Founded in 1791 Bergeon & Cie are based in the le Locle, a Swiss town famous for its precision engineering skills. Their watchmakers' lathes were, for many years, built along lines of the original "D-bed" Geneva-pattern watchmakers' lathe - rather than the American Webster Whitcomb (WW) style - with production of the superb 8mm units set to continue in the 21st century. Whilst the current Bergeon machines are identical to those shown on these pages they have also been been joined by the Model 50, a WW type plain-turning precision lathe with a conventional cast-iron bed which, unfortunately, is not only rather clumsy-looking, but finished in a "hammered" paint finish quite out of scale with the size of the machine.
Today the Burgeon has few competitors in its specialised niche, most other European manufacturers, even the better known makers (Boley, Lorch, Wolf,Jahn, Boley & Leinen and Favorite) having long ago fallen by the wayside. The USA continues to offer competition in the form of the super-precision machines made by Derbyshire and Levin - which are not only perfectly capable of being used for watchmaking work, but can also, thanks to their WW style beds, be adapted to a number of other specialist task as well as being able to mount accessories suitable for production work. Available during its long production run with various combinations of features the watchmakers' lathe was built in three main configurations:
Model C with a 275 mm long bed bar, a "right-hand" headstock, simple "push-barrel" tailstock and a compound slide rest.
Model D with a 275 mm long bed bar, a "right-hand" headstock, "push-barrel" tailstock and a hand T rest.
Model E with two tailstocks - one fixed and acting as the headstock, the other loose - and a hand rest. This model replicates the function of a pair of watchmaker's turns, the simplest and one of the earliest forms of precision turning tool.
All models were available as either uncased, basic units, or combined with various accessories and fitted into one of three different sizes of wooden case. Because the lathes could be built up from a variety of components, in different combinations, the standard sets were named after their case, rather than the model of lathe they contained. Unfortunately, the potential for confusion was compounded by mistakes in catalog proof reading and probably translation, for the original sales brochures often have the contents listed under the wrong case - but who is to say that the headings and set names were not incorrect as well ? According to what can be deduced, the boxed set listed as the "Lathe F" (set up for watchmakers specialising in pivoting work) was really a Model D lathe in the middle-sized "F" case, the "Lathe Standard A" was a Model C lathe in the small "A" case and the "Complete Lathe B" was a Model C Lathe with a very complete range of accessories in the "B" case; the current machines are listed under a different numbering system.
Regardless of the confusion surrounding the literature the Burgeon has always had a particularly pleasing finish with the main components in beige enamel paint and the other surfaces nickel plated.