JACCARDS,
etwa 50 Hersteller von Rohwerken, Einzelteilen für Spielwerke, auch von fertigen Spieldosen

The JACCARDS,
some 50 makers of parts, or blancs, or music noxes

{Neun Jaccard-Einräge laut Piguet Nr. 17 bis 25}

Alphabetisches Inhaltsverzeichnis
der Jaccard-Firmen

Fabrique de pièces à musique


Gueissaz-Jaccard (1990–today?)


Hess (1990–?)


All JACCARDS (prenames A–Ulysse, more than 45 entries)

“A. Jaccard & Co” (1883–1884/1899)

Alexis Jaccard (1872)

Ami Jaccard, son of Samuel

Ami Jaccard, son of Auguste

“Ami-Constant Jaccard & Jules Margot” (1883/1888–1906)

“Ami-Constant Jaccard & Jules Margot” (1906–1925)

Alexis Jaccard (*about 1890, married 1913 with Blanche Blanche Jaques, †1964)

“Alexis Jaccard, manufacture and sales of music boxes” (1906–1911)

Arthur Jaccard

August Jaccard (1885 San Francisco)

“Constant and Jules Jaccard du Grand” (1870s/1880–1897)

“Constant Jaccard du Grand” (1897–1909)

Constant Jaccard, nicknamed “Commander” (1896–~1906)

Edouard Jaccard (1875–1893)

Elise Jaccard-Thévenaz (1895–1903), nicknamed “Jaccard toy”

E[lise-Marie] Jaccard [daugther] (1905–1917)

E[lise-Marie] Jaccard [mother] (1917–1919)

Emile Jaccard-Margot (*1854, until 1901 part of Jaccard Frères)

Emile Jaccard-Margot (*1854, 1901–1937)

Eugène Jaccard

Félix Jaccard (sen. and jun., ~1850–1894)

François Jaccard-Thévenaz

Henry Jaccard (1809–1810)

Henri-Jaques Jaccard

Jules Jaccard

“Léon Jaccard SA” (1926)

Léon Jaccard

Louis Jaccard (1894–1908)

Louis Jaccard-Champod & Cie

Jenny Jaccard, née Recordon

Justin Jaccard, founder in Culliairy [in St. Croix], grandfather of Alexis Jaccard

Justin Jaccard in L´Auberson (1891–1892)

Louis Jaccard, 1889 als Vertreter der Firmen Junod und Aubert & Cie in Berlin

Jaccard & Aubert (1907 – 1934)

Louis-Gustave Jaccard (*1861)

Louis-Justin Jaccard (*1844, no activity since 1902/1904)

Louis-Samuel Jaccard

Louis Jaccard, son of Louis-Samuel

Louis Jaccard-Bahon (1940s–1969)

Louis Jaccard-Walther, son of Charles J.

“Louisa Jaccard et [Louis]” Margot (1893)

Jaccard-Berthier (1860 near La Conversion)

“Jaccard-Jaques” (1913–1964)

Jaccard Frères (music box makers 1820–1901)

Jaccard Frères (founders)

Jaccard Frères in L´Auberson (1887–1891)

Jules Jaccard

Oscar Jaccard-Crétenet

Otto Jaccard (*1899, own company 1944, †1971)

Pierre-M. Jaccard

Salomon Jaccard

Samuel Jaccard (I) (father of Constant J.)

Samuel Jaccard (II) (father of Ami J.)

„Samuel Jaccard et Fils“ (1850–1892)

Ulyssee Jaccard (*?, †?)

Walter Jaccard (*?, †?)

Alfred Jaccard-Rod (*?, †?)

E. Jaccard-Thevenar, (*?, †?)


Francis Mermod, son-in-law of Alexis Jaccard, managing director of “Jaccard-Jaques” since 1935, owner since 1964, ending his activities in 1979


..................................................................................................................................................

Die JACCARD-Firmen

..................................................................................................................................................

Alexis Jaccard (1872)

Ste-Crois, Switzerland. Was making small musical movements in 1872.
(Ord-Hume, Music Box, 1980,  S. 308)


August Jaccard

120 Sutter Street, San Francisco, USA. Musical-box dealer and importer who came from Switzerland. Fl. 1885.
(Ord-Hume, Music Box, 1980,  S. 309)


Louis Jaccard-Champod & Cie


Die Seite 238 aus dem Ausstellungskatalog der Ausstellung in Genf 1880 (TMB 16, 8, 1994)

Exposition internationale d'outillage Genève 1880 (dort die rote Nr. 4)


TMB 18, 5, 1998, S. 136, Nr. 25 {Piguet Nr. 20}


Louis-Gustave (Louis Gustave ) Jaccard, *1861, working with M. J. Paillard from 1883, and with Jacot from 1886


Zwölfseitige Broschüre, reprint, edited by the Musical Box Society International, Jan. 1967

"Jaccard, Louis Gustave [...] to America from Switzerland with Paillards when they opened a branch in New York. Worked with C. H. Jacot junior. He was born at L`Auberson on 25 June 1861 and moved to America, working with M. J. Paillard from 1883, and with Jacot from 1886."
(Ord-Hume, Music Box, 1980, p. 309)


1889 vertrat Louis Jaccard die Firmen Junod und Aubert & Cie in Berlin


Jaccard & Aubert, London. C. 1907
(Ord-Hume, Music Box, 1980,  S. 309)



Alexis Jaccard and his son-in-law Francis Mermod (1906–1935/1964–1979)

Alexis Jaccard was the son of Ulyssee [of whom we do not have more information], and grandson of [Louis-] Justin Jaccard.

