Commercial Flags (Switzerland)

Last modified: 2024-04-27 by martin karner
Keywords: switzerland | commercial flags |
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• Breitling
• Haldengut
• Horwath International
• Mammut
• Midland
• Nestlé
• Rolex
• Sandoz Group AG
• SATOM
• Saurer
• Swissair
• Switzerland Airport Authority
• Syngenta

• Maritime Companies Flags (Switzerland)
• International Commercial Organizations
• Switzerland

Breitling

Flag of watchmaker company Breitling SA, offered on an auction platform (picture). The flag shows the logo on white, the yellow letter B above the name BREITLING in capitals and the year of foundation 1884, both in black and in two lines.

The company was founded by Léon Breitling (1860–1914) in Saint-Imier (Bern), 1892 it moved to La-Chaux-de-Fonds (Neuchâtel). 1915, after his son Gaston had overtaken the company the year before, Breitling introduced its first watch with a chronograph. Chronographic watches should become a focus of the company. From 1936 on Breitling supplied the Royal Air Force (RAF) with board watches and wrist watches for the pilots with luminous dials. In 1942 the model Chronomat was developed, a chronograph with integrated slide rule, which was introduced into the US Army Air Forces (USAAF). In 1952 followed the Navitimer, which also had a so-called bezel which allowed calculations of fuel consumption, rates of climbing and descent flight, average speed and more. In 1958 Breitling's first diving watch was introduced, the Superocean.
In 1979 Willy Breitling sold his rights to Ernest Schneider, who moved the construction offices to Grenchen (Solothurn), now named Breitling Montres SA. In 1984 the company introduced the new version of the Chronomat model, which was developed together with the Italian aerobatic team Frecce Tricolori. It's still the company's main product. The pilot watch Emergency from 1995 had an integrated emergency beacon. Since 2002 the mechanical watches are again produced in La-Chaux-de-Fonds, in the same year a new diving watch was introduced for dephts until 3000 meters.
In 2017 the then British financial investor CVC Capital Partners bought 80 percent of Breitling's share capital, a year later it bought also the remaining 20 percent. In 2021 the investor Partners Group from Zug, Switzerland bought 20 percent, and in December 2022 became majority shareholder.
Martin Karner, 8 December 2023

Haldengut

Flag of Haldengut beer and brewery, offered on an auction platform.
Haldengut is a Swiss beer brand and former brewing company from Winterthur (Zurich) and still strongly anchored in the region. Haldengut is one of the last Swiss breweries to have own horses; they have a horse and cart with six Shire horses for the delivery in the city of Winterthur.
A cold-blooded horse has become part of the company's logo and flag since 1951, which hasn't been changed since then.
The brewery was founded in 1843 under the name "Haldenberg" by Ferdinand Ernst, the owner of the "Haldengut" farm in Winterthur. In 1851 the brewery was renamed to "Haldengut". In the 1960s the company made a splash with its slogan "Ende gut – Haldengut" (Roughly: A good end means Haldengut), which was in use for decades. It was an alteration of the common phrase "Ende gut, alles gut" (All's well that ends well). This slogan was implemented in a humorous way on numerous beer mats with stories. In 1989 the Haldengut brewery merged with Calanda Bräu from Chur (Grisons), and in 1994 both breweries were taken over by the Dutch Heineken company. In 1999, Heineken stopped brewing operations in Winterthur and relocated them to Chur, ending Haldengut's brewing history in Winterthur. The Haldengut beer types are still being produced.
Martin Karner, 18 December 2023

See also:   Shepherd Neame brewery (Hürlimann beer)

Horwath International

Horwath International, a Swiss Verein-structured business, comprising professional services in Insurance, Business Services, Consulting, Corporate Finance, Risk Consulting, Tax and Technology.
Image based on: http://www.minhacienda.gov.co/MinHacienda (Colombian Ministry of Finance, March 2009)
For more information please see: Horwath International (official website) http://www.horwath.com/
Esteban Rivera, 21 March 2009

Mammut

Mammut Sports Group AG (Aktiengesellschaft) (English: Mammut Sports Group Incorporated) is a Swiss premium outdoor company founded in 1862. Until 2021, Mammut belonged to Conzzeta AG (now known as Bystronic AG (official website), at which point they were sold to Telemos Capital (official website) of which it is currently a subsidiary.

The flag is a square black background featuring the logo and below the slogan "Absolute alpine" in white letters (Photo by Esteban Rivera, Bern 2011).

Sources:
https://ch.linkedin.com/company/mammut-sports-group-ag
https://www.mammut.com/int/en/about-us
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammut_Sports_Group
For additional information go to the official website: http://mammut.com

Logo

Esteban Rivera, 7 January 2024

Midland

Flag of Midland oil company, offered on an auction platform. The flag shows the company logo on white background, flag ratio 5:3. The logo shows three triangles above the company name and the slogan "Swiss Quality Oil.". The name and the design of the logo have to do with the geographical location of the company. It's situated in Hunzenschwil (Aargau), in Switzerland's Central Plateau, also known under its German name "Mittelland" (thus the English translated "Midland"). Many people who don't know Switzerland think that the country only consists of the Alpine region (promoted by travel literature of earlier times, the "Heidi" novel and touristic advertising). The Mittelland, which contains the biggest parts of the population and economic activities, is located between the low Jura mountains in the West and Northwest, and the Alps in the South. The inverted middle triangle on the logo represents the Mittelland between the Alps and the Jura mountains.

