Acronym S.A.V.I.C is sometimes written at the bottom of HEUER stopwatches or watches dials (see ref 918. dec. or ref. 9901). S.A.V.I.C was importer of HEUER products into France during the 50’s and the 60’s (and maybe early 70’s). S.A.V.I.C stands for “Société Anonyme de Vente Industrielle de Compteurs” that you can translate by “Anonymous Company for Industial Selling of Timers”.
As you can see on the ad, S.A.V.I.C (also writted SAVIC) is closely associated with the compagny Dermont. S.A.V.I.C and Dermont were based in the center of Paris, not far from “Place Vendôme”. Dermont designed watches, using mainly swiss calibers and some of them were HEUER (few french forums deals with this subject : thread 1 on forumamontre.com, thread 2 on forumamontre.com, placedelours.com). It also sold “Ulysse Nardin” watches (some ads can be easly found on the web). After some short investigations, the exact relation between S.A.V.I.C and Dermont is not exactly defined. Is S.A.V.I.C, a subsidiary company of Dermont ? Is S.A.V.I.C the importer and Dermont the distributor ? The ad says “SAVIC control HEUER-LEONIDAS distributed by Dermont” ; maybe S.A.V.I.C was a Dermont’s department in charge of stopwatches and timers ? Only thing which is pretty sure is that S.A.V.I.C imported HEUER products for the french market during the 50’s and the 60′, and worked with Dermont. The two french compagnies were so involved with the swiss watch maker, they used HEUER logo design for their own logos.
Most of time (not to say always), S.A.V.I.C is followed by the mention “FAB. SUISSE”. Thank to Jeff Stein’s investiations, owner of the website “onthedash.com“, the mystery of “FAB SUISSE” found its key. French administration prohibited importation of foregin products, people could think they were made in France. Because most of swiss watches manufacturers were in the Switzerland french speaking area, their name sounds french. To avoid any confusion, “FAB. SUISSE” (a short cut for “FABRICATION SUISSE”, french translation of “swiss made”) was printed on the dial. “FAB. SUISSE” can be found on all swiss watches (not only HEUER) sold in France from (approximately) the end of the 30’s to early 70’s. The law still exists but is now not applied.
Feel free to share suggestions or improvements for this article using this form.