Ernest Francillon

Ernest Francillon (1834 – 3 April 1900) was the Swiss manager of Longines watches and an entrepreneur. He was the nephew of Auguste Agassiz.^{[citation needed]}

Ernest Francillon

Francillon was born in Lausanne in 1834.^[1] He studied in his birth town, Vevey and Stuttgart. He subsequently became an apprentice watchmaker in Val-de-Travers.^[2] He founded the Longines company in 1866.^[3] During the final decades of the 19th century he set up a modern watch factory and undertook action to remain competitive against producers in the United States.^[4]

He died on 3 April 1900 in Saint-Imier, where he founded the factory. A monument to his memory was erected on 13 October 1907.^{[citation needed]}