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| Magazine: c’est à dire, Le journal du Haut-Doubs, 8 January 2007 |
A pdf with the articles about Cattin & Cie. can be downloaded here.
Everything is in French – and as my French is quite mediocre I have used Google Translate to translate it to a fairly understandable English. Below you will find all the articles with the original images. But please bear in mind that all text HAS BEEN TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH USING GOOGLE TRANSLATE.
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Watches: the Cattin
saga
At the glorious time
of the local industry
The Haut-Doubs in general and the Val de Morteau in
particular still bear the traces of a horological adventure that has ensured
prosperity and international fame to the entire border strip for decades.
Workshops abounded everywhere in Morteau, beside the great factories, some of
which employed several hundred persons.
At the start of this industrial boom, there were men, women
and families who made their business prosper. This is the case of the Cattin
factory. Its founder is Émile Cattin (1904-1979), a self-taught artist who gave
his company an international stature. In this dossier, Le Journal proposes to
discover the first part of one of the greatest sagas of the Haut-Doubs.
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Emile Cattin, an
ambitious giant
If the watchmaker
Cattin knew this destiny, it is thanks to its founding father, Émile Cattin, a
self-taught artist from a modest background. It was animated by a single
priority: to succeed.
At the beginning of the most beautiful industrial
adventures, there is often a man. Émile Cattin was one of those captains of
industry whose entrepreneurial spirit marked the watchmaking history of the Val
de Morteau. Born in 1904, "it was a time when one was smart and had ideas,
then one could succeed," says his grandson Regis Cattin. The one who was
nicknamed "Milo" had these two qualities with the added bonus,
"an innate sense of business" say those who met him.
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| Emile Cattin and his wife Juliette |
The man, a big charismatic big hug more than 1.80 m, started
watchmaking at 25 years old. Like many at that time, he started from scratch. A
self-made man who was a shepherd in his childhood. "He started with his
wife Juliette (N.D.L.R.: Née Gruet, she worked at the Klaus chocolate factory).
He had obtained a loan from Maître Lemoine, a notary at Morteau. This allowed
him to buy his first raw movements. He set them up and started selling his
watches, "recalls Constant Vaufrey, a former manager at Cattin, who joined
the company in 1948, who now runs the museum of watchmaking in Morteau. The
assembly of the parts was done on the edge of the window. That's how he
started, "by going to the markets with his bike and his musette to sell
his products."
Before the war, Émile Cattin moved to the rue de l'Helvétie
at the exit of Morteau, where he built the Hotel des Terrasses, where the
ballroom had danced generations of Mortuaciens. The workshops are at the same
address. He managed this business as a family, in parallel to his watchmaking business.
"The establishment will be requisitioned by the Germans during the
war," said Regis Cattin. What is the relationship between hospitality and
watchmaking? None, if not the desire to undertake, animated this hardworking
man.
But for many, the success of Émile-Césaire Cattin is a
mystery. It aroused jealousy in the Val de Morteau where a number of rumors ran
on its account, notably during the second world war, a hectic period during
which it closed the watch company and reopened it in 1947. Among the anecdotes,
it is said that some people even went so far as to scratch the bumper of his
car suspecting him to pass gold in Switzerland.
The strongest critics were not right in the character who
begins to make his own movements just after the war. "I remember, we were no
more than eight in the workshop in the Rue de l'Helvetie. I remember that he
said to me: "You know Constant, one day we will build a factory, with
houses and you will see how happy one will be." No doubt, he was a man who
could see far, "recalls Constant Vaufrey . This factory will build it when
the workshops that had already spread out on the Hotel des Terrasses were
becoming too narrow to accommodate eighty employees.
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| The "great" Emile Cattin (right side of the
photo), the day of the inauguration of the factory on October 13, 1962. |
The new plant comes out of
the ground in 1960 avenue Charles de Gaulle. The building will be inaugurated
on October 13, 1962. It will accommodate up to 360 employees. The Cattin
adventure is launched. The Mortuacian manufacture, which depended only on a few
external suppliers, since it produced most of the components necessary for the
manufacture of its watches, will experience a happy and international destiny
by selling cheap watches. But as all the great watch-making adventures of the
Val de Morteau, that of the établissements Cattin that drew its strength from
its mechanical independence will eventually disappear in 1989, the date of
filing for bankruptcy. This stronghold of the local watchmaking, which seemed
indestructible, in which one entered hoping to remain there until the end of
his career, ended up wavering.
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| A letter from the company Cattin & Cie from October 1962 |
Inauguration
of the new plant
CATTIN & Cie S. A.
Watches "Mortima"
Morteau / Doubs
13 October 1962
The traveler who only passes through Morteau would doubtless
have had difficulty in imagining that within this large market town hides many
industries, and especially that of watchmaking. Also all the guests of the
CATTIN and Cie Establishments were surprised to have to inaugurate a
magnificent set of buildings, which are proof of the very delightful
development of the watch industry in general and of the company Cattin &
Cie in particular.
