Ernest Borel

 By Bruce Shawkey

Found this ad in the Sept./Oct. 1955 issue of Swiss Horological Journal for the Ernest Borel  "Datoptic" watch:

Ernest Borel is probably most famous for their "Cocktail" watch, with its kaleidoscope dial, in many variations. But they made many other interesting watches over the year:

The "Flash" model, with luminous dial

Here's an interesting model from 1959:

Here is an image of an Ernest Borel watch from the mid-1950s

The company was founded in 1856 by Jules Borel. When Ernest took over, the name was changed to Ernest Borel. In 1956, Europa Star magazine ran and a story about the company's 100th anniversary along with a picture of three generations of Borel's presidents. Ernest is seen in the middle:

Found this ad in the Sept./Oct. 1955 issue of Swiss Horological Journal for the Ernest Borel  "Datoptic" watch:

Ernest Borel is probably most famous for their "Cocktail" watch, with its kaleidoscope dial, in many variations. But they made many other interesting watches over the year:

The "Flash" model, with luminous dial

Here's an interesting model from 1959:

Here is an image of an Ernest Borel watch from the mid-1950s

The company was founded in 1856 by Jules Borel. When Ernest took over, the name was changed to Ernest Borel. In 1956, Europa Star magazine ran and a story about the company's 100th anniversary along with a picture of three generations of Borel's presidents. Ernest is seen in the middle:

Here is an article from the Sept./Oct.1959 issue of Europa Star magazine on the 100th anniversary of Ernest Borel:

Ernest Borel is probably the king of novelty watches,  Here's some more information on their novelty watches over the years. Most everyone is familiar with the Cocktail watch, but here are some lesser-known models that were on display at the 1958 Basel Expo:

The Ernest Borel "Flash" Watch 

The ERNEST BOREL Factory can be counted among those which attach a great deal of importance to the development of technique as well as to constant research into new formulas in the presentation of the watch. It has made its mark in recent year, by launching a  host of new models onto the world market with great success. Among these are the COCKTAIL. DATOPTIC, EXTRA-FLAT. RENDEZVOUS and SOCIETY models and, last year, the VERSAILLES-style watch — all of which have been greeted with great enthusiasm. Remaining faithful to its progressive policy and thus proving once again that it is constantly in search of new ideas. the ERNEST BOREL COMPANY this year presents the results of many months of research — the amazing FLASH wrist watch with electric illumination. The problem of being able to tell the time in darkness has thus been solved in a particularly ingenious way thanks to soft diffusion of an indirect light which eliminates all possibility of any dazzling effect. The ERNEST BOREL "FLASH" watch will at last be able to fulfill the requirements of all those who until now have had to be satisfied with the imperfections of a dial with luminous figures. 

The latter can be recharged by means of a very simple device delivered with each watch. It can be fixed to any pocket torch with two elements for a period of a few hours after which the lighting system of the "FLASH" watch is again effective for a period of six months to a year, depending on the extent to which it is used. In addition, this operation can be repeated hundreds of times without having any harmful influence whatsoever on the accumulator of the efficient working of the movement, the latter being unaffected by any electrical influence. We should add that the FLASH watch is provided with a waterproof case and is equipped with a 17-ruby movement, shock resistant and antimagnetic, with unbreakable mainspring. It is available both in gold plate and stainless steel. We can say, with pride, that the FLASH watch is the child of two eras — the eras of craftmanship and automation, for the centuries-old traditions of horology have made of the movement an instrument of precision, while the essential characteristic of the FLASH watch has only been rendered possible by the progress of modern technique. We have succeeded in producing in quantity a wrist watch which is at the same time classic in appearance and progressive in the conception of its completely new system of illumination. The enthusiasm aroused by this new model has been ample reward to our efforts.