Marcel Dépraz (1874 - 1946)

At the age of 25, he became workshop manager at the Montillier watch factory near Murten. Soon after, he decided to return to his native village, Le Lieu, to oversee the production of complicated watches at Vieux-Moutier. He left this position shortly afterwards to set up on his own, assembling movements from January 1901 onwards. Just a few months later, he was awarded a gold medal at the Vaud Cantonal Exhibition.In 1911, together with his brother-in-law, he founded a second company, Dépraz & Guignard.In 1937, Marcel Dépraz was joined by his son-in-law Reynold Dubois, a skilled and experienced watchmaker. That same year saw the launch of the 13 ¾’’’ Landeron 48 chronograph calibre, of which more than 3.5 million movements were eventually produced.After the death of Marcel Dépraz in 1946, the following generations gave the company extraordinary momentum, developing and producing a wide range of mechanisms, from sector displays to dashboard chronographs, date and perpetual calendars, and much more.
Reynold Dubois (1901 - 1977)Reynold Dubois, his son Gérald and their descendants became the driving forces behind the growth of Dubois Dépraz in Le Lieu.

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Dubois-Dépraz of Le Lieu – Speech read by Roger Falquet at the 75th anniversary

In 1923, I set off for Paris, where I went to work at Jaeger-LeCoultre, sent there by the LeCoultre Manufacture of Le Sentier, along with about a dozen other young men from the Vallée de Joux.Mr. Reynold Dubois, meanwhile, was in Milan, where Mr. Jacques-David LeCoultre had entrusted him with setting up a workshop for repairing watches and automobile instruments. Choosing such an important task for a young man of 23 was a clear act of confidence in his strong technical and organizational skills.From the very start, he proved equal to a task that was far from easy, especially since he did not yet know the language. Six months later, Mr. Jacques-David LeCoultre transferred him to Paris to put back on track a poorly managed workshop — precisely the one in which I was working. There, for five years, we lived side by side, both in the life of the workshop and in the more nocturnal life of the capital.
During this period, he often confided to me his desire to have his own company one day, preferably in Le Pont, a village he was particularly fond of.

In 1928, we both returned to Switzerland, still at the LeCoultre Manufacture — Mr. Reynold Dubois as head of a large workshop, and myself in another department as an escapement adjuster. The first conditions for the realization of the project he cherished began to take shape when his father-in-law, Mr. Marcel Dépraz, suggested that he establish himself at the head of a chronograph assembly workshop, by ceding to him a client from the Bernese Jura: the Minerva Manufacture in Villeret.

Mr. Dubois then resigned from LeCoultre and set up in Les Bioux, with a few local workers he hired. Since he still needed more personnel, and as the work interested me, I too left Le Sentier for Les Bioux, where once again I worked under my former supervisor. Life in this workshop of five or six workers was very pleasant; unfortunately, the watchmaking crisis of 1929 soon began to make itself harshly felt. Often, with anxious eyes, we watched through the windows for the arrival of the postman, who might be bringing boxes of chronographs to assemble.

To make matters worse, the landlord chose precisely this period to impose a rent increase on Mr. Dubois. He was not prepared to accept it. I had informed him that the village council of Le Pont offered facilities to any industrialist wishing to establish themselves at the end of the lake, including the use of a workshop. He terminated his lease and moved everything into the Décoppet building. In 1943, this workshop was transferred to the former Numa Rochat factory, a building Mr. Dubois had just purchased. Sadly, this had no influence on the general economic situation, so much so that the new workshop had to suspend its activity at certain times. For many of us, the years 1930 to 1934 were difficult ones. We had to work on construction sites, in forests, on roads — in short, seize every opportunity that came along. If our families’ stomachs were filled, the workers’ hands lost the habit of handling tweezers!
From 1935, a recovery began that grew stronger until 1937, the year of the advent of the calibre 24/125, which equipped German aircraft. That same year, sadly, Mr. Eugène-Marcel, son of Mr. Marcel Dépraz and brother of Mrs. Gabrielle Dubois and Mr. Roger Dépraz, passed away.

Mr. Reynold Dubois then had to leave Le Pont to assume certain duties in place of his late brother-in-law. This was the penultimate step on the road that would lead him to the position of co-director of the factory at Le Lieu alongside his brother-in-law, Mr. Roger Dépraz.
Fortunately for us, the people of Le Pont, these new responsibilities did not prevent him from devoting part of his energy to maintaining the workshop that everyone called — and still calls — the Dubois workshop. Today, as a citizen of Le Pont, I wish to thank Mr. Dubois for the important economic contribution that the activity of his workshop, with about ten workers, represented for us over forty-five years.
Yet, at the end of 1975, for various reasons — economic crisis and rationalization of work —this workshop was closed. Its existence nevertheless continued within the Dubois-Dépraz factory in the form of a chronograph assembly department.

It was on August 14, 1930, that the village council of Le Pont ratified an agreement with Marcel Dépraz and Reynold Dubois, by which the village provided them with a workshop to encourage the establishment of industries. The installation costs and rent were borne by the village. The tenants, however, undertook to reimburse half of the monthly rent, i.e. 12.50 francs each month!

From 1937 onwards, while keeping his workshop in Le Pont, Reynold Dubois also joined the factory at Le Lieu, assisting his father-in-law in the creation and assembly of his products. He also became acquainted with administrative work, while his brother-in-law Roger Dépraz increasingly directed the workshop managed by Marius Guignard. Jules-Max Rochat, known as “Julot”, was appointed head of the workshop at Le Pont. Having entered the service of Marcel Dépraz on 1 February 1923, then at the workshop in Le Pont, he retired on 28 February 1975 after fifty-three years of loyalty and faithful service to both houses.

The work of the workshop consisted of assembling chronograph mechanisms and complicated watch movements on ébauches for various watch brands: Guinand Watch (Les Brenets), Minerva (Villeret). Later, the number of clients grew, many of them already customers of Marcel Dépraz in Le Lieu (today Dubois-Dépraz), creator and manufacturer of complicated mechanisms. The workshop also performed manual finishing on various components of the calibres and chronographs produced in Le Lieu.

Texte tiré du site : http://www.patrimoinevalleedejoux.ch/docs/Atelier_Reynold_Dubois_au_Pont.pdf