Piccola & Jofrette is based on the watch brand Piccola, which was registered in the Swiss trade mark register in 1914, and on the watch brand Jofrette, which was registered in 1915. For the start-up, these two brands have now been recombined to form Piccola & Jofrette. The brand belongs to the watch company Altus Montres S.A., an independent family business based at Chemin Frédéric-Ingold 5 (formerly Champagne 1a) in Biel-Bienne, which is owned by the Lack family.
Altus Montres S.A. also used to own the traditional company Glycine, which it sold in 2018 following a successful relaunch. In addition to Piccola & Jofrette, Altus Montres S.A. also holds the trademark rights to the traditional Altus brand.
In addition to the family members, Team PJ consists of a local team that shares the company’s values and philosophy one hundred per cent and works for the brand with great passion and entrepreneurial spirit.
Our Philosophy
When we decided to resume the production of watches by Piccola & Jofrette, it was clear to us that we did not want to create just any watches that are already found in large quantities in the mass market. It was unquestionable for us that, from the beginning, we wanted to focus on the virtues of Swiss watchmaking and act consistently in accordance with them.
Our uncompromising aim is to build affordable, classically elegant ladies’ and men’s watches that are not only developed and manufactured in Switzerland but also consist exclusively of watch components that are created and produced in Switzerland by our regional Swiss partners.
The watches from Piccola & Jofrette and the watch components from our Swiss partners are therefore manufactured in a highly authentic, sustainable, and socially responsible manner and are based on the high standards of Swiss watchmaking as practiced and cultivated by our ancestors.
These are the true roots that have created the distinctive reputation and heritage of the Swiss watch industry. This is precisely why our philosophy is:
Back to the roots, back to the future.
History
Just in time for the start of the First World War, on May 20, 1914, Charles Perret, Georges Flury, and Fernand Engel founded a watch factory based at Champagne 1a (now Frédéric-Ingold 5) in Biel-Bienne.
At the time, the Champagne region was the center of the Biel-Bienne watchmaking industry and home to several renowned brands.
On May 28, 1914, the company registered the brand «PICCOLA» in the trademark register.
The First World War brought the watch industry challenging times and a drop in sales of classic watches, but at the same time opened up the market for military watches. The young watch company of Perret, Flury and Engel proved to be very creative and soon embarked on the task of producing military watches.
On November 5, 1914, the company registers the brand name «JOFFRE FRENCH» in the trademark register. It must be remembered that at that time, men carried pocket watches, and the wearing of wristwatches was reserved for ladies of good families who displayed their jewelry watches on their wrists.
The Journal du Jura of February 5, 1915, describes the appearance of the «montres-bracelets militaires» under the brands JOFFRENCH and JOFFRETTE: decorated with the coats of arms of the Allies in enamel painting. In the lid of the watch, a photograph of a fallen or missing soldier could be placed along with a personalized inscription, laurel, thuja, or cypress leaves.
The brand name is a combination of the names of the French General Joseph Joffre (1852-1931) and the British General John French, 1st Earl of Ypres (1852-1925). The idea is probably that the chosen brand name should ensure brisk sales for the Allies.
According to an article in the Journal du Jura on November 25, 1914, the company launched a watch under the name «JOFFRENCH» in 1914.
Finally, on January 25, 1915, the brand name «JOFFRETTE» (later Jofrette) was registered in the trademark register. It is reasonable to assume that the chosen brand name was intended to appeal especially to women.
The spirit that began to exist at Champagne 1a in 1914 has never completely disappeared over the years and decades.
A new team with new ideas has now revived the spirit of Piccola & Jofrette and created a new collection in exactly the same premises as the founding fathers Charles Perret, Georges Flury and Fernand Engel did more than a hundred years ago.
In the past and today, Piccola & Jofrette watches are based on the latest technical achievements of the Swiss watch industry. However, they have always remained true to their philosophy: even back then, a Piccola & Jofrette was a true Swiss watch, developed in Switzerland and made exclusively from regional watch components in Switzerland. And that will never change.
The return to the future has begun.
Sustainability
The watches from Piccola & Jofrette and their components are developed and produced within a radius of 70km from Biel-Bienne in Switzerland, between La Chaux-de-Fonds and Frutigen.
The costs of a purely Swiss production are undoubtedly higher due to the very high Swiss labor and price levels compared to, for example, Asia. On the other hand, customers of Piccola & Jofrette benefit from outstanding quality and an advantageous ecological footprint thanks to the local production of all components and short transportation routes.
The standards for a Piccola & Jofrette watch are very high and every detail in the entire production chain is of great importance. Our special attention is therefore dedicated to all those individuals who, in some form, contribute personally to the success of a Piccola & Jofrette watch. It is reassuring to know that our highly qualified employees in the Swiss watch industry are well-organized, enjoy progressive working conditions, and are fairly compensated.
For a PJ1 from Piccola & Jofrette, the movement comes from La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland), the case from La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland), the dial from Le Locle (Switzerland), the sapphire crystal from Boécourt (Switzerland), and the hands from Grenchen (Switzerland).
The watch straps also exclusively come from Switzerland. Piccola & Jofrette offers two different variations of watch straps. One is made from sturgeon sourced from Frutigen (Switzerland), tanned in Steffisburg (Switzerland), and finally hand-stitched into finished watch straps in Riedbach (Switzerland). The other watch straps are made from Red deer (Switzerland) and are also tanned in Steffisburg (Switzerland) and further processed by hand in Riedbach (Switzerland).
Our watch designer works in Corpataux (Switzerland), and the assembly of the watches takes place in Aarberg (Switzerland).
The wooden box and the outer packaging are also developed and manufactured in Switzerland. The wooden box is made from Swiss ash wood and is produced in direct collaboration with the Fondation Passarelle in Port (Switzerland) and the Battenberg Foundation together with the outer packaging in Biel-Bienne (Switzerland).
Piccola & Jofrette offers its watches at a price that makes them unique and incomparable for a pure Swiss watch in this price range.
This is possible because Piccola & Jofrette sells its watches directly and does not work with intermediaries.
Swissness
Nearly all “swiss made” watches in this price category are orientated towards the minimum value quota of 60% “swiss made” prescribed by Swiss law and the requirement that the movement must be produced in Switzerland.
In the vast majority of mechanical watches, the value of the Swiss movement alone fulfils the required minimum value quota of 60%. This also means that most other watch components such as the case, the dial, the hands, the sapphire crystal or the watch strap are not manufactured in Switzerland, but somewhere abroad, often in Asia.
To summarise, the vast majority of Swiss watches in this price range can call themselves “Swiss made”, but on closer inspection they are only Swiss made to a very limited extent.
A watch from Piccola & Jofrette, on the other hand, is not based on any minimum value quota, but solely on the unmistakable claim that a watch that calls itself “swiss made” really is “swiss made”. For Piccola & Jofrette, this means that in addition to the movement, the case, dial, hands, sapphire crystal and strap are all developed and produced in Switzerland.
This claim is unique in this price category and makes Piccola & Jofrette watches unmistakably and genuinely Swiss.