“The Alexis Jaccard company is said to have been created in 1872 for the manufacture of small music boxes. [But this information cannot be true.] However, nothing was reported in the press until 1906, the year of the official foundation of ‘Alexis Jaccard, son of Ulyssee, manufacture and sales of music boxes’”. (Piguet 2004, p. 227)

[1] Movement by JACCARD FR[ANCIS] MERMOD-JACCARD


Private ownership


[2] N° 1024 Music Box by FR[ANCIS] MERMOD-JACCARD


“Alexis Jaccard, manufacture and sales of music boxes”, (19064th November 1911)

Production of snuffboxes, cigar and cigarette dispensers, musical mosques and a whole assortment of useful or fancy articles.

“Grandson of Justin Jaccard, founder in Culliairy [a 47,125 m²-Area of Sainte-Croix], Alexis Jaccard was already familiar with music boxes. However, he started under adverse economic conditions for the music box industry. Swiss exports, which ecxeeded 3 million francs in the 1890s, hardly reached the one million mark in 1910. This no doubt contributed to the dissolution of the company on 4th November 1911.” (Piguet 2004, p. 227)


Private ownership


“Jaccard-Jaques” (1913–1964, managing director since 1935: Francis Mermod, son-in-law of Alexis Jaccard)

“No doubt Alexis Jaccard continued his music box activities with all the energy of his young years. He was courting Blanche Jaques, whom he married on 1st February 1913, under a separate property agreement. This allowed him to set up a new company, in the name of his wife, officially called Jaccard-Jaques, for the production and sale of alle types of music boxes. Alexis Jaccard manufactured snuffboxes, cigar and cigarette dispensers, musical mosques and a whole assortment of useful or fancy articles capable of holding a musical movement.” (Piguet 2004, p. 227)

“He was one of the seven music box manufacturers who survived the First World War and the crisis of the thirties. With his six collegues, he exhibited at the National Exhibition in Zurich in 1939. The company still bore his name but he had already appointed his successor and transferred his business to his son-in-law, Francis Mermod, on 20th July 1935.” (Piguet 2004, p. 227)

Rather than a factory, the Alexis Jaccard company was one of the last établisseurs in the region as well as a family business, Alexis´ daughter being one of the last of the local pin-straighteners.” (Piguet 2004, p. 227)

“Like the other manufacturers, Francis Mermod exploited the formidable boom of the postwar years and he had to hire on a massive scale to satisfy all his orders. In 1946, he employed five people in the workshop of the Avenue des Alpes and sixty-five at home. Also to keep up with current fashions, he designed new products and in 1951 he filed a patent application for a musical automaton with a rotating base carrying one or more figurines.” (Piguet 2004, p. 227)

Alexis Jaccard died in April 1964. His son-in-law succeeded him and the business developed in line with the evolution of the music box industry. In 1970, the company employed twenty-five employees, including sixteen female home workers.” (Piguet 2004, p. 227)

“In 1979, for want of a successor and because prospects on the music box market were anything but promising for a minor établisseur in comparison to the large factories of the Far East, Francis Mermod decided to put an end to his activities.”
(Piguet 2004, p. 227)


Ami Jaccard

“In the 1860s, the music box industry developed in Sainte-Croix and in L´Auberson where Alex Gueissaz, Jules Cuendet, Ami Margot and Samuel Jaccard (father of Constant) produced quality pieces.”


“A. Jaccard & Co” (1883–1884 (dissolved) / 1899 (dissolving finalized))

Samuel Jaccard (II) and his son Ami Jaccard

“Another Samuel Jaccard [II] produced blanks and transmitted his skills to his son Ami, who registered the company on 9th April 1883. The private company was called A. Jaccard & Co. because it associated Ami Jaccard, son of Samuel, and Ami Jaccard, son of Auguste, as well as Henri Jaques Jaccard. The company was active in the watchmaking and made combs for cartels. It did not survive for long and was dissolved one year later, but its liquidation was only finalized in 1900.”


