Diamond maker
He was born on April 10, 1878 in Villard-Saint-Sauveur (Jura).
He was the son of Célestin Benjamin Mermet, a turner.
His brother, Claude Jules Mermet, was mayor of Saint-Claude.
His son, Roger Mermet, was a leading member of the French Resistance.
He managed "Le Jura diamantaire", a diamond workshop opened in 1907 in Foncine-le-Haut, Jura, employing up to 120 workers. The company ceased operations in 1939.
He married Marie Sabine Poncet.
He died on December 18, 1939 in Foncine-le-Haut.
Max ROCHE - Doctor of History
Stone-cutting plant for jewelry and industry
(diamond-cutting plant, then lapidary plant),
industrial equipment factory
The diamond-cutting factory was built in 1906-1907 by the international trade union Alliance universelle des Ouvriers diamantaires.
It housed the Jura diamantaire company, whose management was entrusted to the San-Claudien le Diamant cooperative.
The factory closed in 1932 and was leased between 1935 and 1939 to the San-Claudian Torcyner, who set up an apprentice cutting workshop.
Converted into a stable during the Second World War, the building was leased in 1946 to Swiss industrialist Stephen, who set up a synthetic ruby cutting factory for the watchmaking industry called Microrubis. Stephen bought the factory in 1949, and soon afterwards expanded the workshop.
After the factory closed in 1982, the building was taken over around 1985 by Pagès, a company specializing in the manufacture of industrial process control equipment.
The workshop, located at 20 Grande Rue Foncine-le-Haut Jura Franche-Comté, includes :
- 1 steam engine in 1907
- 120 people around 1910
- 100 people around 1960
- 50 people around 1980