Gallet & Co. - History

History

For the Gallet family of watchmakers, the relocation to La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1826 after 350 years in Geneva proved to be a most advantageous move. With the resources available in the “Watch Valley”, family patriarch Julien Gallet (1806–1849) was able to expand the new company’s distribution of its pocket watches to all of Europe.

In 1855, Julien Gallet’s son Léon (1832–1899) purchased Grumbach & Co., complete with factory and equipment, to facilitate the need for greater manufacturing capabilities. With this increase in work area, Gallet was able to bring together under one roof, many of the Jura Region’s watchmakers to help meet Europe’s increasing demand for watches.

Léon Gallet allowed his watchmakers to benefit through the registration of patents in their own names. This unique approach inspired innovation with Gallet's artisans and allowed the company to offer a very extensive range of watches. With innovation came growth and Gallet & Cie grew to become one the largest timekeeping manufacturers in Switzerland.

Léon Gallet set his sights on the rest of the world markets. In 1864, Léon's brother, Lucien Gallet (1834–1879), established the company's first US location in Chicago, with a New York City office following soon after. Together with Jules Racine, a cousin of the Gallet brothers living in the US, the company began its expansion into the American market.

Due to the American consumer’s preference for domestically styled products, the Gallet Company created numerous new lines to accommodate this. Not including watches privately labeled for established jewelry retailers, Gallet introduced thirty-seven new brands. While the names that appeared on the dials and the overall appearance and function of these watches were tailored to American tastes, all cases and movements continued to be produced in Gallet’s La Chaux-Fonds workshop.

Each of the numerous brands were designed to target a different demographic. Lower priced watches were supplied to the average working man, as well as expensive high-grade and complicated timepieces in solid gold cases for the wealthy. Gallet’s finest pocket watches, hand-built in the classic Swiss tradition and retaining the family flagship and Electa names, were always available. Although not initially successful, included with the company’s American offerings in 1895 were the world’s first wrist-worn watches produced for mass consumption. By the end of the 19th century, the Gallet family was manufacturing and selling over 100,000 timepieces per year.

When the worldwide economic downturn of the 1930s caused international trade to plunge by as much as two-thirds, it suddenly became unprofitable for the Gallet Company to continue production of many of its recently established brands. Gallet chose instead, to consolidate its efforts back into its primary area of expertise, that of the manufacture of high quality professional-use timepieces. Under the family name, the Gallet Company continued to flourish by providing hand-held timers and chronograph wristwatches to allied military and industrial clients during the years leading up to and through World War II. During this period, the Gallet’s sales again surpassed 100,000 units annually.

A wartime Gallet timepiece of particular renown was the Flight Officer time-zone chronograph (1939–present). Commissioned by Senator Harry S. Truman’s senatorial staff in 1939 for the United States Army Air Force, this wristwatch made it possible to calculate changes in the time as a pilot flew across lines of longitude.

After the war, Gallet’s renewed worldwide popularity with civilians and professionals in the fields of aviation, sports, medicine, and technology eliminated the necessity to manufacture numerous secondary brands. With the exception of the few brand names that the company retained for its sports and industrial stopwatch lines, most of Gallet's previously held trademarks went back into circulation.