“Ami-Constant Jaccard & Jules Margot (1883/1888 (registered) – 1906)”

“Ami-Constant Jaccard probably continued working in the meantime. This fact was confirmed in a declaration made on 11th December 1888, when he registered his new compaqny, supposedly created in 1883. With Jules Margot, also from L´Auberson, as partner, he gave up all watch-related activity and concentrated on music boxes, which he continued until 1906. At least theoretically, as his company was not mentioned in connection with trade union activities in the music box sector, which meant that he did not employ anyone in the home industry in this field.” (Piguet)

“Jaccard & Margot Successeurs”

Auberson, Switzerland. Musical-box manufacturers, fl. 1900.
(Ord-Hume, Music Box, 1980,  p. 309)


“Ami-Constant Jaccard & Jules Margot (1906 – 1925)”

“Like the others, Ami Jaccard saw the decline of the cylinder boxes, but he had sufficient resources and experience in mechnical engineering to redirect his inventive mind to other products and to diversify markets. Around 1900 he developed a glass cutter, for which he acquired quite a reputation and which kept his workshop running. On 5th November 1906, he modified his trade name, gave up music boxes in favor of his first love and concentrated on the manufacture of combs and mechanical components. He gradually conferred power to Jules and then to Léon Jaccard, who took over the business in 1925.”

Léon Jaccard. The building of Cuendet was subsequently sold to Léon Jaccard.”


[Constant et Jules] Jaccard du Grand (1880s–1896)
“Fabrique de pièces à musique”


Siehe die Spieldose Nr. 34465 (LIREtanspaar, link wird nachgetragen)


TMB 18, 5, 1998, S. 136, Nr. 17

Teilnehmer bei der Nationalen Ausstellung in Zürich 1883


Jaccard du Grand, Constant, rue de Tyrol 13, Ste-Croix, Switzerland. Musical-box manufacturer, fl. 1900.
(Ord-Hume, Music Box, 1980,  p. 309)


TMB 18, 5, 1998, S. 136, Nr. 22; {Piguet Nr. 22}, Bellamy, Music Makers of Switzerland, (2015), p. 6


“Léon Jaccard SA” (1926)

“Léon Jaccard SA, established on 4th October 1926 [from Ami-Constant Jaccard & Jules Margot (1906 – 1925), see above], with Arthur, Jules, Léon and Louis Jaccard, aimed to exploit a mechanical and lathe [Drehbank] workshop. Not a word about music boxes, which did not prevent the company from carrying on with the production of blanks for the few manufacturers who were still active in this sector between the two wars.”

“The revival of the demand for music boxes during the forties and fifties fired up the imagination of Louis and Léon Jaccard, and in 1958 they filed a patent for a revolutionary system top in small music box cylinders. This was the ‘raised pin’ system. No longer needing to prick or drill or pin, a lathe (inspired by knitting machines), equipped with a punching die, scratched the cylinder surface forcing up a small piece of metal which would serve as a pin. This method allowed the production of cylinders in large quantities working from a single model or type. This invention was claimed by numerous manufacturers in the fifties and quickly applied by most of them. This process is still used today by MAP SA.”


Fritz Hess (1990-?)

“The Léon Jaccard company ceased making blanks for music boxes in the 1880s and so the manufacturers disappeared from L´Auberson. It was bought in 1990 by Fritz Hess, who still carries on the business today in the old factory of the Cuendet brothers, in the Chemin Grangettes. It still produces music box combs.”
(Piguet 2004, S. 227-228)


“Constant and Jules Jaccard du Grand” (1870s/1880–1897)

“Jules and Constant Jaccard du Grand was a private company created on 17th February 1880 in Sainte-Croix by the two brothers, who were members of the Sociéte industrielle et commerciale and no doubt commenced their manufacturing activities during the 1870s.”

“They presented their products for the first time at the National Exhibition in Zurich in 1883, where they obtained a diploma for their fine workmanship and the sumptuous aspect of their music boxes. Encouraged by this success, the company developed rapidly and employed five people in 1888, among whom were one messenger and odd-job man. Nevertheless, it was no longer seen at exhibitions, not even in Geneva in 1896.”

{Piguet Nr. 17}, (Piguet 2004, S. 227-228)


“Constant Jaccard du Grand” (1897–1909)

“Problems more than likely arose, because the company was dissolved on 1st January 1897 and reregistered on 11th March under the name Constant Jaccard du Grand, at Rue du Tyrol 13.”

“The company manufactured not only small music boxes, since the director signed the 1902 agreement with the Workers´ Trade Union, but also larger pieces, similar to the one shown in the Baud Museum, which played thirty-six tunes with six interchangeable cylinders playing six tunes each. It was presented on a walnut veneer table with box and rosewood inlay, and thuya in the inside oft he lid. Sold in Paris at the beginning of the century for a few thousand francs, it was rediscovered in a barn and restored by the Baud Museum. This was the last keepsake of this company which disappeared on 26th July 1909, following the death of Constant Jaccard.”
(Piguet 2004, S. 228-229)


Edouard Jaccard (1875–1893)

{Piguet Nr. 18}

“The music boxes made by Edouard Jaccard were well known because they were shown at two important exhibitions: in Paris in 1878 and in Zurich in 1883, with a certain measure of success.”

