The blantiers spread outside Geneva

Revolt against the Genevan monopoly

To start with, the établissage system adopted by the Geneva corporation proved advantageous to it. It kept the best part of the work for itself: by the end of the 18th century, for example, the cost of one day's wage for a finisher was the same as six days for an ébaucheur. On the other hand, this system kept prices relatively low and encouraged the flow of Genevan products – to such an extent that it was causing concern abroad.

In 1763, the Castels brothers from Bourg-en-Bresse sought the king's support and attempted to thwart this young Genevan industry by creating a watchmaking manufactory to "bring down the Genevan watch trade which sees a considerable sum leave the kingdom every year, and to seize this trade abroad by making watches at such a low price that the Genevans are unable to withstand the competition". Yet the operating costs of a manufactury were still too high to compete against the Genevan watchmakers, who managed to sell their watches one-third cheaper than those of the Castels brothers.

Proscribed in Geneva - the 1788 census of professions makes no mention of blank producers, for example, even though 600 blantiers were working at the time for the "Fabrique genevoise" - the ébauche commoners spread unhindered first into the Genevan countryside and then throughout the Pays de Gex, Faucigny, Savoy and the Jura Vaudois. And Geneva drained off the entire production from the surrounding areas.

Times, however, were changing. France was set to revolt against privileges of every kind. This agitation went hand in hand with the efforts of the blantiers to free themselves from the authority of Geneva, though the corporation itself distrusted these movements which threatened its monopoly. It clung bitterly to its guilds in the belief that it was defending its interests without imagining that it might be damaging the industry itself because "by definition, the corporate system is opposed everywhere and always to large workshops and machinery. This hostility is born of a determination to maintain a certain degree of equality between masters and to restrain competition". Everywhere, be it Geneva, Basel, Neuchâtel, Bern or Soleure, the corporations fought vigorously to maintain their economic privileges, imposing increasingly severe rules on foreigners and non-burghers. Having learned their craft in Geneva, yet denied all entitlements, the établisseurs, master horologists and companions also sought their fortune outside the burgher communes.

In 1760, it was Ador and Bonnard, both from Vaud and both trained in Genevan manufacturing, who succeeded in founding a watchmaking manufactury in Bern. Following financial difficulties and economic rivalries, the manufactury was transferred to Vevey by another native of Vaud by the name of Michot, in an attempt to release the blantiers established in the Pays de Vaud from Geneva's tentacles. It was not long before the business folded: specialist workers, finishers and "termineurs" were still very rare outside Geneva.

Other communes situated on the shores of Lake Geneva demanded, around 1775, the abolition of the recently established mastership in order to break the economic ties irrevocably imposed by the Fabrique genevoise. The division of labour could thus occur without obstruction and the industry would spread itself more widely, but the hoped-for effects were a long time coming. To the east of Geneva, one type of manufacture alone managed to establish itself permanently and uniquely in Jura: that of movements. The corporate spirit failed to reach these high regions where, thanks to experienced horologists and to blank traders, amongst them Charles-Auguste Piguet, horology established itself in the Joux Valley and at Sainte-Croix. People started specialising there in blanks, striking mechanisms, gears and pinions, all products of such quality that they soon stood out first on the Genevan marketplace and then in the Pays de Neuchâtel.

The whole of Jura, moreover, appeared favourably disposed to this young industry which was only too eager to expand. The soil is miserly with its gifts, the inhabitants are poor but hard-working as living conditions allow little scope for a life of ease. Iron, if not the noble metals, had long been worked there; the pendulum was an article made in the region, and lacework and printed calico were produced in the lower and middle regions of the Pays de Neuchâtel. Therefore, there was already a long tradition of nimble fingers which stood them in good stead for horology especially since, in the early days of "établissage", outstanding sensitivity and accuracy of touch were not required of the workforce. It was the établisseurs of Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds who would take advantage of the path charted by Daniel JeanRichard. Around 1785, blantiers settled in Val-de-Travers. And so watchmaking in the Neuchâtel Mountains took off under the very nose of Geneva, which had insufficient reach to undermine it, and pushed eastwards towards Erguel which would remain a Neuchâtel watchmaking colony during the 18th century and until 1830.

The workshop in fact preceded trade in this region, as it did in the Jura Vaudois. People specialised in mechanical parts there: Moïse Wuilleumier de La Sagne set up with his brothers in Tramelan as a finisher; David de la Reussille made blanks and repeater under-dial work there; the blanks workshop of the Frésard brothers and sisters at Villeret started up in 1765; later still, mention is made of another producer of ébauches by the name of Bourquin, as he was known by the Secretary. Workshops of the mouvementaires sprang up in Courtelary, Saint-Imier, Renan and Corgémont.

The status of horology

At the time of the French Revolution, the status of Swiss horology was broadly as follows: Geneva was still its undisputed hub, but an aristocratic, privileged hub producing predominantly luxury products. As it did not make ébauches, it procured them from the Genevan countryside, Pays de Gex, Faucigny and the Joux Valley. The Valley was at the outer limit of the sphere of control of the Fabrique genevoise and was already drawn to a new centre of trade which appears to have established itself in the Neuchâtel Mountains, a centre which in turn would control the work of the Jura Valleys to the south and east. While the "noble" watch dominated in the first centre, the second was instead set to become that of the "citizens" watch as it prospered in a region unfamiliar with commercial privileges; the free trade that reigned there tended to diminish the importance of luxury products and to advance the division of labour even further. By now, the industry had spread to Calvin's town of Moutier and was employing around 10,000 people. One half of this number was engaged in Geneva, which still accounted for a proportionally greater share in terms of overall production value.

The traditional tools - bench vices and hand clamps, pliers, tweezers, precision saws, dies, and other items – also had to be adapted to suit the new working methods. They were supplemented by the blank-machining lathe, tools for dividing wheels, cutting out flat wheels and fusees, topping, centring, and refitting. The wheels were then passed on to the blank-maker, the wheel cutter, the finisher, the toothing-worker and the polisher. Another specialist set to play an increasingly important role was the toolmaker. To turn the lathe, the blank-maker first used the bow and then the foot-operated treadle-wheel. The perfection of these techniques varied depending on requirements, and primarily on the boldness of the "maker" or of the établisseur. The average output per worker of 24 rough movements per year when the division of labour initially took place rose from two, to four, then six ébauches and upwards a week.