Founded in 1791, Bergeon & Cie are based in Le Locle, a Swiss town famous for its precision engineering skills. The Company's watchmakers' lathes were, for many years, built exclusively along lines of the original "D-bed" Geneva-pattern type - but were eventually joined by the heavier Model 50 WW, a Webster Whitcombe type plain-turning precision lathe with a conventional cast-iron bed. Unfortunately, the model 50 model not only looked rather prosaic but was finished in a "hammered" paint finish quite unsuitable for the size and quality of the machine. However, happily, the superb Bergeon quality remained unchanged and the lathe was every bit as good as it predecessors - if not as pleasing to behold. With production of the superb 8 mm "Geneva" lathes set to continue in the 21st century, today the Burgeon has few competitors in its specialised niche -  most other European manufacturers of the type (Boley, Lorch, Wolf, Jahn, Boley & Leinen and Favorite) having long ceased trading. The USA continues to offer competition in the form of the super machines made by Derbyshire and Levin - which are not only perfectly capable of being used for watchmaking work, but can also, thanks to their WW style beds, be adapted to a number of other specialist tasks and mount accessories suitable for production work. During the 1970s and 1980s two Polish firms ZM Skarzysko and ZDZ (Zaklad Doskonalenia Zawodowego) made was where, in effect, copies of the Bergeon Model C - though with the headstock bearing supports cantilevered to the left rather than to the right.
Available during its long production run with various combinations of features, the Bergeon "Geneva-type" watchmakers' lathe was offered in three main basic configurations:
Model C with a 275 mm long bed bar, a "right-hand" headstock, simple "push-barrel" tailstock and a compound slide rest.
Model D with a 275 mm long bed bar, a "right-hand" headstock, "push-barrel" tailstock and a hand T-rest.
Model E with two tailstocks - one fixed and acting as the headstock, the other loose - and a hand rest. This model replicated the function of a pair of watchmaker's turns, the simplest and one of the earliest forms of precision turning tool.
All three types were available as either uncased, basic units, or combined with various accessories and fitted into one of three different sizes of wooden case (a selection of these desireable outfits and their contents can be seen here). Because the lathes could be built up from a variety of components, in different combinations, the standard sets were named after their case, rather than the model of lathe they contained. Unfortunately, the potential for confusion was compounded by mistakes in catalog proofreading and probably translation, for the original sales brochures often have the contents listed under the wrong case - but who is to say that the headings and set names were not incorrect as well ? According to what can be deduced, the boxed set listed as the "Lathe F" (designed to be used by watchmakers specialising in pivoting work) was really a Model D lathe in the middle-sized "F" case; the "Lathe Standard A" was a Model C lathe in the small "A" case and the "Complete Lathe B" was a Model C Lathe with a very complete range of accessories fitted into a "B" case. However, current machines (early 21st century) are listed using a different system.
Regardless of the confusion surrounding the literature, the Burgeon has always had a particularly pleasing cosmetic finish with the main components painted in beige enamel and other surfaces nickel plated.
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