Together with Alix Gueissaz and Ami Bornand-Meyland, Edoard Jaccard went to Paris to show six music boxes playing between six and eight tunes, comprising between one and three combs and ranging ordinary, sublime-harmonie pieces with piccolo accompainment to the expressive and harmonic harp styles. Jaccard´s exhibits did not receive any recognition whatsoever, but in Zurich he was awarded a diploma ‘for the delicate and perfect workmanship of his boxes and their precise musical rendering’ (Official report)”.

One of the most beautiful boxes made by Edouard Jaccard is now in the National Museum in Seewen. It belongs to the mandolin bass piccolo category, plays four tunes, with three combs tuned to different tonal qualities. This is also the box, which was reproduced on the stamps published by the Swiss Postal authorities in 1996 on the occasion of the music box bicentenary.”

“Edouard Jaccard´s company ceased all activity on 18th October 1893.”
(Piguet 2004, S. 229), see also TMB 18, 5, 1998, p. 136, Nr. 18; Bellamy, Music Makers of Switzerland, (2015), p. 6


"Jaccard, Edouard, Ste-Croix, Switzerland. A maker of musical boxes.
(Ord-Hume, Music Box, 1980,  p. 309)




Please click on the PICT

Siehe


Félix Jaccard sen. and jun. (~1850–1894)

“Around 1850, Félix Jaccard headed a music box comptoir in La Sagne. In 1867, he went to the Exposition universelle in Paris to present musical snuffboxes, accompanied by his son, who was also a manufacturer and to whom he transferred his business. Félix Jaccard jun. took over from his father not only the production of small music boxes but also of cartels. He was among the établisseurs, who looked for ways and means to set up in Sainte-Croix a factory of the Cantonal Gymnastics Festival a cartel playing four tunes, cased in a box decorated with inlay, worth forty francs.” (Piguet 2004, p. 229)


Louis Jaccard (1894–1908)

“In 1890, he conferred power of attorney to Louis Jaccard, to whom he transferred his business on 24th September 1894. The latter carried on producing music boxes, employing six workers in 1904. However, the crisis prevailing in this sector caused him to close down on 16th April 1908, like many an établisseur at the time.”
(Piguet 2004, p. 229-230)


Jaccard, Louis Justin, rue de la Sagne 3, Ste-Croix, Switzerland. Musical-box Manufacturer, fl. 1900.
(Ord-Hume, Music Box, 1980,  p. 309)


Henry Jaccard (1809–1810)

Henry (or Henri) Jaccard, formerly Timothée, was known as ‘music master’ in 1809. According to the engraver and controversial Eugène Jaccard, it was Henry Jaccard who brought back from the Vallée de Joux the first platform music box, around 1810.”
(Piguet 2004, S. 230)


Jaccard Frères, metal founders

"Jaccard brothers, metal founders in Culliairy [a 47,125 m²-Area of Sainte-Croix]"
(Piguet 2004, p. 230)


Jaccard Frères (1820s–1901)

“The Jaccard brothers had a rightful place among the pioneers of the music box industry in Sainte-Croix. They set up their business in the 1820s, like other Jaccard brothers, metal founders in Culliairy [a 47,125 m²-Area of Sainte-Croix], they were also active in the music box sector.”

“They participated in the World Exhibition in London in 1851 where they presented two-tune snuffboxes. They helped to promote cartels in the area and specialized in large boxes playing overtures.

They were also at the exhibition in Paris in 1855 where their products were recognized for their unusual bass tones, for which they obtained an honorable mention.

They furthermore exhibited in Bern in 1857.”


Wyneburgh: Changeable Cylinder Box Prototype, 2021, p. 26

“Even tough he was not very active within the SIC, (Sociéte industrielle et commerciale), Louis-Samuel Jaccard took part in the negotiations undertaken in February 1870, by the major local manufactureres, to create a factory for blanks for the large music boxes and,

in 1876, in recognition of services rendered, he was made honorary chairman of the said society.”

“Just after his election as chief commissioner of the district of Sainte-Croix on 18th February 1871, Louis Jaccard invited his son to join the firm and they went to the World Exhibition in Vienna 1873 with Mermod Frères.


"Jaccard Frères, Ste-Croix, Switzerland. Most probably brothers Alexis and Edouard, who produced good-quality musical boxes and who exhibited at the Great Exhibition, London, in 1851. They made some very large boxes which played four overtures."
(Ord-Hume, Music Box, 1980,  S. 309)

 



Die Seite 238 aus dem Ausstellungskatalog der Ausstellung in Genf 1880 (TMB 16, 8, 1994)

Exposition internationale d'outillage Genève 1880 (dort die rote Nr. 2)


Nicht zu verwechseln mit einer gleichnamige Gießerei in Culiairy, St. Croix.


