Short history of Delux:

The first official notice we have about Dulux watches as a brand is a registration dated 20 June 1933 by Rene Ginrat/Montres Dulux based at Tramelan in Switzerland. However, although Dulux as a word brand name was used only from 1933, the name Dulux as a company title for the producers of Dulux branded watches first occurs back in 1908. In fact three brand names were registered for Ph. Gindrat-Mathey/Rene Ginrat; Dulux SA in 1908, when the firm is listed as being a supplier of both watches and watch parts. These names are Illico-Watch, Mirador and Parure. The next year, 1909, another brand name was registered, Prosit, with the firm now titled as Rene Ginrat/Montres Dulux/Philemon Gindrat-Mathey, based at Tramelan-Dessus, Switzerland. This same partnership, still engaged in watches and watch parts, introduced another brand name in 1912, Tisbe-Watch.
Shortly before Philemon Gindrat-Mathey seems to have left the Dulux watch company, the brand names, Horeb and Leria, were registered (1929) and by the first registration of Dulux as a word name on watches in 1933, the firm was known as Rene Ginrat/Montres Dulux and from about this time focused on completed watches. The Dulux watch company continued to register new brand names - Zena in 1935, Aida in 1941, Horizon in 1943, and Égalité in 1945 - with Rene Ginrat’s name tending to be left off the Dulux company registration title. Registrations then go through a blank phase until, in 1977, Fabrique d’Horlogerie Dulux SA registered the name, Rila, with the firm still headquartered at Tramelan, in the Canton of Berne, Switzerland - note that in 1973, the firm had been listed for “levers.” As a final note on registrations marking the long history of the Dulux watch company, at some time, the name Gindrat was also registered as a brand name by the Dulux company.
The Dulux watch concern was clearly very active prior to World War 2, and continued in unbroken production after the War, probably until at least the mid-1980s. An illustrated document from The Swiss Watch Fair of 1967 shows two Dulux ladies’ watches, one of them cased in 18 carat gold, and from the surviving watches branded Dulux, we know that the company was active post-War until relatively recent times. Fortunately, I have managed to locate a short document from “Chronologie jurassienne” which states that on 23 December 1986, “La manufacture d’horlogerie Dulux SA décide la fusion avec Willy Choffat SA, manufacture d’horlogerie montres Rita.” It would seem that this merger represented the swan song of the Dulux watch concern and events from this time concerning the company are somewhat confusing.
It would appear that the Dulux watch company entered liquidation soon after 1986, with the name still remaining on the register, and for the post-1990 period, my main sources are Swiss FOSC and “Tagebuch” documents. In March 2002, there appears to have been an attempt to restart the brand/company, at the request of the liquidator, on the basis that the liquidation had not yet been fully completed, and at this time the firm was described as being involved in the “fabrication, achat et vente de L’horlogerie.” Certainly there are some problematic quartz watches branded Dulux that seem to postdate 2002, with souk.com (based in the UAE) being the main online seller of these pieces, but there was probably little likelihood of reforming and invigorating the Dulux watch company itself at this time, especially as a manufacturer/assembler of watches, and the post-2002 watches, that also have been produced in more recent years, merely represent the temporary acquisition and use of the brand name. Finally, in 2007, with no reinstatement of the Dulux watch company as a going concern, the liquidation finally went ahead and the company was removed from the Swiss register of commerce.