# Complete(ish) History of Allaine watches



## spinynorman

A while ago I posted a history of the Allaine watch brand, as far as I knew it at the time. Since then, I have uncovered more information, which answered some of the questions left over from my original research. I realise there's probably only a few people who share my level of interest in Allaine, but since the information most often quoted from Mikrolisk is at best misleading, I think its worth documenting what I have found out.

Most of this is based on a number of original sources:-

FOSC = Feuille officielle suisse du commerce (Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce) at E-Periodica

FHS = Journal of La Fédération Horlogère Suisse at bibliothèque numérique RERO DOC - RERO DOC

Davoine = Indicateur de l'horlogerie suisse (annual industry trade directory) at bibliothèque numérique RERO DOC - RERO DOC

Newspapers such as L'Impartial and L'Express at bibliothèque numérique RERO DOC - RERO DOC

The Achille Barré era

FOSC records that the trademark "Allaine" was registered by the watchmaker Achille Barré, of Porrentruy in Switzerland, on 22nd March 1941. The registration shows the trademark in script, rather than the stylised block capitals that came later.

An Allaine watch with the original script signature on the dial. This automatic with an inflated "30 Rubis" is driven by an AS 1361N movement. (Picture saved from eBay.)



In April 1944, Achille Barré, who we learn was the son of Arthur Barré of France, went into partnership with Alfred Barré, son of Emile Barré of Ocourt. The company, known as "Achille Barré & Co", operated from Belfort Street in Porrentruy and advertised "Marque Allaine", in Davoine from 1946 until 1950, when the partnership ended. Alfred continued to be listed in Davoine in his own right, as a supplier of "sertissages" (settings), operating in Bressaucourt.

In July of that year, the company was renamed 'Achille Barré, Montres Allaine', with Achille Barré as the sole director. From 1952 until 1954, its Davoine advert features "Montres Allaine et Dania".

Achille Barré advert from Davoine of 1954.



Auguste Petignat

On 31st January 1957, 'Achille Barré, Montres Allaine' was wound up. The assets and liabilities were sold to Saras Watch S.A., "a public limited company whose purpose is the manufacture, purchase, sale and trade of watches, as well as the conclusion of all kinds of related business". The sole director was Achille Barré, until May 1958, when two new directors were appointed: Georges Sutro of Zurich and Auguste Petignat of Miécourt. The company continued to advertise the Allaine and Dania brands.

In March 1959 Achille Barré and Georges Sutro left the board, leaving Auguste Petignat the sole director. Six months later, the general meeting of shareholders changed the name of the business to Allaine Watch S.A. and in December 1960 the company moved its registered office to the nearby town of Miécourt, where Petignat was Mayor and had his own watch finishing workshop. The manufacturing premises, however, remained in Porrentruy.

In October 1960, Allaine Watch S.A. renewed the trademark 'Allaine', previously owned by Achille Barré. In this renewal, the wordmark was shown in the block capital font that appears on most of the watches that we are familiar with today. Initially watches bearing this signature were similar to the script signature models, with FHF hand-winding or early Felsa automatics, such as cal 692 or 1560.

Allaine automatic I own, with Felsa 1560 movement.



In common with the script signature watches, these had their jewel count expressed in "Rubis", with features like "Incabloc", "Waterproof" and "Unbreakable Mainspring" listed on the dial. Casebacks are screw-down, typically with "Stainless Steel Back", "Antimagnetic", "Swiss Made" and "Waterproof" etched in a circle. In the middle of the circle some stated proudly "Made and Cased by Swiss Precision Watchmakers", or in other examples "Cased and Timed by Precision Swiss Watchmakers".



Further into the 60s, the dials and case-backs became simpler and less cluttered with writing. The letter 'A' enclosed in a shield appeared above the Allaine wordmark.

A later Allaine that I own, with a Felsa 4004 automatic movement.



A less common, probably earlier version of the shield (picture collected from Ebay).



By then, 'Jewel' counts had replaced 'Rubis', still with some inflation in evidence. For example, Felsa 4000 powered watches, sub-branded "Super" and loaded with "41 Jewels".

Quite how successful Allaine Watch was at this point is difficult to gauge. However, in October 1964, local newspapers reported that the factory was the victim of a robbery, when watches and other stock were stolen, the value estimated at the time to be 180-200,000 Swiss Francs. At the then exchange rate, that was over £16,000, equivalent to more than £320,000 in 2019 terms.

It's also evident that Allaine was advertising to the retail trade outside Switzerland, for example this Dutch language advert, I would think from the 1960s.



From 1962 until 1970, Allaine Watch S.A. was advertising the brands 'Allaine', 'Dania' and 'Rubina' in Davoine.

In June 1979, L'Impartial reported that Micro-Time of Tramelan had acquired four new companies, one of which was 'Allaine Watch of Porrentruy'. Micro-Time was a holding company formed by merging Charles Gigandet SA, Dulux SA, and a number of other watch manufacturing companies, all of which continued trading under their own brands.

In October 1980 Allaine Watch SA renewed its ownership of the 'Allaine' trademark. There is nothing in FOSC about the Micro-Time ownership, but I suspect Allaine Watch was sold off as an independent company again towards the end of the 1980s. Auguste Petignat remained a director until May 2005, when an association lasting over 40 years came to an end.

Other Achille Barré and Allaine Trademarks

The trademark 'Dania' was registered in February 1914 by Manufacture d'horlogerie "Lion" and expired in August 1934. It was revived by Gottfried Amstad, a former director of "Lion", in 1940. "Lion" branded watches were made under contract for export, typically to Scandinavia, so it is probable 'Dania' watches were destined for Denmark. Some time ago a Dania pocket watch was for sale on Ebay.










"Lion" was dissolved in September 1939 and Amstad set up his own business, buying and selling watches. He registered 'Dania' in September 1940 and transferred it to Achille Barré & Co in July 1945. It was passed on to Allaine Watch in November 1960 and expired in April 1981.