TMB 18, 5, 1998, S. 136, Nr. 20, {Piguet Nr. 20}


In 1883, Jaccard Frères included Louis Jaccard, chief commissioner at the time and managing director, and his two sons Louis and Eugène. The latter died in 1892 and was replaced by Emile Jaccard-Margot, Louis´ brother, who was widely committed to public life.

Emile Jaccard-Margot was town councilor, municipal councillor and parliamentary deputy. He moved away from the area and from his chosen trade to settle in Geneva between 1899 and 1904, where he proceeded to make pasteboard [Pappe] articles.”

“At the turn of the century, when a serious crisis created havoc [Verwüstung] for the music box manufacturers, especially those making large boxes, the Jaccard brothers gave up their production activities. The company was dissolved on 20th August 1901.”


Emile Jaccard-Margot (born 1854, 1892 part of Jaccard Frères, 1901–1937)

“Emile Jaccard-Margot may have continued working in the music box sector, at least that was what he declared in 1908, but on a much more modest scale. In 1914, members of the Sociéte industrielle et commerciale asked him to ‘write the history of the music box before this industry disappears from the area’ (ACV Fonds Campiche), to research information on its origins and to draw up the corresponding document. This mission was representative of the state of mind prevailing at the time, charakterizied by the impression that large music boxes would survive neither disc music nor gramophones. So he undertook extensive research which was no doubt interrupted by the war. Emile Jaccard-Margot died on 15th March 1937 at the age of eighty-three.”
(Piguet 2004, p. 230)


Jules Jaccard (1890–1896)

“Jules Jaccard of Sainte-Croix was very interested in large music boxes during the good years and withdrew when things began to take a bad turn.”

1.) “From 1890 to 1896, with Alfred Junod and Paul Calame, he was a partner in the business whose objective it was to take out patents for the manufacture of music boxes.”

2.) “During the same period, he made music boxes in his own name. Jules Jaccard did not participate in any exhibitions and gave up this activity in June 1896.”
(Piguet 2004, S. 231, TMB 18, 5, 1998, p. 136, Nr. 21; Bellamy, Music Makers of Switzerland, (2015), p. 6; {Piguet Nr. 21})


A maker of musical boxes c. 1890.
(Ord-Hume, Music Box, 1980,  p. 309)


Louis Jaccard-Bahon (1940s–1969)

1.) workshop of his father in L´Auberson

“At the beginning o the 1940s, after having worked for Lador in Sainte-Croix, Louis Jaccard-Bahon took over the mechanical workshop of his father in L´Auberson, who made combs and other supplies for small music boxes. Louis had an inquisitive mind, he was very inventive, felt thoroughly at home in the mechanical world and tried all sorts of methods to improve music box production.”

“No doubt foreseeing the economic boom of the postwar period, he looked for ways and means to mass-produce music boxes, particularly cylinders, without having to prick, drill, pin and them; without having to look for people to do the drilling and pinning. On 18th February 1944, he applied for a Swiss patent to make cylinders cast in one piece with one injection-molded end. Along the same lines, he developed a multiple-cutter machine-tool to slice the combs of the music boxes and again applied for a patent on 11th December.”

“The following year [1945], he submitted three patent applications one after the other for a speed regulator for small music boxes, for a retchet wheel and for a ‘bedplate cast in a clamped mold forming a single block with the two cylinder bearings, the spring-housing and all the elements activating the speed governor’”.

2.) Registry if the company

In the autumn of 1945, Louis Jaccard-Bahon held in his hands all the winning cards for the game to be played when peace returned, when people would go all out to buy and orders for small music boxes would come streaming in. On 14th November 1945, he registered his company, which aimed to ‘manufacture screws and precision mechanical products, mechanical supplies and parts for musical movements’. He did not yet consider himself a music box manufacturer but that was nevertheless what he was doing, and it was as such that he was recognized by the SIC (Sociéte industrielle et commerciale) of Sainte-Croix, of which he was a member.

See Robert Lador for buying raised pins from Jaccard-Bahon

3.) 1951–1963: Jalco

Jalco-PICT ()

“On 6th February 1951, he modified the name of his company and adopted the name Jalco, with the objective of manufacturing musical movements, doing lathe work, etc. Business developed and flourished to such an extent that Loius Jaccard was obliged to build a factory, situated at Grand-Rue 37, to accomodate machines and staff. The building was transformed into lofts, which still exist today.”

“In the years 1953 and 1954, he took part in interfactory negotiations to fix minimum prices. He was delighted with the results, but readily admitted that he had from time to time been obliged to accept prices below those fixed by convention.”

“In 1963, Louis Jaccard-Bahon was still among the ten music box manufacturers in the region but business was depressed and so he decided to transfer his company to Jean-Paul Thorens who, after the sale of Thorens SA to Paillard SA, wanted to take over the music box department and was therefore looking for premises and personnel. On 17th December 1963 buildings and machinery were sold, but the sound of music boxes continued to tinkle inside the factory. A few years later, Louis Jaccard-Bahon died in an accident in Sainte-Croix and his company was struck off the register on 19th December 1969.”
(Piguet 2004, S. 231-232)


Louis-Justin Jaccard (*1844, no activity since 1902/1904)

“Born in 1844, Louis-Justin Jaccard typified the worker who learnt the music box trade and became enterprising enough to set up his own business, upgrading his skills as and when the need was felt.”

