Aciera F Series precision milling machines were eventually to be built in several versions: the first, in 1943 was the tiny, super-accurate F12; this was followed in the late 1940s by the very similar, long-lived and very popular F1- with both designed for undertaking clock, watch and instrument work. Larger versions were the more general-purpose (though still high-precision) F2 (few produced)  F3, F4 and F5 types. In addition, by the early 1970s, a limited number of production variants were also being manufactured - designated F1N, F1h, F1NC, F3EC and F5NC - together with a number of factory specials built to order for watch, clock and experimental-engineering firms.
Aciera were founded in Le Locle, Switzerland in 1903, in an area long associated with the manufacture of mechanical timepieces. Their first products were exclusively for the local high-precision industries but, with the advent of WW1 in 1914, production expanded to include conventional machine tools that could be sold into a wider market. By the mid 1970s the Company was at its zenith, with a recently completed factory at Le-Crêt-du-Locle and more than 134 production machines in use. Unfortunately these good times were not to last and, after a disastrous attempt to move too early into CNC machines and a buy-out by the German Hermle Machine Tool Group, bankruptcy followed in 1992. Although the assets were bought by an Indonesia company, nothing more has been heard since.
Aciera F3   Aciera F4   Aciera F5   Aciera F12
A German collector of these and similar specialised watchmaking machinery would also be grateful to know of any for sale or to correspond with existing owners - please
email:  u.nagengast@arcor.de