There is one other trademark owned by Achille Barré, as far as I can see. 'Atomic' was registered in September 1945 and transferred to Allaine Watch in 1960. Again I haven't found any Atomic brand watches that I believe were his. The ones I have found were made by a contemporary, but separate company: Léon Zuckerman, Montre Benedict (Benedict Watch Co) of La Chaux-de-Fonds. Strangely, these two different versions of the 'Atomic' wordmark were registered within a few days of one another and retired on the same day in April 1986. However, I can't find any connection between the companies.

'Rubina' was registered by Allaine Watch in October 1959 and retired in March 2000. It had previously been owned by Compagnie de Montres Marvin from 1950-1955. A German company also owned the trademark and some of their watches survive, but there are others that bear the hallmarks of Allaine.

Rubina watch I own, with 'R' in shield and an Arogno 151 movement, in common with similar watches that carry the Allaine branding.



As a trademark, 'Saras' was registered by Allaine Watch in October 1961 and retired in May 1982. I haven't found any watches carrying that signature, or any reason why 'Saras' would have been chosen as the original name of the company. The name 'Allaine', on the other hand, is most likely derived from the river l'Allaine that runs through Porrentruy.

The two other trademarks that Mikrolisk assigns to Achille Barré / Allaine Watch are 'Allena' and 'Veronica'. These were in fact registered personally by Auguste Petignat in August 1962. They expired in March 1983 and I've seen no evidence Veronica was used. I do now have an Allena watch, which is similar in style to the Rubina above, with the same case and movement.









That isn't quite the end of the story, but I will save the last instalment for another time.


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## Balaton1109

Excellent stuff, my dear "Spiny". Many thanks for sharing your research (to date).

It would probably be useful if things like this, not covered by the excellent Honour's Topics, could be saved for future reference in a suitable repository, whether in the "Brands" clubs or elsewhere.

Regards.


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## spinynorman

Balaton1109 said:


> Excellent stuff, my dear "Spiny". Many thanks for sharing your research (to date).
> 
> It would probably be useful if things like this, not covered by the excellent Honour's Topics, could be saved for future reference in a suitable repository, whether in the "Brands" clubs or elsewhere.
> 
> Regards.


 Thanks, I hope it's useful, or at least interesting. I must admit to getting a bit obsessed about this story and the connections it throws up. I did think about starting an Allaine "club", but I don't think it would have many members.


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## Balaton1109

spinynorman said:


> Thanks, I hope it's useful, or at least interesting. I must admit to getting a bit obsessed about this story and the connections it throws up. I did think about starting an Allaine "club", but I don't think it would have many members.


 Well, it would have at least two, no worse than some of the existing ones.

And I've been down so many rabbit holes over the years, that I'm sometimes not sure whether I'm above or below ground at any given time. Almost certainly the latter.


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## Always"watching"

Thanks for that, dear @spinynorman . In response to Balaton's idea that useful topics be held in some sort of repository for future access, may I just mention the very helpful Search feature on the Forum which seems to be used rather less than might be expected. I have quite frequently used it, sometimes to locate and re-examine one of my back topics.


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## Roger the Dodger

> Thanks for that, dear @spinynorman . In response to Balaton's idea that useful topics be held in some sort of repository for future access, may I just mention the very helpful Search feature on the Forum which seems to be used rather less than might be expected. I have quite frequently used it, sometimes to locate and re-examine one of my back topics.


 We did used to have a 'pinned' section with memorable topics saved in it. I think it disappeared during one of the software upgrades.


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## Always"watching"

I suppose, dear Rog, that it might be tricky to define and decide upon what constitutes a "memorable topic." I would like to make one suggestion here and that concerns topic titles. If a member takes the trouble to write a useful and substantial piece of information as a topic then please could they take care over the topic title. I now always try and incorporate a word or phrase that defines the main subject of each topic in order to make it easier for later researchers to locate it either on the Forum or online.


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## spinynorman

This post takes the story on until the present day. The legacy of the Allaine brand and company continues in two separate forms, in Switzerland, and less auspiciously, in China.

Incidentally, I started an Allaine club.

http://xflive.thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?/topic/141403-allaine-owners-club/&do=embed

Allaine in the Late 20th Century

The commercial records don't throw any light on the period when Allaine Watch was a subsidiary of Micro-Time. The objective of the group was to standardise components and rationalise production, while leaving the individual companies to sell under their own brands. August Petignat remained as managing director of Allaine Watch, but didn't take a seat on the board of the parent.

Certainly Allaine did, at some point, move away from the mostly gold plated dress watches it produced in the 1950s and early 60s.

17J hand-winding with date (picture saved from Ebay)



25J automatic with bezel, guaranteed to 20ATM and tested at 30ATM, according to the case-back. (Picture saved from Instagram)



7J hand-winding ETA 2750 cushion cased from 1970s (Picture saved from Ebay)



A rather intriguing addition to the line is the brand 'Allenby'. The trademark was owned by Mustang Watch SA of Basle, registered in 1956 and renewed in 1976. Watches with sub-brands like 'Firebird', 'Fleetmaster', 'Jetstreamer' and 'King of Rio' are probably by this company. There was also a range of watches signed 'Allenby by Helsa', using the wordmark registered by Mustang, so it seems they were licensing the trademark to other manufacturers. Helsa moved to Porrentruy in 1957 and would have been neighbours of Allaine.

There is more on Mustang in my article on MuDu.

Allaine Watch never owned 'Allenby', but it appears they did make some watches under licence, and adapted the trademark with their own characteristic font and shield. (Picture from Ebay).



The Chinese Connection

In July 2005, an article in L'Impartial identified Marcel Lachât as the owner of Allaine Watch, implying that the purchase occurred a short time before November 2004. A notice in FOSC of May 2005 records that Auguste Petignat had ceased to be a director and Lachat had taken his place on the board as manager and partner.

Lachât had run his own watch finishing workshop in Alle, a few miles up the road from Porrentruy, and in March 2000 had transferred the assets to a new company he set up, named 'Horlogerie Allaine Sarl'. In December this company registered the trademark 'Allaine' and the original Allaine Watch version was allowed to expire. Between 2005 and 2007, Allaine Watch was listed as a partner and shareholder in Horlogerie Allaine and Lachât was a director of both companies.

