Hugo Buchser - Special 85 years of Europa Star

HUGO BUCHSER (1896-1961), AND THE ORIGINS OF EUROPA STAR

AN EDITORIAL ADVENTURE

SPECIALTHE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL WATCH MAGAZINE SPECIAL

europa star AN EDITORIAL ADVENTURE 3

company finds its origins in the innovative ideas of its founder, even if they are at first considered illusory.It’s about going to places where nobody has had the time, the courage or simply the spirit to invest. It’sabout facing up to the feeble and jealous adversity of one’s peers. But it’s also about building up a team,choosing the right people and appreciating their work.

Having followed international developments in the watchmaking, jewellery and machine industries for over 80 years,Europa Star is no exception to this rule. Hugo Buchser, the founder of the group, developed the conviction, through histravels to the four corners of the Earth, that these industries needed to be opened up to the world’s markets by distribut-ing information about them. From the 1930s his buyers’ and machine guides, and later his magazines published fromSouth America to the Far East, opened up new global trade routes.

A company’s longevity is the best proof of the success of its founder’s original ideas. Under the stewardship of the samefamily since 1927, Europa Star remains loyal to the spirit of Hugo Buchser, some fifty years after his death.

This article traces the origins of the Europa Star publications by writing the story of its founder. Knowing his past allowsus to look to the future with confidence. Firmly convinced of the quality of the written word on paper, Europa Star alsoembraces modern technology, with its websites and new iPad applications, to pursue an idea that has already proveditself. That idea is to show the value of the expertise that places time and beauty at the centre of our world.

Serge Maillard

On the cover: Hugo Buchser, Bombay, 1920Inside front cover: Rolex, Europa Star no.1, 1959Inside back cover: Roamer, As Sâ’âtwal-Djawâher (Orafrica) no. 12, 1952Back cover: Breitling, Oro y Hora no. 14/1951

AFOREWORD

Cover of the Inter-European Journal for Watches, Clocks, Jewellery and Silverware, Europa Star, 1959

4 AN EDITORIAL ADVENTURE europa star

A t the start of the twentiethcentury, the inn at Wirthenin Solothurn was a meeting

place for all the town’s students andbourgeoisie, as well as watchmakingemployees from the region. This is whereHugo Buchser’s career took off, in 1919.The young man, who was the inn-keeper’sson, had a feel for business. If not thefirst of his initiatives in watchmaking, byfar the most original was the story ofthe “reversed dials”. Sitting at a table one evening in the inn,Hugo Buchser overheard a conversationbetween two depressed-looking watch-makers on the next table. One of themexplained the reason for their mood tothe young man: “Can you believe thatour workers have managed to assemblean entire batch of watches with geartrains that move backwards…?”. Butthey quickly perked up when theiryoung confidant offered to buy this“spoiled” batch of one thousand pieces.The deal was done quickly. For a goodprice, of course. A few months later the young man, in

his twenties, boarded a steamer inGenoa that was heading for the Indies.“At the dawn of a new decade,” HugoBuchser must have thought from thedeck of the vessel on the Mediterranean.In his cabin he set down a large casecontaining a thousand watches whosehands turned the wrong way. This washis first trip to such faraway lands andthe young man was drawn to point outthe stops along the way on the map:Pompei, Heraklion, Alexandria and Aden,all the way to his destination, Bombay,the gateway to the Indies. He chanted thenames as a priest would say his rosary.

Learning to jump from a moving train He had already travelled all over theOld Continent. He had crossed westernEurope: Germany, Belgium, Switzerlandand France. On his own account becausehe wasn’t one to take orders, preferringinstead to put his own numerous ideasinto practice. He had been educated inthe humanist and Catholic tradition ofthe Collège Saint-Michel in Fribourg,

which had given him the desire to “seeeverything, know everything”.Basing his first business on his region oforigin, Hugo Buchser established his ownwatchmaking business, the “TransmarineUhrenfabrik” at the age of 18. The namewas an early betrayal of his taste forexoticism, the ocean and distant hori-zons. At the end of the first world war,he expanded his business to neighbour-ing countries.The young entrepreneur had lost countof the number of trains he had taken toBrussels, his second headquarters. Hehad equally lost count of the manydrawn-out procedures he had to followeach time in order to get a pass at atime when borders were very difficult tocross, given the economic protection-ism, heightened nationalism and war-mongering that pervaded Europe atthe time.So to make ends meet, the young manalso took along some extra watchesand jewellery. Once the adventurer evenhad to pull the alarm cord and jumpfrom the train when the customs offi-cials were getting dangerously close tohis compartment…