“Originally a music box maker for other établisseurs, he went on to assemble music boxes towards the end of the 1870s, when he joined the SIC (Sociéte industrielle et commerciale). In 1878, when he was thirty-four, they delegated him, together with other manufacturers, to dissuade [davon abhalten] Gustave Jaques from establishing a company in Bern.”

Not a single specimen of the music boxes he made is known to exist today, as he never participated in any exhibitions in the course of his professional activities. Even though he was known as a music box manufacturer, he did not sign the convention of March 1902, which implied that he had no personnel and was no longer listed in this category in the industriual census carried out two years earlier, but which he nevertheless helped to draw up.”
(Piguet 2004, S. 232; Bellamy, Music Makers of Switzerland, (2015), p. 6)


Oscar Jaccard-Crétenet (1891, †1905)

“Oscar-Eugène Jaccard-Crétenet set up a private company on 24th January 1891 to make music boxes of all kinds. He also traded in supplies for the music box matters and for example offered ‘glass for comb-setters’ and ‘steel wire for pins, guaranteed’”. (FAS 6th April 1895)

“The company was struck off the Trade register on 12th December 1905 following the death of its holder.”
(Piguet 2004, S. 232)


Otto Jaccard ('1899, own company 1944, †1971)

Brother of Louis and Léon Jaccard, both of whom worked in the metal sector, Otto Jaccard carried out his apprenticeship in precision mechanics at the School of Precision Mechanics in Sainte-Croix and then went to Bienne where he obtained his technician diploma. He started work in America and then came back home, where he represented the Tauco machines. An inventive individual, he was the first to think of making destamped rather than pinned cylinders for small music boxes. In order to eliminiate the pricking, drilling, pinning and gumming operations, he imagined a system consisting of stamping flat piece of metal to form points serving as pins and then rolling the metal plate to form a cylinder. This system was tested at the beginning of the forties in the workshop of John Cuendet, who decided not to adopt it. His brother Louis Jaccard followed the idea but chose to create the pins by forcing up pieces of metal with the help of a chisel. The process referred to as ‘upset dents’ oder ‘raised pins’ would be developed and then adopted by many manufacturers, such as Jean Calame and MAP.

“On 20th May 1944, Otto Jaccard created a company in L´Auberson to manufacture and sell machine-tools, tooling, electrical and wood appliances, which employed between ten and fifteen workers. On 6th October 1944, he applied for two patents to manufacture a revolutionary music box. The first covered the manufacture of comb; the second one aimed to make a speed regulator for low-power mechanical motors placed in a watertight receptable containing a liquid.”

“A few months later, on 18th February 1946, he transformed his business into a public company and transferred it to La Chaux-de-Fonds where the authorities helped him to set up a manufacturing plant for music boxes applying his patents. The pins were made according to his design by forcing up the metal from the inside, which formed points measuring 0.03 inches in diameter, i.e. more than double the diameter of the Pins used for the large music boxes! The visual result, if not exactly elegant, was astonishing and the quality of sound did not leave any lasting impressions. It had a metal cover with slots on the top to let the sound through. The arrangements, however, were mediocre, like the ‘Blue Danube’, which a connoisseur judged to be the least musical interpretation ever done of this melody”! (MBSI, spring 1898, p. 12)

“The Otto Jaccard company went through some difficult times and left the mounatins of Neuchȃtel to settle in Baulmes (near Sainte-Croix) where he built a small mechanical engineering factory. He worked hard, pushing himself to the limits of his strength, and died on 29th January 1971 in Lausanne at the age of seventy-two”. (Piguet 2004, S. 232-233)


Salomon Jaccard, music box manufacturer in St. Croix (1831–1852/1854)


Die Seite 238 aus dem Ausstellungskatalog der Ausstellung in Genf 1880 (TMB 16, 8, 1994)

Exposition internationale d'outillage Genève 1880 (dort die rote Nr. 3)


TMB 18, 5, 1998, S. 136, Nr. 23; {Piguet Nr. 23}

Jean Claude Piguet konnte keine gemarkten Spieldosen von Salomon Jaccard finden, Bulleid Nr. 81 nennt eine Nummer 479, rezent kaum die Zuschreibung einer Nr. 3558 auf den Markt
Bellamy, Music Makers of Switzerland, (2015), p. 6

“The survey of the industrial situation in the canton Vaud carried out in 1831 showed the name of Salomon Jaccard, music box manufacturer in Sainte-Croix. His name was also listed in the general directory of addresses published in 1852, but these are the only references ever discovered of this établisseur.” (Piguet 2004, p. 233)


Auguste Jaccard-Joseph, St. Croix (1878–1895)

“Of Jaccards there were plenty in Sainte-Croix and also quite a few Auguste Jaccards. The most famous of them was the engine turner born in Culliairy [a 47,125 m²-Area of Sainte-Croix], Auguste Jaccard-Joseph, who became professor of geology at the University of Neuchȃtel. For about twenty years he made music boxes, in particular the large cylinder boxes at the turn of the century.”