There were two other new members of the board of Allaine Watch from 2005. One was Yuming Yang, who had arrived from China in 1980, studied horology at IUHEI (Graduate Institute of Development Studies) in Geneva and worked as a consultant for Swatch Group. He met Lachât when accompanying a delegation of Swiss businessmen to China and the two discovered a mutual interest in selling Swiss watches on the Chinese market. The other investor was Sha Shengxi, chairman of the Ruihui Watch Company, which owns the 'Poscer' brand of watches in China.

In 2010, the 'Allaine' trademark was transferred from Horlogerie Allaine back to Allaine Watch and renewed for a further 10 years. Then, in October 2016, it was transferred to Vankor, a company that appears to have been set up by Sha Shengxi in order to give the appearance of a Swiss heritage to his business in China. It seems he was the real power behind the takeover of Allaine Watch.

In 2009, Vankor was one of a number of watch brands that were investigated by the Chinese Administration for Industry and Commerce, and all found to be falsely claiming Swiss origin. The sanctions, including fines and confiscation, were against the retailers rather than the manufacturers. Vankor continued to be promoted as a Swiss brand through Vankor AG, a company established in September 2012, with its registered address on Dorfstrasse, Rümlingen, near Basel. One of the directors is Sha Shengxi.

Chinese media profiles of Sha Shengxi portray him as a visionary, who in 2005 obtained the agency for the "famous Swiss brand Vankor" in the Asia-Pacific region and negotiated a 60% equity in Allaine Watch, along with rights to the 'Allaine' brand. The story goes on that he met the head of Allaine, "an old watchmaker who worked at Patek Philippe, and whose family has been working tirelessly for the watch business". This contact enabled Sha Shengxi to bring high-end Swiss mechanical movement technology to China.

The description of 'Vankor' as a famous Swiss watch brand will be news to anyone outside China. The first reference I have found to the company is as Swiss Vankor Time (Far East) Co., Limited, which was established in Hong Kong in December 2001. It registered the trademark 'Vankor' in May 2002. Vankor AG still owns the rights to the Allaine brand, but I can't see any sign that it has been used on watches originating in China.

Allaine Watch SA went into liquidation in December 2016, but this was revoked in November 2017 and the company was renamed 'Advanced Glass Technology', with a remit for "manufacture and marketing of sapphire glass; manufacture, purchase, sale and trade of watches and all timepieces; manufacture and trade of renewable technologies, LED lamps and panels". Yuming Yang was the only director. This company is still trading.

Patek Philippe

In May 2008, L'Impartial reported that Patek Philippe had acquired a majority stake in Horlogerie Allaine, with Marcel Lachât remaining as Chief Executive and Thierry Stern of Patek joining the board. Patek promised to invest in a new factory in Alle and to increase the workforce from 17 people to 50. In July 2009, L'Express Neuchatel published a photo of the new Horlogerie Allaine factory in an article about the expansion of industry in the Jura region. (Picture saved from L'Express).



Aside from Horlogerie Allaine, Marcel Lachât also has a number of other watch manufacturing interests, including having set up the Cecil Purnell company's workshop at Alle in 2006. The notice of company formation in FOSC listed Lachât as the sole director. In 2007 an advertorial on the website europastar described how co-founders Jonathan Purnell and Stéphane Valsamides travelled worldwide as the brand's ambassadors, while Marcel Lachât "performs in his workshop aiming at the perfection of the complicated movements and their finishes". Purnell moved away from Alle at the end of 2009 and Lachât ceased to be a director.

Horlogerie Allaine is still a going concern within the Patek Philippe Group, specialising in the casing of movements, with Lachât remaining as managing director. The company cases around 20,000 movements a year for companies including Patek Philippe, Piguet and Cecil Purnell. It is listed on Hoovers with an annual turnover of 230m Swiss Francs.

Picture from www.rfj.ch shows Marcel Lachât (left) with Phillipe Stern of Patek Phillipe.










Postscript

Auguste Petignat died on November 28th 2014 at the age of 88.


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## Balaton1109

Well done, you! Great work.


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## spinynorman

The Allaine Watch factory in Ave de Lorrette, Porrentruy, from which watches worth 200K Swiss Francs were stolen on 9th Oct 1964. Photo from Feuille D'Avis De Neuchatel 1964-10-10 via http://doc.rero.ch/.


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## spinynorman

A couple of corrections (which I have now edited into the main text, as of 4th Jan 2023).

The trademark 'Dania' was registered in February 1914 by Manufacture d'horlogerie "Lion" and expired in August 1934. It was revived by Gottfried Amstad, a former director of "Lion", in 1940.

I now have proof that the trademark 'Allena' was used on watches made by the Allaine Watch company. This watch popped up on Ebay recently and I bought it for £10. It has an Arogno 151 movement and the case is 10 microns gold plate, pretty much identical to the Rubina pictured above, except the dial shows fewer signs of wear. There's a stamp after the Plaque G10 on the case, V and possibly G. Maker's mark, or something else?


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## Nigelp

A bit similar to the Alliane I had which was a superflat case. I liked it but it had a square section under the winding stem that rubbed on my wrist. I think Allaine bought the cases in for the ones like mine?

[IMG alt="Image result for the watch forum nigelp allaine" data-ratio="75.00"]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4181/34738748805_d163b41654_k.jpg[/IMG]

just found this on the bay



















looks the same but dial says allaine.


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## spinynorman

Nigelp said:


> A bit similar to the Alliane I had which was a superflat case. I liked it but it had a square section under the winding stem that rubbed on my wrist. I think Allaine bought the cases in for the ones like mine?
> 
> 
> __
> https://flic.kr/p/5
> 
> just found this on the bay
> 
> looks the same but dial says allaine.


 Did you identify the movement in yours? I've seen others with Arogno movements like mine, but @Balaton1109 has one with an FE 140-A.