The roller-coaster ride The Buchser clan, originally fromHerzogenbuchsee in the canton ofBerne, settled in Solothurn during theReformation so that they could keep theirCatholic faith. One of the scant recol-lections that Hugo had of his father, theinn-keeper, was that he had a severelook and an imposing stature, with anatural authority that he himself seemedto have inherited.

A VOYAGE TO THE INDIES

The stand of Transmarine, established by the young Hugo Buchser, at the Vienna exhibition, 1923


The business in Wirthen was flourishing– it was the first establishment in thetown to offer bathrooms. It even madethe owner a millionaire in gold. But hisuntimely death at the age of 40, in hisrestaurant, ruined the family. His over-generous wife gave away the family for-tune to unscrupulous people who cameto claim for non-existent debts. Hugo, the youngest, therefore had ameagre upbringing with his six siblings.One of his two brothers joined theorders and, after a stay in Einsiedeln,joined a monastery in the depths of theArgentinean pampas. He took the name“Father Polycarpe”.

The magic watches of the Swiss fakir As he watched the European coastlinedisappear from the deck of the vesselcarrying him to the Indies, Hugo Buchserundoubtedly recalled the wild life hehad lived with his other brother, Franz,in Brussels. The younger generally pre-tended to be the fiancé of the Duchessof Luxembourg, or, with his elder, pre-tended to be an officer in the Belgiancapital’s vice squad. Both of them hada taste for mystification. When he leftfor the Indies, Hugo left his brother tocontinue the Transmarine adventurein Brussels.

The voyage east took several weeks.When he arrived in Bombay, the youngadventurer’s heart was beating fast,filled with promise for his “innovative”watches on the sub-continent that wasstill under British domination. The future proved him right: thewatches from Solothurn with the back-wards springs were a hit. From sailorsto maharajas, everyone wanted this“distinguished novelty”, this “fashion-able object”, as the Swiss entrepreneurastutely presented them. Too bad ifthese watches could not fulfil their roleas timekeepers because of the manu-facturing defect. After all, few in India

With Zoroastrian preachers: the Swiss fakir in good company, Bombay, 1920 Travelling across India, 1920

Damas, La Revista Relojera no. 39, 1945 Longines, La Revista Relojera no. 37, 1945 Piaget, The Eastern Jeweller & Watchmaker, 1950


had even learned to tell the time backthen. The ornamental value of the prod-ucts was much greater than their origi-nal function. The young Hugo had more than oneitem in his trunk. In addition to the“inversed” watches, he also broughtsome clocks with fluorescent radium tothe Indies. They worked on a very simpleprinciple: expose them to sunlight andthey light up. But this argument did notappear effective enough for the entre-preneur. When he visited the maharajas topresent his product, he stressed that thismechanism was triggered “by magic”.When he was presenting the clocks, hediscretely exposed them to sunlight. Hewould then say his magic words beforeshowing the clocks to his amazed audi-ence, who were hooked.

In Ghandi’s tentFrom Agra to Lahore, from Varanasi tothe Hindu Kush, the reversed mecha-nisms and luminescent clocks allowedthe young Hugo Buchser to travel the

length and breadth of India for an entireyear. His initial plan was to continue hisexpedition as far as the NetherlandsAntilles, but the charms of the sub-con-tinent – and the fact that he had easilysold his products – led him to continuehis tour of the country. Legend has itthat his extended stay allowed him toshare the tent of an Indian lawyer whoalso appreciated his liberty, whosename was Ghandi. The two subsequentlykept up a correspondence which hasunfortunately long since disappeared. In 1921 Hugo Buchser headed back toEurope. The year in India had sharpenedhis spirit of independence and his tastefor adventure. He already saw himselfembarking on other journeys, from Europeto South America. The 1920s certainlydeserved their appellation “The RoaringTwenties”. They saw the first stepstowards the realisation of his ideas tolink together watchmakers across theworld and would feed the tales – some-times imaginary, sometimes real – ofthis inspired self-made man.

