Fritz Huguenin

Biography
In 1868 two young craftsmen, Fritz Huguenin, engraver, and his brother Albert, engine turner, set up a small watchcase-decorating workshop. Very quickly they grasped how much benefit they could derive from the striking process and purchased their first balance-wheel. Thus, they issued their first medal in 1888. Gradually the Huguenin brothers specialised in the "Niel" method of decorating silver cases in black, which made them famous in the whole world.

1899 saw the transition of crafts to industry with the construction start of the current plant. The company was then taken over by the three sons who developed new products, particularly shooting awards.

World War I and the Crisis of the Thirties, during which silver pocket watches were replaced by the stainless steel wrist watches, severely affected the company, which led to its becoming a public limited company in 1934: Huguenin Brothers & Co. S. A. The company then went on enjoying significant growth in both fields of watchcases and medals. The watchcase business was sold to a new company also in 1955.

In 1968, the year of its centenary, the company was given a more suitable corporate name: Huguenin Medailleurs S.A. Directed by a member of the third generation of the Huguenin family, the thus rejuvenated company has been entering into the second century of its existence with confidence and dynamism.

In 1987 the company changed hands with the then CEO, Pierre-André Zanchi buying back the majority of shares (in spite of this, the family, represented by Paul Huguenin, still holds a sufficient amount of stakes to ensure a smooth running of business operations).

In 1992 HUGUENIN made and launched the first mints with a colour imprint. In 1999 a first merger took place with Kramer headquartered in Neuchatel. In 2002 Huguenin + Kramer joined with Faude, giving birth to the current company Faude & Huguenin SA.

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