Benrus Watch Company was a family owned American company founded in New York City in 1921 by three brothers – Oscar, Benjamin, and Ralph. The ambitious brothers were Romanian immigrants. The name "BENRUS" was a combination of Benjamin Lazrus first and last names. Hence "BEN"jamin Laz"RUS". Before 1930, the company transitioned from watch repair to manufacturing watch cases and assembling watches using imported internal components from Switzerland. The original company headquarters were located in the Hippodrome building on 44th Street in Manhattan NY. While some watch assembly took place there, the bulk of the manufacture took place in La Chaux-de-Fonds Switzerland. Benrus owned a factory in that location where watch movements were assembled. During World War II Benrus, like many other watch manufacturers of the time, produced watches for the military servicemen. Also during that time they switched to the manufacture of timing systems (e.g. fuses) used in munitions. In the 1940s and 1950s, Benrus released the Sky Chief chronograph,the Dial-a-Rama, the Wrist Alarm and a bracelet watch called Embraceable. In the early 1950s, Benrus failed in a hostile takeover of Hamilton Watch Company and subsequently lost a legal battle with Hamilton in which Benrus had acquired 24% of Hamilton stock for the stated purpose of investment but for the actual purpose of control of the company. Hamilton believed Benrus was attempting to obtain enough stock in an effort to control the company and sued Benrus claiming violation of US anti-trust laws. Benrus contended that the shares represented an investment as a hedge against a 1952 proposal by the U.S Tariff Commission that recommended an increase of import duties on Swiss watch movements which would be quite damaging to Benrus who relied solely on Swiss made movements. In contrast it would prove to be beneficial to a company manufacturing watches in the US such as Hamilton. In 1953 Hamilton won an injunction against Benrus. The decision in this case has become a part of the U.S Department of Justice's Manual in regard to the establishment of preliminary injunctions in antitrust cases. In the 1960s, the company introduced self-winding watches and entered into the automobile market with steering wheel-mounted self-winding clocks. Also in this decade, Jerry Lewis was hired as a pitchman for the company's Belforte brand. In the early 1960s, the Federal Trade Commission determined that Benrus' marketing practices--specifically, its published “list prices” were misleading for a substantial minority (about 14%) of potential customers at the time. The company was then sold to Victor Kiam of Remington Razors in 1967. Over the next ten years, the company suffered in competition against inexpensive Japanese wristwatches, adopting a strategy of diversification into military timepieces and costume jewellery. Nonetheless, Benrus filed for bankruptcy in 1977. Comments are closed.
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Old Time WatchesI enjoy collecting mechanical (manual wind and automatic) and early electric and quartz timepieces. I take great pleasure in researching and writing about the companies and people that created these beautiful watches. PF
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