Theodor Beyer
THEODOR BEYER
…hommage à un vrai gentleman, collectionneur de montres.
A homage to a watch collector & the ultimate gentleman. René Beyer talks about his father.
Our family roots go back to the 14th century. Actually the name came originally from Germany, more specifically a State of the Republic of Germany. lthough the Beyer family were probably always involved in watchmaking (before 1585 watches were made by the local blacksmith and then, around 1600 a Guild was established which made watchmaking an official profession) this is only documented from 1760 when Stefan Beyer started a workshop in his house in Feuerthalen. His house existed up to 30 or 40 years ago, but unfortunately, when they enlarged the bridge from Feuerthalen to Schaffhausen, they demolished the house. Stefan Beyer used to retail wooden and iron clocks made by local craftsman. He was also making any repairs necessary to ensure they worked correctly.
It’s probable he didn’t make his own clocks since we haven’t been able to find a watch signed by him. Around 1800 Stephan Beyer moved to the Niederdorfstrasse in the old part of the city of Zürich, and then, in 1850 when they opened up the fashionable Limmatquai, the business moved again. In 1875 Chronometrie Beyer was, along with Sprüngli and Ganz, one of the first businesses to move to 25 Bahnhofstrasse. We moved into the newly built, so called, Petit Palais du Credit Swiss and were positioned right next to the telegram counter of the Post Office there. But when the bank needed more space in 1927, the year after my father was born, they asked my Grandfather, Julius Beyer to move, so we moved to our present address. We started out very small and it was only after expansion in 1970 and 1982 that my father was able to offer greater services to our customers and present his collection of watches in a public museum based in the building.
A TREMENDOUS SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY
My father was a very special man, he did not speak a lot about his childhood but his mother was a very strong woman, who not only ran the business after her husband’s death, but was also President of the Automobile Club of Zürich and Switzerland. My father joined the business in 1947, when he was just 21 years old, and took over in 1955 after my grandmother died. Prior to this he attended watchmaking school in Solothurn. He also worked for the Henry Stern Watch Agency in New York, where he was able to make very important contacts with many major companies including Rolex. This was during the period immediately after World War II, so it was a very difficult time for everyone including my father who had already seen active service protecting the Swiss northern frontier from any potential invasion.
It was difficult for my father taking control of the business at such an early age, but he had a tremendous sense of responsibility. I remember he told me that when he took over the company things were very difficult. It was only during the first year of the war that the company made any profit because this was the only time that people had money to spend. In fact, we could have closed the store for the duration of the war. During this period many watch manufacturers were so desperate for work that they would ask my father to send them anything, even repairs, so they could at least keep their staff employed.
In order to survive during the Great Depression of the 1930s, which was then followed almost immediately by the Second World War, my grandfather and grandmother had borrowed heavily. They were very hard times. I remember my father telling me that when he first started in the business his main aim was to repay all the debts. It was only in 1948, when the GIs who were working to rebuild Germany began to come to Switzerland for their holidays, that things began to change. They came to our shop on the Bahnhofstrasse to buy watches for themselves and their families back home. They spent a lot of money on the fashionable chronographs of brands such as Pierce, Mido, and Breitling. Since they paid in US dollars, and the dollar was at that time worth more than SFr 20, my father was finally able to achieve his aim. In 1950 my father told me that we were no longer in debt. He then changed the company into a shareholding company, which I believe he did so that the company would never again be obliged to borrow money from individuals. Since that date all shares are family owned.
 Family Beyer, 1860 : Stephan Beyer (1801-1863) with his five sons. The second from the right is Theodor Beyer (1828-1870), great-grandfather of Theodor Beyer. From the left: Gustav, Karl, Heinrich, Theodor and Johann. |
IGNITING HIS ULTIMATE PASSION
My father had tremendous tenacity and willpower and an overwhelming interest in horology. Although my father would have started collecting anyway, it was Dr Eugen Gschwind and later Mr Mannheimer who ignited the initial spark of his ultimate passion for collecting. Dr Gschwind (an avid collector of watches and enamels of the 16th and 17th centuries) unfortunately died some 10 years ago. He told my father that it was crazy only to sell watches, he suggested that my father should continue the collections of our ancestors and also start a museum. He really energized my father into buying a rich collection of watches from a wide variety of sources.
I always felt that my father had difficulty speaking about this period of his life, as it was a time of such great pressure for him. It was a period of great change, people were moving away from pocket watches preferring to buy more fashionable wristwatches and this not only made sales difficult but it had also meant that the stock within the shop changed drastically. My father used this opportunity to save special pieces for the museum. It was shortly after this that Mr Mannheimer became an influence in my father’s life. Mr Mannheimer was perhaps the first businessman to truly appreciate and develop the growth in the watch market. He encouraged my father to collect since he felt someone who understood watches should be saving historic pieces for posterity.
A TIME OF TREMENDOUS ACTIVITY
For my father this was a time of tremendous activity, travelling around the world either alone or with other collectors, seeking out new pieces for the museum and his private collection. This was also the time that my father first met Osvaldo Patrizzi and Gabriel Tortella who had just opened their Galerie d’Horlogerie Ancienne in Geneva, and he was impressed by their tremendous knowledge of horology and their vast number of contacts in the industry. Collecting at that time was very light-hearted, it was not just about seeking out and finding watches for collection, it was more about getting like-minded people together and helping each other. In fact it was more like a student’s holiday than doing business! There were many stories about all the fun they had. There was the story of the Renaissance clock that my father discovered in Germany, but he had to go to the Black Forest to see it. When he arrived at the house the owner’s mother said that her son, who was also a musician, was playing that night at the local Beer Garden, so my father went to the Beer Garden and spent the evening listening to the music and drinking with the owner of the clock – it was only in the early hours of the morning that they finally got to do business! As my father said, ‘doing business in this way was sometimes a drama but mostly great fun.’
He often travelled to Hong Kong with Mr Vogel (a very important merchant from Düsseldorf who specialized in old timepieces) to visit and bid at the auction houses there. He also regularly met George Daniels (the watchmaker and collector) who lives on the Isle of Man. Here business would be done over an excellent cheese fondue. Another story concerns the time the security system of an auction-house broke down and the auctioneer had to spend the night sleeping between the showcases on the floor of the showroom. The poor auctioneer appeared next morning looking the worse for wear.
There was the other side of things when the ‘Ring’ became powerful and, since my father was a wellknown collector and buyer of horology, he was often offered money not to bid. But my father disapproved of this, although there were many an amusing story connected with these sales. Mr Banbery, of Patek Philippe, was also a very close friend of my father’s and while their business together was very important, their friendship and relationship as human beings was more important to my father.