Hebe Watch SA

Alle, a rural farming village of about 1,000 inhabitants lies less than 10 miles from the French border and maybe 40 miles due west of Basel. It seems a most unlikely place to find a watch manufacturer. Riding around looking for the offices of Hebe Watch I see more farm animals than people. Rue Achille Merguin, the street where Hebe is suppose to be located on, is only about a block long and comes to a dead-end at a fenced-in piece of farmland. The street contains several farmhouses but nothing that looks like a watch factory. I continue riding around the immediate vicinity. Earlier I had stopped at the small train station in Alle and asked for directions. Though the stationmaster didn't speak English, he provided me with a map of the area that even showed Rue Achille Merguin on it. Hmm, returning to the street, I stop, get off my bike and stand around scratching my head trying to figure out if maybe I have the wrong address or maybe the company just uses a post office box address. Just then a casually dressed man (probably in his 60's) comes walking out of a building a few feet away from me. I stop him and ask if he speaks English. He nods and I show him my questionnaire, which contains the name and address of Hebe Watch along with the name of the company's CEO, Heribert Periat. The man points to the building he just came out of and says, "that's it". I tell him I'm looking for Heribert Periat. He answers, "that's me". I ask if he has a few minutes to talk but Periat says he first has to go run an errand and directs me inside to talk to his wife, Genevieve.

It's not until I look up at the top part of the building with a partial second floor that I discover the Hebe Watch sign along with a large wall clock. My problem in not spotting the place was twofold; I was too close to the building to see the name and, the 1950's structure looks more like a farmhouse annex than a watch factory. Hmm, the time showing on the large outside clock is way off the correct time-not a good sign for a maker of watches.

Besides being the wife of the owner, Genevieve Periat is also the company's second-in-command. Heribert and Genevieve share an office with cluttered desks facing one another. Furnishings are sparse and the two fake flower arrangements near the window look like they haven't been dusted in years.

Hebe Watch was founded on this exact site back in 1900 by Heribert's grandfather. I'm shown a picture of the original structure. The current building was built in 1950 and it definitely looks its age.
The 10 employees are all Alle locals and have been with the company for years, which gives the place a real family atmosphere. How did the company's logo of three pine trees come about? Periat says his grandfather needed a logo and came up with it by going outside and seeing a bunch of pine trees in the distance. Walking outside I notice quite a few pine trees still in the immediate area.

A big part of Hebe's business comes from making watches for the corporate market. Companies like IBM or Coca-Cola place bulk orders for watches emblazoned with their logos or names.

Periat and his wife probably have the shortest commute time I've ever come across. Go out the front door of Hebe, walk twenty steps to the other side of the street and they're home.