I agree, they were buying in cases and putting a variety of names on the dials. Maybe for different markets or retailers?

There's a square section under the winder of mine, but it hasn't bothered me yet.


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## Nigelp

spinynorman said:


> Did you identify the movement in yours? I've seen others with Arogno movements like mine, but @Balaton1109 has one with an FE 140-A.
> 
> I agree, they were buying in cases and putting a variety of names on the dials. Maybe for different markets or retailers?
> 
> There's a square section under the winder of mine, but it hasn't bothered me yet.


 i dont remember doing so i did try to get the back off but it seemed impossibly tight and i didnt want to mark the case so i left it. Ive a feeling it could have been something quiet small as the case back was small like in the picture above it did keep very good time and the sweep seconds were very smooth especially for a small seconds where any 'jump' always seems magnified to me. It also had a good power reserve and would continue well after others i had at the time had stopped especially unusual in an unserviced 50 year old nos i imagine. Ive a feeling given case sizes it might have been something that FL were using at the time in the smaller sea king, but im guessing to be fair.


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## spinynorman

Nigelp said:


> I think Allaine bought the cases in for the ones like mine?


 I've seen the same case, Arogno movement and similar dials under other brands. For example

https://www.chrono24.com/all/cornavin-a-beautiful-watch-from-the-1960s--id10708858.htm

Looks like someone was churning these out as a package anyone could put their name on. Maybe it was Allaine.


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## spinynorman

Barré - Achille and Emile

While tracing the history of the Allaine brand from its first registration in 1941, I also found more background about it's originator - Achille Barré. So, having followed the brand to the present day, I can now round off the saga with a prequel.

In March 1907 FOSC recorded that Emile Barré of Ocourt, Switzerland, Achille Barré of Faverois, France and three other investors set up a limited partnership in Courgenay for the manufacture and sale of watches. The company was registered under the name Emile Barré et Cie.

In March 1912 the partnership was reconstituted with Achille Barré as one of two current partners and Emile Barré no longer taking an active role. Then, in February 1917, the company was dissolved and, in August, Achille Barré of Faverois registered his own "fabrication d'horlogerie" in Courgenay. In 1924, the head of the "maison Achille Barré" was reported as having moved his home and business premises to Porrentruy.

From 1918 until 1946, when the "Marque Allaine" advert appears, Achille Barré is simply listed in Davoine under "Fabriques d'horlogerie". Presumably he assembled watches for jewellers and other retailers to put their own names on. I've found no trace of anything he produced during this period.

By 1907, Emile Barré was already an established watchmaker. In 1899 he registered two designs for pocket watch movements, and two more in 1902, for which there are drawings in FOSC.



In 1903 he moved his workshop from Bressaucourt to Vendlincourt and in 1906 moved again, this time to Courgenay. In 1905 he registered the trademark 'LARGA' for watches, cases and movements, followed by 'ELAN', 'Medium', 'ATHOS', 'OLA', 'KOLOS', 'DEHA', 'ESSOR' and 'ATOUT', all registered to Emile Barré et Cie between 1907 and 1912.

A pocket watch movement signed "Larga Déposé" and attributed to Emile Barré (picture from Ebay).



Another movement, just signed 'Larga', also from Ebay.



Advert from Davoine of 1916 for Emile Barré et Cie.



Once the company was dissolved by Achille Barré, the trademarks mostly expired at the end of 20 years and I can see no evidence they reappeared. However, there are two exceptions.

'OLA' was transferred to Fabrique d'horlogerie Fontenais-Porrentruy S. A. in 1924, passed to Jules Girard, Manufacture d'horlogerie Dorly in 1926 and expired in 1987 at the hands of Dorly S.A. in Tramelan.

'LARGA' expired in 1926, but was revived in 1944 by Camille Barré, a watchmaker working in Bressaucourt. In 1963 that business was wound up and transferred to Maurice Aeschlimann, trading as Fabrique d'Horlogerie Camille Barré, Montres Lion, apparently attempting to unite the legacy of Camille Barré with the Porrentruy company Fabrique d'horlogerie Montres Lion.

Advert by Maurice Aeschlimann, run in Davoine from 1965-1970.



In December 1981 Maurice Aeschlimann was declared bankrupt and the business wound up, but a package of trademarks, including 'LARGA', transferred to Montres Barox S.A., a company conveniently set up at the same time by one Jean-Luc Aeschlimann. However, 'LARGA' expired in March 1985, less than a year before Montres Barox was dissolved due to bankruptcy.

An unintended consequence of this research is I now have two 1960s watches with lion logos on them, but that is another story.


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## david1d3m

Hello, a huge thank you for all this research. I learned a lot about my family. On the other hand, my father, Jean-Pierre Barré explained to us that Achille Barré, my grand-father, had not dissolved the company but had been the victim of a signature scam. Indeed, his partner had made him sign papers, without his knowing it, of the papers, in which was a declaration on his part where he bequeathed all his shares.

David Barré
Suisse

P.S.
The translation is from google I hope it is understandable.


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## Karrusel

Well done @spinynorman

Always pleasing seeing someone focus on a particular brand!

Now go & find some more for the collection.

:biggrin:


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## spinynorman

david1d3m said:


> Hello, a huge thank you for all this research. I learned a lot about my family. On the other hand, my father, Jean-Pierre Barré explained to us that Achille Barré, my grand-father, had not dissolved the company but had been the victim of a signature scam. Indeed, his partner had made him sign papers, without his knowing it, of the papers, in which was a declaration on his part where he bequeathed all his shares.
> 
> David Barré
> Suisse
> 
> P.S.
> The translation is from google I hope it is understandable.


 Thank you for the information David, this is interesting. I have sent you a private message.


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## GRD

Hi,

I am new to the group and read your article regarding Allaine watches with interest.

I own an Allaine and have often searched photos of Allaine watches but have never found one exactly like mine, it seems to have an unusual second hand.

Below are some photos of my watch. Are you able to tell me anything about this? Perhaps it has had a new second hand added at some point!!
























