Their eyes are worn out from working on small parts and they’ve spent a large part of their lives sitting behind their workbench. They’ve lived through the glory days of the manufacture, and the times of anxiety. `the Marvin’ has been an important part of their lives.

They’ve worked on it as Watch-maker, Production Manager, Adjuster, and Ebauches* Department Manager or Purchase Department Manager… They reopen this page of their story with much emotion, and we extend our thanks.

[Testimonials]

• People stayed on for a long time, especially the watchmakers.
• Bosses were hard, but polite and proper.
• Financially, we had nothing to complain about in comparison with the competition.
• The Marvin was a good school; it didn’t take apprentices, it employed young people and trained them up, except for the watchmakers who were hired when they were already experienced.
• Bosses were great with the employees.
• There was a good, hard-working atmosphere.
• The Marvin offered good social packages.
• We were well-equipped with machines in comparison with the competition.

[The press also remarked on the atmosphere of `the Marvin´]

`The Marvin keeps its workers for a long time, proven by the many white-haired heads behind the benches, which gives regularity to production. The most senior member of the personnel is 81 – a visiteur* who’s never wanted to stop working´. Revue Internationale de l’Horlogerie, 15 April 1921.

`The Didisheims have created an atmosphere which encourages everyone to work with enthusiasm; the foremen appear to be real leaders´. The Centenary of the Marvin Manufacture, 1950.

*Ebauche: French term (but commonly used in English-speaking countries) for a movement blank, i.e. an incomplete watch movement which is sold as a set of loose parts, comprising the main plate, the bridges, the train, the winding and setting mechanism and the regulator. The timing system, the escapement and the mainspring, however, are not parts of the `ébauche´.

*Visiteur: literally visitor. Worker engaged in verifying the condition of material or the correct assembly of certain parts (trains, sprung balances, etc.)