At the foot of the pyramids and the Sphinx, Egypt, 1920

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A t the start of the 1920s,after his first steps in theproduction and export of

watches, Hugo Buchser returned to hisnative Solothurn. In 1926, he marriedMary Stüdeli there – an heiress of themajor watchmaker Roamer (Meyer-Stüdeli), which was producing over amillion watches per year at the time.The two met in the mixed choir of St.Ursen cathedral, one of the most beau-tiful baroque churches in Switzerland.Like Hugo Buchser, the young woman,with her big green eyes, dark hair andmatte skin, did not fit with the SwissGerman stereotypes, especially asSolothurn, as the city of diplomatic resi-dences, was also a melting-pot of differ-ent races.

Driven by his love of the open seas andwith a solid artistic flair, Hugo Buchsertook to business by default, to earnhimself some money. But although hehad a knack for it, his true dream was towrite, to live a Bohemian lifestyle and

dedicate himself fully to his art, like hisclose relative Frank Buchser, the painterand adventurer from Solothurn.A seductive hidalgo with a love of Spain,Hugo Buchser lived for months at a timewith the Andalusians, whose pride headmired and whose free and indepen-dent lifestyle without ties he loved. Hislove of art and his success in businesswere linked by common traits: an extra-ordinary character, a strong work ethicand persuasiveness for unconventionalideas, not forgetting a frankness thatwon him solid friendships.

First steps in publishingIt was in 1929, shortly before the GreatDepression, that the entrepreneur, whowas newly installed in his new adoptivecity of Geneva, established the Guide desAcheteurs (“Buyer’s Guide”) for watch-making and jewellery. Meeting a grow-ing demand, this guide was the first tolist all the useful addresses in thewatchmaking business in Switzerland.The bi-monthly account of the “possibil-ities and situation of export markets”accompanied the guide.With these publications, Hugo Buchserlaid the foundations for what was tobecome the magazine Europa Star as we

know it today. Since the machine indus-try was the natural partner of watch-making, he also launched the Guide desMachines and the Bulletin d’informationstechniques (“Technical information bul-letin”) in 1932, both of which were soondistributed worldwide.Hugo Buchser was not only interestedin watchmaking, however. As a tirelesstraveller, he also produced the GuideRapid from 1932. A kind of MichelinGuide for the times, this practical direc-tory of addresses was aimed at touristsvisiting the cities of Basle, Zurich orGeneva looking for an attractive shopor a convivial restaurant. Based on thepersonal experience of its creator, whohad a fine palate and a critical mind, itwas a considerable success.

An intransigent patriarchThis was also the period of fatherhoodfor Hugo Buchser. He had three daugh-ters, Doris, Suzi and Lisbeth with his wife,who returned to Solothurn for each birth.The three heiresses had a strict upbring-ing under their father’s watchful eye.Although often absent for long periodsof time abroad, their father ensuredthat discipline and order prevailed dur-ing his short stays in Geneva.

THE DEBUT IN PUBLISHING

The wedding of Hugo Buchser and Mary Stüdeli, St. Ursen cathedral, Solothurn, 1926

The first guides developedby Hugo Buchser in

the early 1930s: the Buyer’s Guide,

the Guide Rapid and the Machines Guide.

The family had the first private swim-ming pool in Geneva, dug out in part bythe tiny hands of the three daughters.The little girls also had to pick the applesfrom some 150 trees in the garden. Thepatriarch wanted to teach the value ofindividual effort, the key to indepen-dence when, like him, you started outwith nothing. The complement to this iron disciplinewas the possibility to see the worldthrough trips – to Spain, Italy or France– that were at the time only accessibleto the privileged classes. Whenever theyarrived, they had to take in everything:museums, churches, with even thesmallest chapel being visited from topto bottom. And in the evening the girlshad to provide a detailed account oftheir day to their father. They had to see,listen and instruct. And this was at anytime and without excuse.Hugo Buchser used the same explosivemixture of possessive and well-meaningseverity towards his employees, whoalso had to work in their boss’s gardenat the weekend. At a time when work-ing for a company was considered acontract for life and a manager gen-uinely embodied his company, employ-ees were expected to commit their body

and soul to the material well-being oftheir employer…The war years had their effect on thebusiness of watch guides and maga-zines. In these years of rationing, theentrepreneur had no choice but tomothball his trusty Oldsmobile, withwhich he had crossed the Old Continent,to avoid giving it to the army. In 1941,he was trapped in the Ritz hotel in

