‘La Fabrique’ employed up to 5,000 people in 1800, in other words a fifth of the population. It especially favoured the nurturing of talent: from the lone watchmaker making his own timepieces, the industry expanded to incorporate several bodies of ‘cabinotiers’, or watchmaking-related trades specialising in case assembly, guilloche work, engraving, case-fitting, gilding or enamelling… Craftswomen made small watch chains and took care of polishing the movement parts or cases. Enamel painters and talented miniaturists launched the tradition of luxury watches. The ‘cabinotiers’ forged themselves a solid reputation for the quality of their work, their punctiliousness and precision. They were envied and not considered workmen like any other industry. Together they formed a kind of ‘aristocracy of craftsmen’, being treated more like artists than manual workers. They were cultivated and avid readers. «M any cabinotiers had settled in the Saint- Gervais district of Geneva, Pilo & Co Genève also therefore chose to occupy this location steeped in strong historical significance. It all began here. It saw the start of the making of timepieces in the ‘cabinotier’ style, pieces that upheld the original ethos of ‘La Fabrique’: independence in the face of the large factories, the virtues of quality, the artistic and jewellery dimension. This enviable status has allowed it to express its creativity since its founding in 2001. »
Pilocat
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