some of you
have known Mr.. Dennison, who was, we
may say, The father of American watchs
making. i ". Dennison travelled through
the Canton IF Neuchatel, studying our
mode of manufacturing, seeking to inform
himself Of everything, and carefully
noting The weak parts III our industry.
After his return to the United States, he
founded factory at Boston-'The Boston
Watch Company This was in lS54.-
The capital-ScarcelyS Sl00, 0,00O-was sub
scribed by capitalists more than by prac-
tiCal business men. Inthe beginning the
company turned out only the rough skele-
ton movement. and attended to the finish
ing; all other parts, such as trains, bal
ances, Jewels, &C., &c., We're imported
from Switzerland. Little by little, how
ever, the factory extended It's operations,
and produced other parts. NotWithstand-
ing all this progress, this mode of doing
things not suiting the American character
so little inclined to let capital remain
almost unprOductive, the capitalists aban-
doned the factory, and it failed in 1856.
"Another American, Mr.. Robbins.
whom YOU have also known, gentlemen,
when he had business relations with us,
scented a good speculation, and bought
in the entire factory, tools included, for
$4,000. A new company-'The Amer
lean Watch Company'-was afterwards
formed, with capital OF $2OO.00O. Soon
this capital became insufficient, and it
was increased to 100000 before the war
of secession. This war, which seemed
calculated to destroy such an enterprise,
was, on the contrary, the cause of its
prosperity. America put on foot mil
lion of soldiers, and, as every one wan-
ted his watch, there was great animation
in the watch business. At this juncture
which migEt have been lucky one for
our industry, we failed to comprehend
our real interests. Instead of sending
good watches to the Americans, the worst
trash was sent. Had mere skeleton move
! ments been sent in cases they would
have been thought good enough The
Americans, however, went to work on
an entirely different plan. The company
| increased their plant, and turned out a
! better ordinary watch than the Swiss
watch. A. the end Of several years, and
with the aid of patriotism, the American
watch enjoyed good reputation, while
our own was discredited everywhere. In
1865 the capital was increased to S750,OO0
and the operations of the new company
grew to immense proportions. During
the following year business went on so
well that everywhere new watch factories
sprung up, Every one wanted to make
watches. To-day you can count about
eleven factories. The most important,
after the Waltham Company, is the one
at Elgin, which turns out about 800 move
ments day. The Waltham Company
give employment to 900 workmen, and
make about 425 movements per day
The company again increased their capi-
tai in 1872; it amounts to-day to 81 ,5OO,-
900, BESIDES 100000 as reserve fund, or
a capital OF 100000 francs. This watch
factory is real power; there is none
like it in Europe. We have seen it in
all its details, and we have admired its
splendid organization. Last May, on
the eve of the Exhibition, we still seemed
masters of the situation.
One event, however, dealt us mortal