Thanks


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## spinynorman

A while ago I posted a history of the Allaine watch brand, as far as I knew it at the time. Since then, I have uncovered more information, which answered some of the questions left over from my original research. I realise there's probably only a few people who share my level of interest in Allaine, but since the information most often quoted from Mikrolisk is at best misleading, I think its worth documenting what I have found out.

Most of this is based on a number of original sources:-

FOSC = Feuille officielle suisse du commerce (Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce) at E-Periodica

FHS = Journal of La Fédération Horlogère Suisse at bibliothèque numérique RERO DOC - RERO DOC

Davoine = Indicateur de l'horlogerie suisse (annual industry trade directory) at bibliothèque numérique RERO DOC - RERO DOC

Newspapers such as L'Impartial and L'Express at bibliothèque numérique RERO DOC - RERO DOC

The Achille Barré era

FOSC records that the trademark "Allaine" was registered by the watchmaker Achille Barré, of Porrentruy in Switzerland, on 22nd March 1941. The registration shows the trademark in script, rather than the stylised block capitals that came later.

An Allaine watch with the original script signature on the dial. This automatic with an inflated "30 Rubis" is driven by an AS 1361N movement. (Picture saved from eBay.)



In April 1944, Achille Barré, who we learn was the son of Arthur Barré of France, went into partnership with Alfred Barré, son of Emile Barré of Ocourt. The company, known as "Achille Barré & Co", operated from Belfort Street in Porrentruy and advertised "Marque Allaine", in Davoine from 1946 until 1950, when the partnership ended. Alfred continued to be listed in Davoine in his own right, as a supplier of "sertissages" (settings), operating in Bressaucourt.

In July of that year, the company was renamed 'Achille Barré, Montres Allaine', with Achille Barré as the sole director. From 1952 until 1954, its Davoine advert features "Montres Allaine et Dania".

Achille Barré advert from Davoine of 1954.



Auguste Petignat

On 31st January 1957, 'Achille Barré, Montres Allaine' was wound up. The assets and liabilities were sold to Saras Watch S.A., "a public limited company whose purpose is the manufacture, purchase, sale and trade of watches, as well as the conclusion of all kinds of related business". The sole director was Achille Barré, until May 1958, when two new directors were appointed: Georges Sutro of Zurich and Auguste Petignat of Miécourt. The company continued to advertise the Allaine and Dania brands.

In March 1959 Achille Barré and Georges Sutro left the board, leaving Auguste Petignat the sole director. Six months later, the general meeting of shareholders changed the name of the business to Allaine Watch S.A. and in December 1960 the company moved its registered office to the nearby town of Miécourt, where Petignat was Mayor and had his own watch finishing workshop. The manufacturing premises, however, remained in Porrentruy.

In October 1960, Allaine Watch S.A. renewed the trademark 'Allaine', previously owned by Achille Barré. In this renewal, the wordmark was shown in the block capital font that appears on most of the watches that we are familiar with today. Initially watches bearing this signature were similar to the script signature models, with FHF hand-winding or early Felsa automatics, such as cal 692 or 1560.

Allaine automatic I own, with Felsa 1560 movement.



In common with the script signature watches, these had their jewel count expressed in "Rubis", with features like "Incabloc", "Waterproof" and "Unbreakable Mainspring" listed on the dial. Casebacks are screw-down, typically with "Stainless Steel Back", "Antimagnetic", "Swiss Made" and "Waterproof" etched in a circle. In the middle of the circle some stated proudly "Made and Cased by Swiss Precision Watchmakers", or in other examples "Cased and Timed by Precision Swiss Watchmakers".



Further into the 60s, the dials and case-backs became simpler and less cluttered with writing. The letter 'A' enclosed in a shield appeared above the Allaine wordmark.

A later Allaine that I own, with a Felsa 4004 automatic movement.



A less common, probably earlier version of the shield (picture collected from Ebay).



By then, 'Jewel' counts had replaced 'Rubis', still with some inflation in evidence. For example, Felsa 4000 powered watches, sub-branded "Super" and loaded with "41 Jewels".

Quite how successful Allaine Watch was at this point is difficult to gauge. However, in October 1964, local newspapers reported that the factory was the victim of a robbery, when watches and other stock were stolen, the value estimated at the time to be 180-200,000 Swiss Francs. At the then exchange rate, that was over £16,000, equivalent to more than £320,000 in 2019 terms.

It's also evident that Allaine was advertising to the retail trade outside Switzerland, for example this Dutch language advert, I would think from the 1960s.



From 1962 until 1970, Allaine Watch S.A. was advertising the brands 'Allaine', 'Dania' and 'Rubina' in Davoine.

In June 1979, L'Impartial reported that Micro-Time of Tramelan had acquired four new companies, one of which was 'Allaine Watch of Porrentruy'. Micro-Time was a holding company formed by merging Charles Gigandet SA, Dulux SA, and a number of other watch manufacturing companies, all of which continued trading under their own brands.

In October 1980 Allaine Watch SA renewed its ownership of the 'Allaine' trademark. There is nothing in FOSC about the Micro-Time ownership, but I suspect Allaine Watch was sold off as an independent company again towards the end of the 1980s. Auguste Petignat remained a director until May 2005, when an association lasting over 40 years came to an end.

Other Achille Barré and Allaine Trademarks

The trademark 'Dania' was registered in February 1914 by Manufacture d'horlogerie "Lion" and expired in August 1934. It was revived by Gottfried Amstad, a former director of "Lion", in 1940. "Lion" branded watches were made under contract for export, typically to Scandinavia, so it is probable 'Dania' watches were destined for Denmark. Some time ago a Dania pocket watch was for sale on Ebay.










"Lion" was dissolved in September 1939 and Amstad set up his own business, buying and selling watches. He registered 'Dania' in September 1940 and transferred it to Achille Barré & Co in July 1945. It was passed on to Allaine Watch in November 1960 and expired in April 1981.

