ROBERT & FILS 1630
A STORY OF 11 GENERATIONS
Gilles Robert rarely arrives anywhere without a case in his hand. For this teller of stories, there is no other way to travel. Wherever he goes, his objects, images, sketches and notebooks go with him. They are the reality from which these stories grow and which precedes all his creations.
For more than two decades, Gilles Robert hunted down details, pieced together information and joined dots to trace his family history; that of the Robert family, an unassuming name that profoundly marked the landscape of Swiss watchmaking, far beyond Switzerland’s borders. The research he began in 2002, when reviving the brand, has shaped him as much as it has shaped his work. Leaving no stone unturned, he has scoured archives and registers; frequented museums and libraries; unearthed historical and family texts; pored over genealogical studies and succession agreements.
He knew there were more than just memories to be gleaned from the history he had so patiently compiled; they held a flame waiting to be rekindled. That of a story whose seeds were sown in 1630, which spread its branches through eleven generations of the Robert family and now, in 2025, was about to be given a new lease of life.
1630
Abram Robert
saves the day
When the town clock stopped, Le Locle came to a halt with it. Abram Robert would be, quite literally, the man of the hour. He climbed to the top of the tower, repaired the pivots, set the mechanism in motion and time resumed its course. A simple gesture that laid the foundations for a line of watchmakers whose expertise would span almost four centuries.
1725
Josué Robert,
watchmaker to the king
Almost a century later, this line was confirmed by Josué Robert. Born in 1691 to a neighbouring branch of the family, he represented the fourth generation. Resident in La Chaux-de-Fonds, he left his name to posterity by becoming watchmaker to Frederick William I of Prussia. As the founder of J. Robert & Fils, Josué Robert made Neuchâtel watchmaking famous beyond its valleys, elevating precision to the rank of art.
1825
Robert & Cie.
The horologist’s art passed uninterrupted from grandfather to grandson, from family workshops to the first manufactories. Circa 1810, Jacob Robert joined the factory that Benguerel and Humbert-Droz had founded in 1793 in Fontainemelon. He took the head of the business, which in 1815 he renamed Robert & Cie., and in 1825 built new, larger premises employing 400 workers. Under his guidance, Robert & Cie. became one of the canton’s most important manufacturers and the symbol of a rapidly evolving industry.
1855
Expansion and transmission
Under the leadership of Jacob Robert, the Fontainemelon manufacture was transformed. The workshop became a factory, expanding from 160 to 800 employees with the rise of the Industrial Revolution. A visionary, he established a subsidiary in Corgémont, harnessing the power of the Suze River and the first steam engines.
Before passing away in Neuchâtel, he entrusted the continuation of his work to his nephews, Henri and Auguste Robert—a lineage from which Gilles Robert descends today. Upon his death, the company was named Fabrique d’horlogerie de Fontainemelon SA, while retaining the Robert designation for its calibres.
1950
The industrial age
Fabrique d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon was at its height in the post-war years. With Gilles Robert’s father as managing director Denis Robert, FHF became one of the main components of Ébauches SA. The factory operated at full capacity, employing more than 1,500 people and producing ten million movements a year. This was a golden age for Swiss watchmaking, driven by confidence in the future and an industry-wide momentum. For an entire generation, watchmaking was more than a profession: it was a vocation, a life devoted to time.
In 1981, quartz upended everything. Workshops emptied, machines fell silent. The Fabrique d’horlogerie de Fontainemelon SA was integrated into the ASUAG group, soon to be united under the name Swatch Group. What had once been a family-run house became a stone in the foundations of Switzerland’s industrial watchmaking edifice. Time goes on—but it evolves.
2002
Revival
Close to four centuries after Abram, Gilles Robert picks up the threads and, continuing rather than replicating, reawakens Robert&Fils 1630 with creations that combine past and future, movement and memory. The time he creates is no longer measured but experienced — time which connects, generation through generation, four hundred years of horology.