Barcelona with the Swiss community,while in Geneva, the Buchser family wastaking in foreign children who were vic-tims of the vagaries of war. Survival, both national and individual,was the priority at the time. But the post-war years made way for an unprece-dented economic upswing, both forSwitzerland and for the company estab-lished by Hugo Buchser.


In the early 1930s, the Buchsers with their three daughters: Suzi, Doris and Lisbeth, in Chêne-Bourg.

Milus, Eastern Jeweller no. 21, 1954 Certina, Estrella del Sur no. 13, 1952 Herodia, Oro y Hora no. 28, 1953 Nivarox, Europa Star no. 1, 1959

Girard Perregaux, The Eastern Jeweller & Watchmaker no. 14, 1952


F ollowing the second worldwar, which had put a brakeon the development of the

watch guides by restricting the travels oftheir founder, Hugo Buchser regained hisfrenetic interest in business trips. From1946, he visited Germany, reduced tothe industrial equivalent of the stoneage at “zero hour”. En route, he visitedseveral former concentration camps,opened to the public by the Allies toshow the horrors of the Nazi regimeand to remind them of the mantra“never again”.The entrepreneur also realised thatpromising markets were opening up

outside Europe thanks to a new global-isation in trade. Latin America, the Arabworld and the Far East were bristlingwith the hopes of a “third way” betweencommunism and capitalism.

The call of South America In 1948, Hugo Buchser left with hisdaughter Doris on a transatlantic vesselto Brazil for a Latin American tour. Thiscontinent was not totally new to him,since he had published the watch-making magazine La Revista Relojera inBuenos Aires since 1942. A new middleclass was emerging in Latin America andthis was an enticing prospect for the

watch and jewellery market. Whereverhe went, the Swiss entrepreneur left aneditorial trace. In Brazil he set up thespecialist magazine Elegancia e Precisaoand in Argentina l'Estrella del Sur, basedon a simple business model: these mag-azines were designed in Geneva beforebeing distributed across the Atlantic. Atrusted representative on the groundapproached watchmaking suppliers toencourage them to invest in the adver-tising supplements of the publications.The businessman also remained a manof letters. He had an insatiable thirst forcuriosities and encounters and claimed tospeak “marineiro”, a mixture of Italian,Spanish and Portuguese, the “languageof sailors”. On the return voyage fromLatin America, he stopped in Lisbon,where he set up the magazine Belora,and in Spain, where the publication Oro yHora was born in 1949. An inspiredwriter, Hugo Buchser kept detailed jour-nals from all his trips. His “impressionsof Latin America” were published bythe Tribune de Genève newspaper. Theystarted with the promising words: “Brazilis a great enigma”. His clear analysis of the economic situa-tion led to a conclusion that is as validnow as it was back then: “The SouthAmerican states have been developing

TOWARDS A GLOBAL MAGAZINE

The transatlantic steamer Rex, heading for Brazil, 1948

Zenith, Oro y Hora no. 32, 1954 Norexa, Oro y Hora no. 34, 1954

with extraordinary dynamism over thepast decade and, while many Europeancountries are in a slow decline, nationssuch as Brazil are looking forward withvigour and belief to a future full ofpromise.”

In the East and the West In 1950 Hugo Buchser started a similarjourney with his other daughter, Suzi, a“study trip” as he liked to call them, tothe Middle East and Asia. There heestablished the magazines Orafrica andThe Eastern Jeweller and Watchmaker.