There is one other trademark owned by Achille Barré, as far as I can see. 'Atomic' was registered in September 1945 and transferred to Allaine Watch in 1960. Again I haven't found any Atomic brand watches that I believe were his. The ones I have found were made by a contemporary, but separate company: Léon Zuckerman, Montre Benedict (Benedict Watch Co) of La Chaux-de-Fonds. Strangely, these two different versions of the 'Atomic' wordmark were registered within a few days of one another and retired on the same day in April 1986. However, I can't find any connection between the companies.

'Rubina' was registered by Allaine Watch in October 1959 and retired in March 2000. It had previously been owned by Compagnie de Montres Marvin from 1950-1955. A German company also owned the trademark and some of their watches survive, but there are others that bear the hallmarks of Allaine.

Rubina watch I own, with 'R' in shield and an Arogno 151 movement, in common with similar watches that carry the Allaine branding.



As a trademark, 'Saras' was registered by Allaine Watch in October 1961 and retired in May 1982. I haven't found any watches carrying that signature, or any reason why 'Saras' would have been chosen as the original name of the company. The name 'Allaine', on the other hand, is most likely derived from the river l'Allaine that runs through Porrentruy.

The two other trademarks that Mikrolisk assigns to Achille Barré / Allaine Watch are 'Allena' and 'Veronica'. These were in fact registered personally by Auguste Petignat in August 1962. They expired in March 1983 and I've seen no evidence Veronica was used. I do now have an Allena watch, which is similar in style to the Rubina above, with the same case and movement.









That isn't quite the end of the story, but I will save the last instalment for another time.


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## Balaton1109

Excellent stuff, my dear "Spiny". Many thanks for sharing your research (to date).

It would probably be useful if things like this, not covered by the excellent Honour's Topics, could be saved for future reference in a suitable repository, whether in the "Brands" clubs or elsewhere.

Regards.


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## spinynorman

Balaton1109 said:


> Excellent stuff, my dear "Spiny". Many thanks for sharing your research (to date).
> 
> It would probably be useful if things like this, not covered by the excellent Honour's Topics, could be saved for future reference in a suitable repository, whether in the "Brands" clubs or elsewhere.
> 
> Regards.


 Thanks, I hope it's useful, or at least interesting. I must admit to getting a bit obsessed about this story and the connections it throws up. I did think about starting an Allaine "club", but I don't think it would have many members.


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## Balaton1109

spinynorman said:


> Thanks, I hope it's useful, or at least interesting. I must admit to getting a bit obsessed about this story and the connections it throws up. I did think about starting an Allaine "club", but I don't think it would have many members.


 Well, it would have at least two, no worse than some of the existing ones.

And I've been down so many rabbit holes over the years, that I'm sometimes not sure whether I'm above or below ground at any given time. Almost certainly the latter.


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## Always"watching"

Thanks for that, dear @spinynorman . In response to Balaton's idea that useful topics be held in some sort of repository for future access, may I just mention the very helpful Search feature on the Forum which seems to be used rather less than might be expected. I have quite frequently used it, sometimes to locate and re-examine one of my back topics.


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## Roger the Dodger

> Thanks for that, dear @spinynorman . In response to Balaton's idea that useful topics be held in some sort of repository for future access, may I just mention the very helpful Search feature on the Forum which seems to be used rather less than might be expected. I have quite frequently used it, sometimes to locate and re-examine one of my back topics.


 We did used to have a 'pinned' section with memorable topics saved in it. I think it disappeared during one of the software upgrades.


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## Always"watching"

I suppose, dear Rog, that it might be tricky to define and decide upon what constitutes a "memorable topic." I would like to make one suggestion here and that concerns topic titles. If a member takes the trouble to write a useful and substantial piece of information as a topic then please could they take care over the topic title. I now always try and incorporate a word or phrase that defines the main subject of each topic in order to make it easier for later researchers to locate it either on the Forum or online.


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## spinynorman

This post takes the story on until the present day. The legacy of the Allaine brand and company continues in two separate forms, in Switzerland, and less auspiciously, in China.

Incidentally, I started an Allaine club.

http://xflive.thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?/topic/141403-allaine-owners-club/&do=embed

Allaine in the Late 20th Century

The commercial records don't throw any light on the period when Allaine Watch was a subsidiary of Micro-Time. The objective of the group was to standardise components and rationalise production, while leaving the individual companies to sell under their own brands. August Petignat remained as managing director of Allaine Watch, but didn't take a seat on the board of the parent.

Certainly Allaine did, at some point, move away from the mostly gold plated dress watches it produced in the 1950s and early 60s.

17J hand-winding with date (picture saved from Ebay)



25J automatic with bezel, guaranteed to 20ATM and tested at 30ATM, according to the case-back. (Picture saved from Instagram)



7J hand-winding ETA 2750 cushion cased from 1970s (Picture saved from Ebay)



A rather intriguing addition to the line is the brand 'Allenby'. The trademark was owned by Mustang Watch SA of Basle, registered in 1956 and renewed in 1976. Watches with sub-brands like 'Firebird', 'Fleetmaster', 'Jetstreamer' and 'King of Rio' are probably by this company. There was also a range of watches signed 'Allenby by Helsa', using the wordmark registered by Mustang, so it seems they were licensing the trademark to other manufacturers. Helsa moved to Porrentruy in 1957 and would have been neighbours of Allaine.

There is more on Mustang in my article on MuDu.

Allaine Watch never owned 'Allenby', but it appears they did make some watches under licence, and adapted the trademark with their own characteristic font and shield. (Picture from Ebay).



The Chinese Connection

In July 2005, an article in L'Impartial identified Marcel Lachât as the owner of Allaine Watch, implying that the purchase occurred a short time before November 2004. A notice in FOSC of May 2005 records that Auguste Petignat had ceased to be a director and Lachat had taken his place on the board as manager and partner.

Lachât had run his own watch finishing workshop in Alle, a few miles up the road from Porrentruy, and in March 2000 had transferred the assets to a new company he set up, named 'Horlogerie Allaine Sarl'. In December this company registered the trademark 'Allaine' and the original Allaine Watch version was allowed to expire. Between 2005 and 2007, Allaine Watch was listed as a partner and shareholder in Horlogerie Allaine and Lachât was a director of both companies.

