When Pierre Messmer assured in the fall of 1973 that “Lip, it’s over…”the Prime Minister of Georges Pompidou adds “as far as I’m concerned”. Words advised, because the social conflict which began on June 12 of this same year in the factory of the district of Palente, in Besançon, will be part of the history of the labor movement and the unions, in particular of the CFDT. Refusing to file for bankruptcy, the employees took over the watch factory and made the watches themselves, thus putting into practice a form of self-management unprecedented in France.
Fifty years later, the capital of Doubs has not forgotten this event despite the efforts of employers and certain city councilors to erase from the landscape this internationally echoed strike which, they said, “damages the image of the city and discourages investors”. Conversely, like his companions in struggle, Charles Piaget, then an activist of the Unified Socialist Party (PSU), CFDT delegate and spokesperson for the movement, who will be 94 years old on July 23, has always kept the flame burning. “Within a collective” he insists, erected in spite of himself as a symbol.
Besançon will thus celebrate this memory of a manufacturer born in 1867 and who employed up to 1,300 people when the “communion watch” was a French staple. Admittedly, resentment remains among those who still believe that “Without union diehards, rescue opportunities could have been achieved” (in 1977, Lip was liquidated, but the brand did not disappear) or those who had not digested until the days of the workers’ slogan “It’s possible, we manufacture, we sell, we get paid!” » the suppliers have not been paid. But the page has nevertheless been turned. The Palente building has been converted into an industrial and artisanal reception area.
Dial with the 1973 slogan
And, surprise, eight years ago, thanks to the tenacity of Philippe Bérard, president of SMB Horlogerie (Besançon watch company), in Châtillon-le-Duc, and his son Pierre-Alain, general manager, Lip has made its comeback. in the Franche-Comté cradle of watchmaking made in France. In 2015, they acquired from the Gers group Sensemat, holder of the brand since 1990, the use of the license, a prelude to a transfer of ownership (in October 2024).
About ten kilometers from the capital of the Doubs, a number of Lip watches have since been assembled with those of the ten other brands produced by this factory of 130 employees where ten additional workers were hired for the occasion.
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