“At the end of the 1870s, he set up his own modest établisseur business and assembled music boxes, for example this four-tune, rich mandolin box, estimated at twenty-seven francs, which he donated in 1879 to the hospital lottery. Auguste Jaccard-Joseph ignored the exhibitions, but published an advertisement in the official handbook of the International Tool Exhibition for Watchmaking, Music Box and Allied Industries, in Geneva in 1880.”

“In this advertisement one could read that he made ‘music boxes of all types and sizes, such as cartels, ordinary music boxes, expressive mandolin, bass mandolin, piccolo, overture, flute, forte and piano, accompanied by drums, bells, castanets and zithers’. His range also included ‘small pocket music boxes, fancy articles, albums, kits, cigar-cases, sculptures, Swiss chalets, beer tankards and dessert plates’. (Official catalog, p. 84) Among small items, there were children´s toys, crank boxes and lockets.”



Die Seite 238 aus dem Ausstellungskatalog der Ausstellung in Genf 1880 (TMB 16, 8, 1994)

Exposition internationale d'outillage Genève 1880 (dort die rote Nr. 1)


“Auguste Jaccard-Joseph was an active member of the Sociéte industrielle et commerciale and was part of a commission which had to study commercial relations with France in 1880.”

“Registered under the name A. Jaccard Jh, his company was dissolved on 7th September 1895, when he moved away.” (Piguet 2004, p. 233; Bellamy, Music Makers of Switzerland, (2015), p. 6)


„Samuel Jaccard et Fils“ (1850–1892)

“In 1830 in L´Auberson, Samuel Jaccard became interested in music boxes. In 1850 he started up a private company under the name Samuel Jaccard et Fils. He was a member of the SIC (Sociéte industrielle et commerciale) and was known as a manufacturer of blanks.”

In 1883, the company consisted of the children of the founder, Louis and Constant Jaccard, who devoted their energy to the manufacture of music boxes and watches. In 1888 they employed four workers and after the death of Louis at the beginning of 1892, they went through a difficult period, marked by numerous changes.”

Constant took over the company but nine months later, on 3rd December 1892, it went bankrupt.”

Nr. 2750, Gamme 14

Bellamy, Music Makers of Switzerland, (2015), p. 6; TMB 17, 5, 1996, 116


“Louisa Jaccard et [Louis] Margot (1893)”

Undaunted [unerschrocken], he registered his company in the name of his wife, Louisa Jaccard-Margot and at the same time took on his brother-in-law Louis Margot, hence the name Louisa Jaccard et Margot. However, the affair seemed a little too simple and the District Tribunal meanwhile ruled that the spouses administer their properties separately.”

Link to the chapter Women in the music box business


Jaccard-Berthier

In the year 1860 the premises Jaccard-Berthier where near La Conversion.

“On 4th March 1860, the Jaques brothers´ business was destroyed in a raging fire, which forced them to take refuge temporarily with Mr. Fritz Joseph, engraver. The following year “Louis Jaques et Fils” moved to premises on the second floor of the house of Jaccard-Berthier, in the neighborhood of La Conversion.” (Piguet 2004, p. 235-237)


“[Oscar] Jaccard [Louis] Margot et Fils” (?–1902)

“It was really a family affair because another company called Jaccard Margot et Fils, composed of Louis Jaccard-Margot and Oscar Jaccard, was dissolved in 1902 [...]”

Louisa Jaccard-Margot (1910–1934)

“[...] in 1910, following the withdrawal of Louis Margot, it officially became a private Company in the name of Louisa Jaccard-Margot, and came to an end upon her death in 1934.”

Constant Jaccard, nicknamed “Commander” (1896–~1906)

“Samuel Jaccard, and Constant after him, made music boxes destined for China at a time, when the market was flourishing but risky.”

“Nicknamed ‘Commander’, Constant Jaccard 1896 moved into what was then called the Villa Reymond in L´Auberson, an imposing building, admirably suited to its double function as music box comptoir and boarding house. In fact, the ‘Commander’  did not make music boxes himself, but purchased the components, had them assembled and then sold them, all the while involving a considerable number of village people in his affairs.”

“Production ceased around 1906 and only the boarding house activity survived, for another thirty years or so.” (Piguet 2004, p. 234)


François Jaccard-Thévenaz (1882/1883–1887)

“The entire career of François Jaccard in L´Auberson  was devoted to the manufacture of music boxes. His whole family was involved, all of them at one time or another worked in numerous companies which were created and cancelled right through his years of professional activity.”