There were two other new members of the board of Allaine Watch from 2005. One was Yuming Yang, who had arrived from China in 1980, studied horology at IUHEI (Graduate Institute of Development Studies) in Geneva and worked as a consultant for Swatch Group. He met Lachât when accompanying a delegation of Swiss businessmen to China and the two discovered a mutual interest in selling Swiss watches on the Chinese market. The other investor was Sha Shengxi, chairman of the Ruihui Watch Company, which owns the 'Poscer' brand of watches in China.

In 2010, the 'Allaine' trademark was transferred from Horlogerie Allaine back to Allaine Watch and renewed for a further 10 years. Then, in October 2016, it was transferred to Vankor, a company that appears to have been set up by Sha Shengxi in order to give the appearance of a Swiss heritage to his business in China. It seems he was the real power behind the takeover of Allaine Watch.

In 2009, Vankor was one of a number of watch brands that were investigated by the Chinese Administration for Industry and Commerce, and all found to be falsely claiming Swiss origin. The sanctions, including fines and confiscation, were against the retailers rather than the manufacturers. Vankor continued to be promoted as a Swiss brand through Vankor AG, a company established in September 2012, with its registered address on Dorfstrasse, Rümlingen, near Basel. One of the directors is Sha Shengxi.

Chinese media profiles of Sha Shengxi portray him as a visionary, who in 2005 obtained the agency for the "famous Swiss brand Vankor" in the Asia-Pacific region and negotiated a 60% equity in Allaine Watch, along with rights to the 'Allaine' brand. The story goes on that he met the head of Allaine, "an old watchmaker who worked at Patek Philippe, and whose family has been working tirelessly for the watch business". This contact enabled Sha Shengxi to bring high-end Swiss mechanical movement technology to China.

The description of 'Vankor' as a famous Swiss watch brand will be news to anyone outside China. The first reference I have found to the company is as Swiss Vankor Time (Far East) Co., Limited, which was established in Hong Kong in December 2001. It registered the trademark 'Vankor' in May 2002. Vankor AG still owns the rights to the Allaine brand, but I can't see any sign that it has been used on watches originating in China.

Allaine Watch SA went into liquidation in December 2016, but this was revoked in November 2017 and the company was renamed 'Advanced Glass Technology', with a remit for "manufacture and marketing of sapphire glass; manufacture, purchase, sale and trade of watches and all timepieces; manufacture and trade of renewable technologies, LED lamps and panels". Yuming Yang was the only director. This company is still trading.

Patek Philippe

In May 2008, L'Impartial reported that Patek Philippe had acquired a majority stake in Horlogerie Allaine, with Marcel Lachât remaining as Chief Executive and Thierry Stern of Patek joining the board. Patek promised to invest in a new factory in Alle and to increase the workforce from 17 people to 50. In July 2009, L'Express Neuchatel published a photo of the new Horlogerie Allaine factory in an article about the expansion of industry in the Jura region. (Picture saved from L'Express).



Aside from Horlogerie Allaine, Marcel Lachât also has a number of other watch manufacturing interests, including having set up the Cecil Purnell company's workshop at Alle in 2006. The notice of company formation in FOSC listed Lachât as the sole director. In 2007 an advertorial on the website europastar described how co-founders Jonathan Purnell and Stéphane Valsamides travelled worldwide as the brand's ambassadors, while Marcel Lachât "performs in his workshop aiming at the perfection of the complicated movements and their finishes". Purnell moved away from Alle at the end of 2009 and Lachât ceased to be a director.

Horlogerie Allaine is still a going concern within the Patek Philippe Group, specialising in the casing of movements, with Lachât remaining as managing director. The company cases around 20,000 movements a year for companies including Patek Philippe, Piguet and Cecil Purnell. It is listed on Hoovers with an annual turnover of 230m Swiss Francs.

Picture from www.rfj.ch shows Marcel Lachât (left) with Phillipe Stern of Patek Phillipe.










Postscript

Auguste Petignat died on November 28th 2014 at the age of 88.


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## Balaton1109

Well done, you! Great work.


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## spinynorman

The Allaine Watch factory in Ave de Lorrette, Porrentruy, from which watches worth 200K Swiss Francs were stolen on 9th Oct 1964. Photo from Feuille D'Avis De Neuchatel 1964-10-10 via http://doc.rero.ch/.


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## spinynorman

A couple of corrections (which I have now edited into the main text, as of 4th Jan 2023).

The trademark 'Dania' was registered in February 1914 by Manufacture d'horlogerie "Lion" and expired in August 1934. It was revived by Gottfried Amstad, a former director of "Lion", in 1940.

I now have proof that the trademark 'Allena' was used on watches made by the Allaine Watch company. This watch popped up on Ebay recently and I bought it for £10. It has an Arogno 151 movement and the case is 10 microns gold plate, pretty much identical to the Rubina pictured above, except the dial shows fewer signs of wear. There's a stamp after the Plaque G10 on the case, V and possibly G. Maker's mark, or something else?


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## Nigelp

A bit similar to the Alliane I had which was a superflat case. I liked it but it had a square section under the winding stem that rubbed on my wrist. I think Allaine bought the cases in for the ones like mine?

[IMG alt="Image result for the watch forum nigelp allaine" data-ratio="75.00"]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4181/34738748805_d163b41654_k.jpg[/IMG]

just found this on the bay



















looks the same but dial says allaine.


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## spinynorman

Nigelp said:


> A bit similar to the Alliane I had which was a superflat case. I liked it but it had a square section under the winding stem that rubbed on my wrist. I think Allaine bought the cases in for the ones like mine?
> 
> 
> __
> https://flic.kr/p/5
> 
> just found this on the bay
> 
> looks the same but dial says allaine.


 Did you identify the movement in yours? I've seen others with Arogno movements like mine, but @Balaton1109 has one with an FE 140-A.

