Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company

Until the nineteenth century, pure, fresh milk was a prized commodity in towns and cities across Europe. Cows produce more milk in spring than they do in autumn. In addition to seasonality, there was another problem in the past. Milk was often a major carrier of disease, as refrigeration was uncommon and it quickly spoiled.

This was the situation that Charles Page found when he arrived in Zurich in 1865, as a young US Vice Consul of Trade. Yet in the Swiss countryside he saw cows grazing on fresh, green meadows.

The brothers George Ham Page (1836–1899) and Charles Page (1838–1873) first came into contact with a new form of milk preservation during the American Civil War (1861–1865): condensed milk from tins.

Condensed milk was invented by the French confectioner and chef Nicolas Appert. He founded the first canning factory in 1804 and produced condensed or canned milk for the first time in 1827.

In 1835, the English researcher William Newton came up with the idea of adding sugar to milk to ensure its shelf life.

Charles Page established the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company in Cham, Switzerland, on August 1866. At this time George Page was in the US learning Gail Borden’s pioneering process for producing condensed milk.

Using abundant supplies of fresh milk in Switzerland, they apply knowledge gained in their homeland to establish Europe’s first production facility for condensed milk in Cham. High standards of quality and safety, a modern factory, efficient distribution and savvy marketing ensured the product was a success.

They start supplying Europe’s industrial towns with the product under the Milkmaid brand, marketing it as a safe, long-life alternative to fresh milk.

As early as 1868, Anglo-Swiss sold over 374,000 cartons of condensed milk. Demand was led by Great Britain and its colonies, whose appetite for condensed milk had inspired the brothers to choose their company name.

In 1881, the company opened a plant in Middletown, New York. Soon Anglo-Swiss competed successfully with Borden. Charles died in in 1873, and by 1891 George was managing a business with 12 factories across Europe and the US that exported worldwide.

In 1905 the agreement was signed, and the Nestlé and Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company was born. The company retaining the name until 1947, when the name Nestlé Alimentana SA was taken as a result of the acquisition of Fabrique de Produits Maggi SA (founded 1884) and its holding company, Alimentana SA of Kempttal, Switzerland.
Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company

Tissot Watch

In 1853, Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son Charles-Émile joined forces to set up Charles-Félicien Tissot & Son assembly shop in the small town of Le Locle.

As with most Swiss watch companies founded in that era, Tissot began life as a comptoir, an assembler of parts procured from individual makers in the region. In that first year, the company delivered between 1100 and 1200 watches to the region around Le Locle.

Tissot introduced the first mass-produced pocket watch as well as the first pocket watch with two time zones in 1853 and the first anti-magnetic watch in 1929–30. The Tissot company was also the first to make watches out of plastic, stone, mother of pearl and wood.

By 1858, the younger Tissot, Charles-Émile, was off to Russia, and with the blessing of the Czar, was selling Tissot brand pocket watches all across the Empire. Until the beginning of the October Revolution in 1917, the Russian Empire was Tissot's biggest market, where Tissot timepieces made it as far as the Tsar's court.

With the introduction of electrical motors in the early 1900s the brand was able to gradually adopt mechanical production. From the dawn of the 1910s, Tissot sold its first wristwatches for women, in the form of gold and platinum pieces set with diamonds.

Since 1853, the company has often adapted and reimagined their classic collections to come up with new, innovative watch concepts.

Tissot Watch

Firmenich SA

Founded in 1895, Chuit & Naef was established in Switzerland by two brothers-in-law named Philippe Chuit, a talented Swiss chemist, and Martin Naef, a shrewd businessman.

They were joined shortly after by Fred Firmenich, who soon became majority partner. The company was renamed Firmenich SA. It remains a family owned company headquarter in Switzerland.

Firmenich’s business is divided into two main segments: flavors and perfumery. It ahs associated companies all over the world; the British company, Firmenich UK ltd, was set-up in 1949 and is based in Southall, Middlesex, while the US headquarters has been in Princeton since 1936.

Since 1895, Firmenich has built its business on innovative research. Leopold Ruzicka, professor at ETH-Zurich and Nobel Prize winner in 1939, was Firmenich’s first research director and a life-long consultant.
Firmenich SA

Victorinox of Switzerland

In 1884, a 24 year old cutler named Karl Elsener returned to his native Switzerland after having served knife-making apprenticeships in Paris, France and in Tuttlingen, Germany where he had become a journey man. Elsener set up a workshop in the Swiss-German town of Ibach, where he sold his knives through his mother Victoria’s hat shop. The officer’s and sport knives began to be produced in 1897.

In 1890, Karl Elsener founded the association of Swiss Master Curlers to promote cooperation between producers to supply knives for the Swiss army. At that time, the army knives were purchased from Solingen the center of the German cutlery industry.

The first Swiss-made knives for the Swiss army were delivered in 1891 and it was a multi-blade built on a tapered regular jack frame.

In 1909, upon the death of his mother, Victoria, Elsener changed the name of his company to Victoria. In 1921, when Elsener started to make knife blades of stainless steel he changed the company name to Victorinox.

The Swiss defensive build-up during World War II led to increased business for Victorinox. The firm erected a completely new factory complex in 1943, followed by much larger additions in 1946, 1969 and 1976.

Since 2005, Victorinox has been the sole reducer of Swiss Army knives.

Among other products of Victorinox are: Swiss Army knives, SwissCArd, cutlery, bayonets, watches, etc.
Victorinox of Switzerland

History of Tissot

Founded in 1853, Tissot is proud to display, the Swiss flag at the heart of its T logo. The founders were Charles-Felicien Tissot and his son, Charles-Emile Tissot (1830-1910). The firm was located in Le Lode, Switzerland.

Tissot supplied watches to Russia and the ‘Tsar’s Court.’

Tissot has created many first in the watch world. They created the first antimagnetic watch, and also were the first to produce the plastic watch.

Tissot merged with the Omega Watch Co. in 1929 to form SSIH. At the same time Longines, Rado and Swatch merged into ASUAG. At the beginning of the 1980s, in the midst of the decline of the Swiss watch industry, the two firms were bailed out of financial distress by local banks.

The two firms later merged to form ASUAG-SSIH, which was finally taken over by a group of private investor led by Nicholas Hayek and re named the Swatch Group.

Today Tissot still produce a line of quality watches today, including chronometer escapements.
History of Tissot

History of Swatch watches

At the end of the 20th century, analog watches were considered out of fashion. The Swiss watch industry was facing fierce competition from Japanese. So Swiss watchmakers joined forces with designers from all over the world formed a new watch company that could make parts so cheaply that is was more reasonable to throw the watch away than to repair it.

Hence the Swiss Watch Company (SWATCH) was born. They were launching high precision watches at a low price.

Swatch was developed by a team of ETA engineers under Thomke’s supervision to beat the Japanese competition, the Swatch was a fashion product and a plastic quartz watch manufactured in Switzerland.

It was launched in 1983 and experienced growing popularity worldwide from the late 1980s onwards. It was explained that the introduction of simplified mechanism using only 51 parts as opposed to the standard 91 parts. This is one reason why the Swatch could be made so slim and cost brought down.

Swatch was revolutionary because it changed the whole paradigm of what a watch is. A watch was no longer regarded as a timepiece, but as an accessory. Swatch watches may made from more expensive materials and may be sponsored or designed by well-known artist.
History of Swatch watches