Hello Omega experts,

my name is Steffen from Germany and I am new to the forum. A friend of mine told me, that I can find the most experienced Omega Experts of the world here in this forum. This was the reason for me to sign up. I really need some help, because I have done a lot of research concerning my old wristwatch, but there are still some open questions.
First of all -the things I know about my wristwatch: The watch must be 100 years old or even older. It has an enamel dial with red 12 and blued hands. The case is a typical trench watch case with wire lugs. I bet you think: Ok, but why do you write all this stuff in an Omega forum. Well, the main reason is the dial signature. It says: La Generale - Successeur de L´s & FRÈRE . After some reading I could find some things out:
The La Generale Watch Co / General Watch Co was founded in 1880 by the company Louis Brandt (sen.) & Fils to produce cylinder watches. Although La Generale produced almost all lever movements of enhanced quality. In the year 1880 the company Louis Brandt (OMEGA) is already 32 years old (founded in 1848). 1885 Louis Brandt & Fils transfered the trademark Helvetia and others to the new La Generale Watch Co. Soon after the death of the company founder Louis Brandt senior (1891) the company was renamed "Louis Brandt (jun.) & Frére" . Louis' sons developed a revolutionary inhouse manufacturing and total production system that allowed component parts to be interchangeable. Watches developed with this techniques were also marketed under the brand of La Generale . The trademark OMEGA appeared not until 1903 (55 years after the company was founded) soon after the the death of the Brandt brothers. A pocket watch called omega from 1894 won a lot of prizes and made the company even more popular in the following years. So the company decided to change their name in S.A. Louis Brandt & Frére, Omega Watch Co.
Because of the success of the new Omega brand the company withdraws from La Generale in 1906. The Helvetia brand remained there. From 1903 on the Name Louis Brandt disappeared from the company's dials and was replaced by the OMEGA brand name. This must be a hard decision after 55 years just because of marketing reasons. But did it really disappear? The dial of my trench watch says no. I would doubt, that the watch was made before 1903. But it could be made in the years between 1903 and 1906 before OMEGA's withdrawal from La Generale Watch. The dial of my trench watch is printed with La Generale and the additional specification Successeur de L´s BRANDT & FRÈRE . That means "Successor of Louis Brandt & Frére ". My theory: After 1903 OMEGA was still undecided what to do with the La Generale brand. Perhaps there were even some sentimental reasons for the dial print La Generale - Successeur de L´s & FRÈRE . Maybe they did not want the famous name Louis Brandt to disappear from all the company's watch faces. Or they wanted to push the OMEGA sub brand La Generale by adding Successeur de L´s BRANDT & FRÈRE . It could have been another marketing idea to emphasize the connection from La Generale and the long history and tradition of Louis Brand/Omega on the watch dial.
In 1906 the company strategie changed and the La Generale Watch Co became independent. I can not imagine, that La Generale was allowed to use the "Louis Brandt"-print on their dials after the withdrawal of OMEGA in 1906. Later on the independent La Generale Watch Co / General watch co. printed Helvetia, Orta or Paradox (in stead of La Generale) on their dials. So my trench watch could be produced between 1903 and 1906, if my assumptions are right. But please correct me if you know more about the early Omega history. That would be very nice. Unfortunately I could not identificate the movement, which could be helpful to date the watch. Maybe here are some movement experts.
I hope you can understand my English...Tried my best ;-)
Have a nice week
Steffen

Here are the watch pics:

 

I don’t have answers to your questions, but I will comment on the “disappearance” of the Louis Brandt name. I have two Louis Brandt CCR railroad approved pocket watches, presumably from circa 1910. Both movements are marked Louis Brandt & freres. One dial is a private label for a Canadian retailer, and the other has the dial marked for Louis Brandt & Freres. Fast forward to the late 1980s or thereabouts, Omega produced a limited series of Louis Brandt wrist watches. One being equipped with a perpetual calendar, all in 18-karat gold.

 

Thanx for your comment!I know about the modern Louis Brandt edition wristwatches, but did not think of them in this content.
Really nice pocket watches! They would really show that they still used "Louis Brandt et frere S.A." after 1903. That makes the La Generale - Successeur de L´s & FRÈRE dial print even more mysterious...

 

Next year we'll celebrate 125 years of the Omega name usage... about time Omega provides an update to A Journey Through Time book

 

Perhaps someone has a prior edition of the book? Maybe it provides some information...

 

Welcome Steffen.

In the Omega book ‘A Journey Through Time’, Chapter 1 is entitled ‘Sister Brands’ and gives a summary of the early days of the Louis Brandt operation, including what it describes as ‘high-end models’ distributed under the brands Louis Brandt & Fils, Louis Brandt & Frere, Gurzelen, Labrador etc.

Later in the chapter comes a section entitled ‘The less expensive brands’ from which comes the following:
“The less expensive brands initially used cylinder escapement movements, but were later equipped with lever escapement calibres….. In 1895, in order to give to the Bienne-located factory more work space for the tooling required to meet the surging demand for the Omega lever calibre which had enjoyed stunning success since its introduction in 1894, the Brandt brothers decided to handover all cylinder calibre production to a new society, La Générale. This new company was founded in Bienne on the 1st of August 1895 in partnership with the movement-blank factory and metallurgical workshops Ed.Boillat & Cie of Reconvilier. The Brandt brothers also transferred to this company most of the corresponding inexpensive brands …. The Brands withdrew from the La Générale joint-venture in 1911.

The existing Omega Archive contains watches produced since 1894, including watches (such as Labrador, Gurzelen etc) that were continuations of those earlier ‘sister brands’. Indeed, previous threads here have shown (for example) Louis Brandt watches with Archive extracts from as late as 1917 (probably using up existing movements). However, as far as I know, watches produced by La Générale are not included in the Archive – and the case number you show would not appear. This is a shame because it would of course be nice to be able to seek the official history.

I’m afraid I don’t recognise the movement you show and can’t help further. The movement doesn’t appear in AJTT.

 

Hi Steffen,
On the second floor of The Bildingszentrum in Nürnberg you'll find the HQ of the German horological society. Although I've never been in (not joined up yet), it houses the largest watch reference library in Germany. You might find more there. Incidentally there are about 30 glass cases of watches throughout the building (a private collection donated to the society) with audio barcodes to scan for detailed descriptions in 3 languages..

 

@Bill: Thank you for the enlightment concerning the Canadian Louis Brandt pocketwatches!

@OMTOM: Thank you for finding out these facts. It is very interesting for me, that "A journy through time" dates the end of the jointventure between Omega and La Generale even later (1911). That could mean, that they used the "La Generale - successeur de Louis Brandt & Frere" dial print between 1903 and 1911. So we come closer to the time, were the red 12 was very popular.

@chipsotoole : Thank you for the clue. When I will be in the south of Germany next time, I will make a visit...

 

Hello all,

Here is a pocket watch on Ebay at the moment:

 

Here you go. Helvetia Cal 30/31/32.

Serial number puts it at about 1906 from the information I've managed to get. I've been studying Helvetia over the last few months.