PdM 5, key of Geneva: For gold and platinum watch cases minimum thickness 0.3mm made in Geneva.

This mark PdM5 No. 3 in an 18 carat gold watch case with the Swiss hallmark of the head of Helvetia is not on the Swiss authorities list, which is supposed to show all marks in use between 1934 and 2007, although the watch dates circa 1950.

The watch is a Jaeger le Coultre wristwatch with a Cal. 480 movement.

The horizontal rectangular mark with a slash through it and 4/10 numbers below refers to the case thickness 0.4mm, which is thicker than the minimum of 0.3mm allowed under this mark.

Thanks to Conrad for the image.

The first record of this company is dated 14 May 1926, when it was recorded that the director of the company Marcel Guyot in Plainpalais, Geneva, was Louis-Marcel Guyot. The nature of the business was fabrication of watch cases, address 25, Rue de la Coulouvrenière. The Poinçon de Maître registration was probably assigned to the company around this date, rather than the date in September 1934 shown here, which refers to the centralisation of the records and not their date of origin.

The company resigned its registration in 1940 and was struck off the official register in December 1942 due to having ceased operations.

In 1946, Marcel Pugin established a company at 12 Rue Céard, Geneva, to manufacture jewellery. In July 1946, this company was transformed into a limited liability company, Marcel Pugin S.A., under the heading of watches and jewellery, although watches were not mentioned in its constitution. The assignment of the vacant Poinçon de Maître number 5 registration 28 indicates that during 1947 the company began to manufacture watch cases.

Orflex trademark 1959: Click image to enlarge

Metalia Geneve trademark 1955: Click image to enlarge

On 26 June 1963, the company Marcel Pugin S.A. was renamed as Ateliers Réunis S.A. (“united workshops”) and acquired the assets and liabilities of the companies Orflex and Metalia S.A. (formerly «Metalia Genève» Brunner & Pugin), which as a consequence were dissolved. Ateliers Réunis S.A. is sometimes referred to as “ARSA”.

Before they were taken over by Marcel Pugin S.A., Metalia Genève had registered the “MG” trademark shown here in 1955, and Orflex had registered in 1959 the “sun” trademark shown here. Both of these marks are seen on gold pin buckles. The Metalia Genève trademark was transferred to Metalia S.A. in 1956 and struck off the register of trademarks in March 1964. In May 1964 the Orflex trademark was transferred to Ateliers Réunis.

In 1965, a company called Boucledor (“gold buckles”) that specialised in gold pin buckles was spun out of Ateliers Réunis as a separate company.

In 1977, Patek Philippe took a shareholding in Ateliers Réunis S.A., effectively bringing the production of watch cases and bracelets “in house”. The building occupied by Ateliers Réunis S.A. became vacant when manufacturing of these items was transferred to a new factory in Plan-les-Ouates in 1996. The building now houses the Patek Philippe museum. Patek Philippe took over the company Ateliers Réunis in August 2012.