In 1853 Société d' Horlogerie à Waldenbourg was founded as a Swiss watch manufacturing company by the community of Waldenburg, Switzerland. It begins to manufacture wrist watches in order to create work in the Waldenburg valley whose location at the route Basel-Geneva had become insignificant due to the newly established train connection Basel - Olten - Geneva. 1859: Gédéon Thommen and Louis Tschopp acquire the company and privately restructure it. Gédéon Thommen is also the founder and promoter of the “Waldenburgerbahn”, a steam train connecting the valley’s villages. Tschopp soon leaves the company and the company is named Gédéon Thommen’s Uhrenfabriken. From 1905, the company is commercially registered as REVUE THOMMEN AG, a joint-stock company. In 1916, the first aircraft chronograph for the Swiss Air Force is created and lays the foundation for the company’s success as an aircraft instrument supplier. From 1936 – 1943, the company is awarded a development and production program of cockpit instrumentation for the Swiss Air Force. |