Celebrating 20 years! Vintage Watchstraps. A London office was opened by Julius soon after to import watches from the Swiss factory and sell them into the British market and the British Empire. The Stauffer name is not uncommon in Switzerland, but it appears that there were only two generations of this Stauffer family involved in the company; father and son.
The son Julius Stauffer - , who set up the London branch of the company in the s, his father was Charles Philip Stauffer as recorded on Jules Stauffer's marriage certificate. The name of the parent company registered in Switzerland was Stauffer, fils et cie.
This was because it was Julius Stauffer, the son referred to in the name of the Swiss parent company, who founded the London branch. The wholesale side of Jules business grew and the retail side was closed down.
The wholesale business grew in size to became one of the largest and best known watch importers in Britain. By the Atlas factory was making 60, watches a year, but the London company could sell more watches than the Atlas factory could manufacture, so it also imported and wholesaled watches from other Swiss manufacturers including Patek Philippe, Le Coultre, IWC, Eterna and Fontainemelon.
Watches made in Stauffer's Atlas factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds carry one of their registered trademarks, which are discussed in a later section. Initially this mark was reserved for use on Stauffer's highest quality movements. At one time it was thought that this trademark was used exclusively on movements made in Stauffer's own factory, but Fontainemelon calibres are also seen stamped with this mark.