Among the many participants in this event, which is
undoubtedly an important milestone in the industrialization of Morteau and the
region, we are particularly pleased to mention the personalities of the French
watch industry, Mr Dalin, the French Chamber of Watchmaking, M. Donat, the
well-known specialist of the CETEHOR, many manufacturers of watchmaking, as
well as the representatives of the authorities, Monsieur le Sous-Préfet and the
Mayor of Morteau.
During the ritual visit of the establishments and new
installations, including an electroplating workshop, the admiration of all
connoisseurs made it possible for the guests to familiarize themselves with the
complete process of watch making. In fact, the Cattin et Cie Establishments are
among the rare manufactures of the world that are completely integrated, that
is to say they depend only on a few external suppliers, such as boxes, stones,
needles, springs. Everything is conceived according to the fundamental rules of
watchmaking manufacture, from bigger presses for the production of blanks, to
the departments of turning, cutting, manufacture of dials, from assembly to
appliances more delicate for adjustment and last checks. The existence of the
Cattin establishments is, moreover, quite peculiar for us to mention. True
"self-made man", Mr. Cattin, the current Managing Director of the
company, had the first lucrative business, that of shepherd. His
entrepreneurial spirit soon called him to other occupations, he became a
merchant and went to all the fairs and markets of the time. In 1932 he rented a
space of 120 m2 to undertake the reassembly of watches, developing little by
little until 1939. The war closed his company which he reopened in 1947, at
which time he began making sketches with the help of a workforce that already
stood at the time of fifty people.
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Employees benefited from special treatment
13th month, additional paid holidays, Christmas bonuses,
profit-sharing, Émile Cattin had set up a system that valued his employees.
It was the factory with the rigor it imposed. However, Émile
Cattin was attentive to his employees. "He wanted us to be proud to work
in this company," recalled a pensioner. This entrepreneur, who was able to
discourage the man who held him back, as he had done in 1968 with a trade union
leader, was social on the merits. Everyone was lodged in the same or almost the
same. The executives, for example, were installed in one of the ten villas
built around the factory on Avenue Charles de Gaulle. "By housing his
executives, it allowed him to keep them," explains Pierre Cheval who was
general manager of the company at the end of the eighties.
In the neighborhood of Le Clos Jeune, "he had bought
the equivalent of a building to house his employees" explains his grandson
Regis Cattin. All were entitled to the 13th month, Christmas bonuses and profit
sharing, which was almost a fourteenth month. At the time, such treatment was
rather exceptional. "He wanted to be paid the best from the Doubs
department. Everyone had his extra week off with pay. When legislation imposed
three, he gave four, when he imposed four, he gave five, "says Constant
Vaufrey, who joined the company in 1948.
In the workshops, the workers were paid by the piece. The
more they produced, the more they could hope to boost their monthly salary.
"It was an excellent box for that," says a former employee of the
casing. It was not uncommon for employees to leave home at night and on
weekends with work. The 35 hours did not exist, the mentalities were obviously
different.
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| After receiving the Oscar for export in 1960 from the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Mr. Baumgartner, Émile Cattin organized a grand ball at the town hall of Morteau. |
Emile Cattin had succeeded in transmitting a family spirit
to pull up the manufacture. "When we received the Oscar of export in 1960,
Emile Cattin had organized a great ball at the town hall of Morteau. It was a
great free reception open to all its employees. It was like that, he was a
whole type and generous, "continues Constant Vaufrey, who was one of
those" simple executives who grew up with the factory."
Emile Cattin used to say "I do not know how to divide,
but I know how to share." His generosity was expressed outside the
institutions. It would have financed from its own funds the entire heating
installation of the chapel in Morteau. It was he who also would have paid the
first television for the local hospital. It was another time when the
watchmaker was flourishing.
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It is the manufacture and sale of low-end watches that
crowned success the Establishments Cattin. They were not marketed through a
network of classic jewelers and watchmakers, but on the markets, for example,
by posticians who sold them, or on carnival festivals.
The manufacture attracted the most sharp criticism from the
local watchmaking world who considered this production "as by-products
that had nothing to do with watchmaking." The essential in a watch is that
it gives the time! Each has its own trade policy. Cattin had his own. No matter
the frills, as long as the "reliable and robust" timepiece was
accessible to the greatest number of people. "We have produced up to 2
million watches a year. Out of 360 employees at the strongest, 310 people were
full-time, the others were working at home, "said Pierre Cheval, who
succeeded René Gruet, general manager of the company, Emile Cattin's
son-in-law, who disappeared in a car accident in 1985.
Cattin was known throughout the world through Mortima, its
flagship brand. These mechanical watches were functioning thanks to a Roskopf
type movement. Almost all the components were manufactured in-house, which gave
the Mortuacian manufacture its exceptional character. There was scarcely
anything but the boxes (produced by Burdet at Damprichard), the needles,
stones, and springs which came from outside suppliers. Besides this, Cattin was
not dependent on anyone.