I agree, they were buying in cases and putting a variety of names on the dials. Maybe for different markets or retailers?

There's a square section under the winder of mine, but it hasn't bothered me yet.


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## Nigelp

spinynorman said:


> Did you identify the movement in yours? I've seen others with Arogno movements like mine, but @Balaton1109 has one with an FE 140-A.
> 
> I agree, they were buying in cases and putting a variety of names on the dials. Maybe for different markets or retailers?
> 
> There's a square section under the winder of mine, but it hasn't bothered me yet.


 i dont remember doing so i did try to get the back off but it seemed impossibly tight and i didnt want to mark the case so i left it. Ive a feeling it could have been something quiet small as the case back was small like in the picture above it did keep very good time and the sweep seconds were very smooth especially for a small seconds where any 'jump' always seems magnified to me. It also had a good power reserve and would continue well after others i had at the time had stopped especially unusual in an unserviced 50 year old nos i imagine. Ive a feeling given case sizes it might have been something that FL were using at the time in the smaller sea king, but im guessing to be fair.


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## spinynorman

Nigelp said:


> I think Allaine bought the cases in for the ones like mine?


 I've seen the same case, Arogno movement and similar dials under other brands. For example

https://www.chrono24.com/all/cornavin-a-beautiful-watch-from-the-1960s--id10708858.htm

Looks like someone was churning these out as a package anyone could put their name on. Maybe it was Allaine.


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## spinynorman

Barré - Achille and Emile

While tracing the history of the Allaine brand from its first registration in 1941, I also found more background about it's originator - Achille Barré. So, having followed the brand to the present day, I can now round off the saga with a prequel.

In March 1907 FOSC recorded that Emile Barré of Ocourt, Switzerland, Achille Barré of Faverois, France and three other investors set up a limited partnership in Courgenay for the manufacture and sale of watches. The company was registered under the name Emile Barré et Cie.

In March 1912 the partnership was reconstituted with Achille Barré as one of two current partners and Emile Barré no longer taking an active role. Then, in February 1917, the company was dissolved and, in August, Achille Barré of Faverois registered his own "fabrication d'horlogerie" in Courgenay. In 1924, the head of the "maison Achille Barré" was reported as having moved his home and business premises to Porrentruy.

From 1918 until 1946, when the "Marque Allaine" advert appears, Achille Barré is simply listed in Davoine under "Fabriques d'horlogerie". Presumably he assembled watches for jewellers and other retailers to put their own names on. I've found no trace of anything he produced during this period.

By 1907, Emile Barré was already an established watchmaker. In 1899 he registered two designs for pocket watch movements, and two more in 1902, for which there are drawings in FOSC.



In 1903 he moved his workshop from Bressaucourt to Vendlincourt and in 1906 moved again, this time to Courgenay. In 1905 he registered the trademark 'LARGA' for watches, cases and movements, followed by 'ELAN', 'Medium', 'ATHOS', 'OLA', 'KOLOS', 'DEHA', 'ESSOR' and 'ATOUT', all registered to Emile Barré et Cie between 1907 and 1912.

A pocket watch movement signed "Larga Déposé" and attributed to Emile Barré (picture from Ebay).



Another movement, just signed 'Larga', also from Ebay.



Advert from Davoine of 1916 for Emile Barré et Cie.



Once the company was dissolved by Achille Barré, the trademarks mostly expired at the end of 20 years and I can see no evidence they reappeared. However, there are two exceptions.

'OLA' was transferred to Fabrique d'horlogerie Fontenais-Porrentruy S. A. in 1924, passed to Jules Girard, Manufacture d'horlogerie Dorly in 1926 and expired in 1987 at the hands of Dorly S.A. in Tramelan.

'LARGA' expired in 1926, but was revived in 1944 by Camille Barré, a watchmaker working in Bressaucourt. In 1963 that business was wound up and transferred to Maurice Aeschlimann, trading as Fabrique d'Horlogerie Camille Barré, Montres Lion, apparently attempting to unite the legacy of Camille Barré with the Porrentruy company Fabrique d'horlogerie Montres Lion.

Advert by Maurice Aeschlimann, run in Davoine from 1965-1970.



In December 1981 Maurice Aeschlimann was declared bankrupt and the business wound up, but a package of trademarks, including 'LARGA', transferred to Montres Barox S.A., a company conveniently set up at the same time by one Jean-Luc Aeschlimann. However, 'LARGA' expired in March 1985, less than a year before Montres Barox was dissolved due to bankruptcy.

An unintended consequence of this research is I now have two 1960s watches with lion logos on them, but that is another story.


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## david1d3m

Hello, a huge thank you for all this research. I learned a lot about my family. On the other hand, my father, Jean-Pierre Barré explained to us that Achille Barré, my grand-father, had not dissolved the company but had been the victim of a signature scam. Indeed, his partner had made him sign papers, without his knowing it, of the papers, in which was a declaration on his part where he bequeathed all his shares.

David Barré
Suisse

P.S.
The translation is from google I hope it is understandable.


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## Karrusel

Well done @spinynorman

Always pleasing seeing someone focus on a particular brand!

Now go & find some more for the collection.

:biggrin:


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## spinynorman

david1d3m said:


> Hello, a huge thank you for all this research. I learned a lot about my family. On the other hand, my father, Jean-Pierre Barré explained to us that Achille Barré, my grand-father, had not dissolved the company but had been the victim of a signature scam. Indeed, his partner had made him sign papers, without his knowing it, of the papers, in which was a declaration on his part where he bequeathed all his shares.
> 
> David Barré
> Suisse
> 
> P.S.
> The translation is from google I hope it is understandable.


 Thank you for the information David, this is interesting. I have sent you a private message.


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## GRD

Hi,

I am new to the group and read your article regarding Allaine watches with interest.

I own an Allaine and have often searched photos of Allaine watches but have never found one exactly like mine, it seems to have an unusual second hand.

Below are some photos of my watch. Are you able to tell me anything about this? Perhaps it has had a new second hand added at some point!!
























Thanks


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