From the Raffles hotel in Singapore tothe dusty roads of India and Thailand,his confidence and social skills openednumerous doors – both commercial andspiritual. With the same lucidity, thelearned businessman quickly graspedthe great potential offered by the cre-ation of the European common market,which was set up by the Treaty ofRome in 1957. Almost a decade afterhis Argentinean “southern star”, HugoBuchser launched his European star,the magazine Europa Star, as well asEurotec, dedicated to the machine indus-try. Europa Star would give its name to

all the group’s publications ten yearslater, under the leadership of Hugo’s son-in-law and successor, Gilbert Maillard.Thus the 1950s saw a consolidation ofall the projects instigated by the entre-preneur as a result of his many journeys.Under the name “Industrial Documen-tation Bureau”, whose headquartersemployed a staff of thirty in Geneva, averitable global network of information– a kind of Internet before its time –developed for the watchmaking, jew-ellery and machine industries. Some fiftyyears after the death of the “patriarch”this continues today.


The Tour de l’Ile, the headquarters of the Industrial Documentation Bureau, Geneva

A journey to the Far East, Kingdom of Siam, 1950

The Hotel Oriente in Barcelona, a frequent stop on trips for business and pleasure. The Buchsers on the Ramblas

The “official” portrait of Hugo Buchser, 1959


An overview of the publications of the Industrial Documentation Bureau: a web of watchmaking information across the globe


The clock ticks It was the beautiful works of the humanmind, together with encounters andadventures, which drove the rebelliousHugo Buchser even more so than hispassion for watchmaking. He was a manof many faces: a dreaming artist, anintransigent yet pragmatic businessman,an authoritative father and “old-school”employer but with a non-conformistspirit marked by a freedom in the face ofbourgeois values and stuffiness. As at ease on the deck of the Queen Maryas he was on old Argentinean haciendas,this “global” personality was not one tocriticise people behind their backs. Hisfrankness and his business intuition didnot spare either enemies or anyone whowas envious of this man who could notbear not to have the decision in his hands. You had to face up to this rebellious andstubborn character, who constantly chal-lenged people, in order to be appreci-ated. Hugo Buchser also knew how touse humour to discombobulate thosearound him.One anecdote illustrates this better thanany other. Renowned for organisingNew Year costume balls, Hugo Buchserone year announced to some thirtyguests that he had invited a guest ofhonour – a “baron” – to the festivities.They were entreated to welcome thisesteemed guest appropriately. Imaginethe surprise of the honourable guestsin their evening attire, who had formed

a guard of honour, when the “baron”made his entrance.Rather than an aristocrat, the guestwas a tramp, with suitable clothes andbreath, who shouted: “Hi everyone! It’sparty time!”. A half-amused and half-meditative smile could be discerned onthe matte and travel-worn face of HugoBuchser. Few of the guests returned thefollowing year… The publisher kept his strong characteruntil his death in 1961. His heritage in

the field of watchmaking lives on withthe global distribution of the EuropaStar publications. Under the manage-ment of successive generations of theMaillard-Buchser family, these publica-tions have followed and analysed theups and downs of the watchmakingindustry, from the 1960s to the presentday. They have also absorbed, with allthe characteristic flexibility of theirfounder, the great technological leap ofthe past decade. But that’s another story.

Hugo Buchser with the current editor-in-chief and managing director of the Europa Star publications, Pierre and Philippe Maillard, Geneva, 1960

A special supplement with Europa Star Première, the International WatchmakingLetter, Vol. 13, No. 5 of 13 October 2011; a publication of Europa Star HBM SA,Route des Acacias 25, CH 1227 Carouge, Geneva. Tel. +41 22 307 78 37,

Fax +41 22 300 37 48, e-mail: [email protected], www.worldwatchweb.com, www.europastar.bizOriginal French text: Serge Maillard • Translations: Paul O’Neil, English; Carles Sapena, Spanish •Graphic design: Alexis Sgouridis • Production: Francine Papaux, Talya Lakin.Printed in 1000 copies in French, of which fifty are numbered 1 to 50. English and Spanish versions publishedas an e-book on www.europastar.com and www.horalatina.com (web and iPad versions). All archives, periodadvertising and articles, from 1927 to the present day, will soon be available on the Europa Star World WatchWeb. Printed in Geneva by SRO-KUNDIG. Copyright © 2011 EUROPA STAR

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Hugo Buchser - Special 85 years of Europa Star