A watch legend Valjoux

Valjoux is one of the most venerated names in Swiss watch making history.  For nearly 100 years, Valjoux was a manufacturer of watch ebauches and complete movements. From the 1920s to the 1960s, Valjoux movements were the choice of some of the most prestigious watch manufacturers in Switzerland.. During the Quartz Revolution of the late 1970sand 1980s, the existence of mechanical movement manufacturers and smaller watch companies in Switzerland came under threat from this new, inexpensive and accurate timekeeping technology from Japan. 

In the midst of this watch market upheaval in Switzerland, Valjoux released a new automatic chronograph movement for which it is so well known to this day - the 7750.  The self-winding 7750 was designed for precision timekeeping while being both rugged and economical to manufacture. The Valjoux 7750 was also adaptable and became the basis for numerous variants of this movement; this made it extremely popular with many Swiss watch companies. And, the 7750 ebauche, if you will, serves as the heart of many of the in-house calibres of Switzerland's top-tier watch manufacturers.

Within ETA, Valjoux in Neuchatel continued to manufacture movements and the name Valjoux was always associated with the calibre, i.e. Valjoux 7750.  The 7750 became one of ETA's strongest sellers, year in and year out. In the 1980s the automatic mechanical movement proved most popular and ETA chose to phase out manual wind movements from the Valjoux line. Another change took place within ETA and the Swatch Group which owns ETA.  The name Valjoux disappeared from its literature and did not appear in its webpages.  (The same happened with Unitas and most recently Lemania). The ETA catalog today lists the calibre as the ETA 7750. 

Chronograph watch enthusiasts, however, have always referred to this calibre as the Valjoux 7750 and probably always will.  Valjoux manufactured many remarkable watch movements during the 20th century, but little information exists on the history of Valjoux and the movements it manufactured.  The Valjoux Reference Site was conceived to fill this information void.  It will grow over the months and years as a resource for all those watch enthusiasts who have admired the magnificent mechanical movements made by Valjoux.

Valjoux History

Valjoux had it's basis in the small town of Les Bioux, near the shore of Lac de Joux, within the canton of Vaud in the northwest part of Switzerland.  In his travels through Switzerland in 1779, Goethe wrote of this region:

"The great mountain range, which, running from Basel to Geneva , divides Switzerland from France , as you are aware, named the Jura.  Its principal heights run by Lausanne and reach as far as Rolle and Nyon.  In the midst of this summit ridge, Nature has cut out—I might almost say washed out—a remarkable valley; for the tops of all these limestone rocks the operation of the primal waters is manifest.  It is called La Vallee de Joux, which means the Valley of the Rock, since Joux, in the local dialect, signifies a rock."

This region of Switzerland was among the richest in terms of watchmaking and the cottage-industry resources watchmakers and watch companies relied on. In August 1897, the local council passed a resolution to promote the establishment of watch and clock making in Les Bioux.  It backed up the resolution with 60,000 Swiss francs for construction of a building, necessary machinery and other needs. In April 1898 the cornerstone was laid, and the building was completed and outfitted before the onset of winter. The business name was the Val de Joux Watch Co.  This company began manufacturing pocket watches and clocks, but the name of the director or owner is unknown today.

n 1901, brothers John and Charles Reymond opened their watchmaking business, Reymond Freres, in Les Bioux, not far from the Val de Joux Watch Co. They had individually honed their watchmaking skills before starting their own business.  Their reputation as fine watchmakers grew, spread by word of mouth, and their business prospered.  However, the Val de Joux Watch Co. suffered from mismanagement, and ownership of the company changed hands several times during the early 1900s. In 1910, legend has it, the last owner made off with all the machine tools, benches and other equipment, leaving the building a shell.

This proved to be window of opportunity for John and Charles Reymond, as the Reymond Freres shops were too small to meet growing demand for their watches. They inspected the empty Val de Joux Watch Co. building and deemed it ideal for their expanding business.  The Les Bioux councilmen met with the Reymond brothers and came to acceptable terms. The Reymond brothers and their employees welcomed the larger watch manufacturing facilities.

The company had manufactured various numbered calibres since its early years and its watch makers assembled wrist watches as well as pocket watches and even a limited number of stop watches. In 1914, they introduced chronograph wrist watches with the Calibre 22 movement (pictured, left). Two years later the Calibre 23 was introduced.  However, the first World War raging in Europe had an impact on the sales of watches, despite Switzerland being isolated from the conflict, which ended in 1918. After the war, the Reymond manufacture continued to prosper and demand for its watches and ebauches continued to grow.  The Reymond ebauches were distinguished by the letter R with a shield outline (pictured above, left).  Sometime during the 1920s, John Reymond's sons, Marius and Arnold, joined the company and applied themselves to the watchmaking craft.

In 1929, Marius and Arnold Reymond assume control of the company, and chose to incorporate it and register the name of the company Valjoux S.A. The crash of the American stock market in 1929 had a disastrous economic impact on the U.S. economy that rippled around the world. This drastically effected demand for all Swiss watches, and thus ebauches, during the 1930s.  Ebauches S.A., created decades earlier, worked to acquire ebauche manufacturing firms to ensure their survival, but Valjoux S.A. choose to remain independent.

The company continued to innovate and introduce new calibres in the 1930s and 1940s.  As early as 1939, Valjoux introduced the Calibre 69 having 10.5 ligne, which was small enough to be worn by women.  Production of more than 60,000 ebauches and movements was achieved in 1942.  Nevertheless, by 1944, Valjoux S.A. was also acquired by Ebauches S.A.  Valjoux movements were selected by Rolex, Audemars Piquet, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and other fine watch companies.  The company became known for its fine chronograph movements, and continued this tradition with the introduction of the '7' series--the Valjoux 70, 71, 72, 72C (for calendar), 75, 76 and 77. The 72C, for example, displayed date, weekday, and Moon phase.  Valjoux S.A. eventually passed from Reymond family control, and was managed by directors selected by Ebauches S.A. 

These Valjoux chronograph calibres were so consistently good, they remained in production for years and served as the basis for production during the 1950s and 1960s.  These movements were supplemented by the introduction of the Calbre 84, a 14 ligne movement with 30 minute register and two pushers, the Calibre 88 of 13 ligne with calendar, Moon phase, hour recorder and 30 minute register, and the Calibre 92 having 13 ligne with two functions and two pushers. All Valjoux's chronographs were manual wind, and several Swiss watch industry giants introduced automatic chronographs in the late 1960s that would motivate Valjoux to join that elite fraternity, and thus make Swiss watch movement history.

(C) Anthony Young Valjoux History pages