Presented as wider Schild surname history in Swiss watchmaking, not a confirmed direct ancestor.
- Years
- 1829–1888
- Role
- Watch Movement Manufacturer
- Company
- Founded the business that became Eterna
Urs Schild began as a schoolteacher. In the early 1850s he moved into the watch trade taking hold in and around Grenchen, and on November 7, 1856, he and Dr Joseph Girard, a physician, founded a small business making watch movements there.
Around 1866, Dr Girard retired and Urs Schild took full ownership of the business. He steadily built it up, bringing in water and steam powered machinery, and by the late 1870s the company had begun producing complete watches, not only the movements inside them. When Urs Schild died in 1888, the business passed to his brother Adolf and his sons Max and Theodor, who carried it forward into the twentieth century as Eterna.
No authenticated portrait of Urs Schild has been located for this archive. Rather than substitute an invented image, this page uses a plain initials portrait, in keeping with the rest of this site.
Timeline
-
1856
Founds a Watch Movement Business in Grenchen
With Dr Joseph Girard, founds a small watch movement business in Grenchen, Switzerland, on November 7, 1856.
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1878
The Business Begins Producing Complete Watches
By the late 1870s, the company moves beyond movements alone and begins producing complete watches. The exact year is approximate.
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1888
Dies; the Next Generation Takes Over
Leadership of the business passes to his brother Adolf Schild, his widow, and his sons Max and Theodor Schild.