“François Jaccard started his trade at the beginning of the 1880s and set up his first company on 29th march 1882, in his own name, to manufacture music boxes.”

“On 12th July 1886, François Jaccard transferred his company to Ullmann, except the assets and liabilities. Herewith he gave in to the demands of Charles Ullmann, who had a musical instrument business in Paris and who wanted to establish a factory in the Sainte-Croix region. Ullmann made his company over to François, with the exception of assets and liabilities.”(Piguet 2004, p. 234)


Jaccard Frères in L´Auberson (1887–1891)

“François pursued his activities in partnership with his brother Justin [Jaccard] from 1st January 1887 onwards, under the name Jaccard Frères in L´Auberson.”(Piguet 2004, p. 234)

Justin Jaccard in L´Auberson (1891–1892)

“However the partnership did not last long because Justin Jaccard retired, forcing his brother to reregister on 15th January 1891 in his own name. It was a third company which only survived for a summer or two and was declared bankrupt on 5th October 1892.” (Piguet 2004, p. 234)


Elise Jaccard-Thévenaz (1895–1903), nicknamed “Jaccard toy”

“François Jaccard was subsequently taken on as Manager of the Ullmann company, before creating a new company in the name of his wife, Elise Jaccard-Thévenaz, on 13th September 1895, under separate property administration. Their objective was to manufacture music boxes.”(Piguet 2004, p. 234)

“Nicknamed ‘Jaccard toy’, the family made only small movements for toys and fancy articles and they never participated in exhibitions.”(Piguet 2004, p. 234)

“From 1902 to 1904, people talked a lot about François Jaccard because of a conflict with the Music Box Workers´  Trade Union which turned sour. Jaccard´s company was not enthusiastic about rules and regulations and was soon reported by the workers who saw that wage scales were not respected. Jaccard was fined 300 francs by the Union. He appealed, his case became complicated and was referred to the District Tribunal.”(Piguet 2004, p. 234)

“At the end of 1903, the company was dissolved but a new one was already in existence under the name Jaccard-Thévenaz [...]” (Piguet 2004, p. 234)

Jaccard-Thévenaz (1903–1905)

“... under the responsibility of Justin, brother of François, who was once again involved. In no time his attitude again provoked the Union, he refused to ratify the convention. It was his attitude which encouraged the Union to forbid manufacturers to supply components to Jaccard-Thévenaz and to ask syndicated workers to stop working for the company.” (Piguet 2004, p. 234)

E[lise-Marie] Jaccard [daugher] (1905–1917)

“The conflict petered out and the company changed again in June 1905. After repeatedly asking his brother, and then his wife, François Jaccard obtained his daugther Elise-Marie´s permisson to officially appoint her head of a company called E. Jaccard.”

E[lise-Marie] Jaccard [mother] (1917–1919)

“The years came and went and the 31st July 1917 marked the last of the changes. Elise-Marie transferred her responsibilities to her mother, under the same name. However, they had an additional objective, that of making talking machines. The E. Jaccard company was struck off the register on 13th March 1919. As for the tools and clients, they were taken over by John Cuendet.”
(Piguet 2004, p. 234-235)


Jaccard, Walter (*?, †?)

Ste-Croix, Switzerland. A maker of musical boxes.
(Ord-Hume, Music Box, 1980,  p. 309)


Louis Jaccard-Walther (perhaps before 1852 or 1852–1875), St. Croix

“The Jaccard-Walther company manufactured music boxes in 1852 and perhaps even earlier than that. It was a victim of the difficult 1860s and in the winter of 1864-65 he had to sell ‘clocks, tools for the manufacture of cartels, two sofas, a desk, furniture, clothing and personal effects, sheets, marking and adjusting tools, two tuning forks, nine portable bench vises etc.’”. (FAS 19th November 1864)

“An article in the newspaper Le Progrès, published in Lausanne by Eugène Jaccard, appearing late in 1869, reported intensive activity in the workshops of Sainte-Croix, specifically in the workshop of Louis Jaccard-Walther, where large and elaborate music boxes were made, such as the eighteen-inch, mandolin quator with harp and sumptuos case, estimated at 700 francs.”

“On 25th November 1875, the J. Jaccard-Walther & Co. company i.e. Louis (son of Charles) and his wife Jenny, née Recordon, ceased all activity.” (Piguet 2004, p. 235)

Zu den Spieldosenabbildungen


Pierre-M. Jaccard

Participant of the Swiss Watch Fair Basel 1957


Alfred Jaccard-Rod, (*?, †?)

Ste-Croix, Switzerland. Took out patents in connection with Hermann Thorens, maker of musical boxes.
(Ord-Hume, Music Box, 1980,  p. 309)


E. Jaccard-Thevenar, (*?, †?)

Auberson, Switzerland. Musical-box manufacturers, fl. 1900.
(Ord-Hume, Music Box, 1980,  p. 309)



Bellamy, Music Makers of Switzerland, (2015), p. 6