The company has developed various calibres until 1988, which
will be a milestone as the C 64 allowed this company to launch a collection of
women watches since 1964. It was during this same period that Cattin
participated in his first fairs in Basel. The manufacture went there for the
purpose, all its productions were sold in advance.
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The images retracing the history of Emile Cattin in
watchmaking are rare. A large part of the company's archives disappeared when
the company filed for bankruptcy in 1989. Thanks to its family and former
collaborators, we can see in pictures the highlights of the company.
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| (My note: Same location in 2013 can be seen here at Google Street View!) |
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| Cattin drew his strength from the fact that the company was a manufactory. Almost all the components of a watch were manufactured in-house. |
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| Above, the construction of the Hotel des Terrasses, rue de l'Helvétie. It was there that Emile Cattin set up his first workshops in the late 1920s, employing up to 80 people before moving to the new factory in 1962. (My note: Same location in 2013 can be seen here at Google Street View.) |
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Jean Estevez: ”Clients could buy 10,000 watches without warning us"
Jean Estevez has headed the Paris office of Cattin since its creation in 1954 until its closure in 1987. This office trades mainly with a clientele coming from Africa and the West Indies.
Càd: What motivated Émile Cattin to open a commercial office in Paris?
Jean Estevez: The Paris office was created in 1954. At the time, Cattin already sold most of its production abroad and not on French territory. The objective of this project was precisely to conquer the French market where our products were not intended to be marketed by jewelers. Our distributors were, for example, tobacco shops or gift shops.
Càd: Did you achieve this?
J.: We met the clientele we were targeting. Some advertisers were also interested in us producing branded watches. But in fact, things have evolved differently. Paris was at the time the point of fall of the people who came from the French colonies and foreign countries, we gradually had an African clientele.
Càd: This clientele came to buy watches directly before reselling them on the African continent?
J.E.: Our watches interested this African and Caribbean clientele because they were not expensive. They came directly to buy quantities of watches. They filled their suitcases and passed the customs at Roissy, to the great astonishment, I suppose, of the customs officers, who watched these quantities of watches pass.
Càd: You could respond immediately to this request?
J.E .: We started at rue du Temple, called the street of the "temple of the watch", because all the wholesalers were there, we had just an office. Then we stretched out, clients could buy 10,000 watches without warning us.
So Cattin was known throughout Africa?
J.E.: It was not Cattin who was known throughout Africa, but the Mortima watches, recognizable by the little cock on the dial. Our index of penetration on this continent was important. We were so well known that we suffered from Asian counterfeiting. These copies came from Hong Kong. I remember that in order to differentiate ourselves from the counterfeiters, we made small changes in our watches.
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An export-oriented trade policy
Cattin products were marketed in 70 countries. Every day, thousands of watches came out of the assembly lines of the Morteau factory to be shipped abroad.
About thirty years ago, the customs agency Henriot in Morteau lived through watchmaking. "It was 95% of our business," remembers Pierre Henriot. He adds: "Today, it represents only 20%." These figures alone confirm the gradual plunge of a whole segment of the local industry that radiated internationally.
This was the case of Cattin, which made 75% of its export turnover. "We were sold in 70 countries," explains Jean-Pierre Collet, head of office, responsible for packaging and shipping, who joined the company in 1963. From Australia to Bolivia, passing Canada, Iceland, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Chad, Zaire or Sri Lanka, Cattin had woven his commercial canvas around the world. In 1960, Emile Cattin was awarded the Oscar for export. "But the export has really gained in size with the arrival of the caliber C 64 in 1964, thanks to which we have extended the collection by producing women watches," continues Jean-Pierre Collet. Two years later, Cattin developed the caliber C 66 extra-flat man. "It was from this date that the African market grew considerably (about 60% of the turnover) and export in general. The goal of René Gruet was to have a distributor of the brand by country."
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| At the peak of the activity, more than 10,000 watches were released daily from the workshops to be shipped. |
Given the quantities shipped, Cattin was then courted by the airlines that carried the freight. Up to 10,000 watches a day came out of the assembly lines. "In the shipping department, we had to condition the watches in such a way that they held as little space as possible. Some of our customers who were getting their supplies from the Paris office returned by plane with cases weighing 80 to 100 kg of watches. "A rule had to be met: to respond to the customer's request as soon as possible.”
PLEASE NOTE. This is a Google Translation of the original articles in French.
Source: www.c-a-d.fr/sites/default/files/flip/CAD118/
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I bought a vintage Mortima Super 28 diver's watch from a flea market, few months back. I simply loved the look, though it wasn't working at the time of purchase. I got it serviced and it now runs like a dream.
SvarSletI am so elated to read up on the brand and its famous owner. Thank you so much for sharing all these valuable info online. I wish the world knew more about Emile and his attitude to business. Hollywood, are you listening?
Shine on more!
When I became a teenager, my father gave me a surprise birthday gift, and it was, my first watch, and I 'll never forget that.since then I became watch lover, now I have a collection of watches. Thank You.
SvarSletThank you for this great article about one of the greatest French watch industry ever
SvarSletRegis Cattin