The company was founded in 1880 under the name "J. Brack" by Jakob Brack, who imported and sold mineral lubricants from Romania. Later they became the official sales partner of American oil products from companies like Perfectol, Quaker State and Kendall Motor Oil. In 2004, when Shell acquired Quaker State, the company's name was changed from Oel-Brack AG (since 1938) to Midland, a name which should sound American, reflecting both the traditional partnerships with US companies and the Swiss origins.

Martin Karner, 7 December 2023

Nestlé

The flag is the bird nest logo in white on a blue background with the words "Nestlé" in white, and on the left the bird nest is displayed in blue outline on a white background. These two graphical depictions occupy 50% each of space on the flag.

Nestlé S.A. is a multinational packaged food company founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company for milk products established in 1866 by the Page Brothers in Cham, Switzerland, and the Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé Company set up in 1866 by Henri Nestlé to provide an infant food product. The two world wars both affected growth: during the first, dried milk was widely used but the second war caused profits to drop by around 70%. However, sales of the instant coffee Nescafé were boosted by the US military. After the wars, growth was stimulated by acquisitions expanding its range and taking control of several well known brands, so they now include Maggi, Thomy and Nescafé, that are known globally. It is the world's largest food company, with Kraft Foods being second.
Esteban Rivera, 16 September 2009

Rolex

Rolex SA is a luxury watchmaker founded in London in 1905 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, since 1919. The company does business worldwide and is one of the most recognizable luxury brands in the world. (http://www.rolex.com/)

The Rolex corporate flag can be seen in photographs online, particularly https://motorsport.com/all/photo/main-gallery/flags-11751839/?a=870774, at the Rolex-sponsored 24-hour auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, in January 2017. The flag features the Rolex corporate logo in gold on a green field. The logo shows a crown above the word "ROLEX" in capital letters.

Randy Young, 20 February 2017

Sandoz Group AG

Logos

image located by Esteban Rivera
(source)

image located by Esteban Rivera
(source)

The flag is a white horizontal background with the logo in the middle.

• In 1886 Edouard Sandoz and Alfred Kern established the "Chemiefirma Kern & Sandoz" (English: Chemical company Kern & Sandoz), in Basel, to manufacture and sell synthetic dyes. Following the untimely death of Mr Kern in 1893, Mr Sandoz recruited Robert Gnehm. Together, they turned their attention to the pharmaceuticals industry. Later on, the name of the company was changed to "Chemische Fabrik vormals Sandoz" (English: Chemical factory formerly Sandoz). Within a decade, the company produced its first pharmaceutical substance. It currently specializes in medicines used in organ transplants as well as generic pharmaceuticals and biosimilars.
  
• In 1917, Sandoz entered pharmaceutical research.
• In 1938 Arthur Stoll and Albert Hofmann produced the synthetic substance lysergic acid diethylamide, better known as LSD. From 1947 to the mid-60s, LSD was sold by Sandoz under the name Delysid. It was marketed as a treatment for a wide variety of mental ailments until withdrawn in 1965.
• In 1939 the Kern & Sandoz name was shortened to Sandoz Ltd.
• In 1963 it acquired Biochemie GmbH (established in 1946), the Kundl plant in Austria that produced Penicillin V.
• In 1967 it merged with Wander AG (official website: http://www.wander.ch ) (established in 1865). It was sold to Associated British Foods (official website: https://abf.co.uk) in 2002.
• In 1972, Sandoz acquired Delmark, Wasabröd, Wasa, the Swedish crisp bread producer Wasa in 1982.
• In 1986, Velsicol Chemical Corporation acquired the agrochemicals division of Sandoz.
• In 1994, Sandoz bought Gerber Products Company, expanding its research into biopharmacueticals.
• In 1995, the specialty chemicals division became an independent company under the name Clariant (official website: http://clariant.com/ ).
• On December 20, 1996, the merger of Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy led to the creation of Novartis. The Sandoz brand name was then only used in the pharmaceutical business for over-the-counter medicines. The Sandoz brand became dormant until May 2003, when Novartis united its global generics businesses under a single global brand, Novartis Generics, then renamed Sandoz GmbH, becoming a Division within Novartis. In addition to the name, the company logo used before the merger was also adopted. Around the same time, Austria's flagship pharmaceutical company, Biochemie GmbH would also be operating under the Sandoz name. Since February 2003, Sandoz's global headquarters had been located in Vienna.
• In 2002, Sandoz acquired Lek Pharmaceuticals d.d., Slovenia's largest pharmaceutical company.
• In 2003, The Amifarma S.L. production plant in Palafolls, located near Barcelona, Spain was also acquired.
• In February 2005, Sandoz acquired over Hexal AG (Germany) and Eon Labs (U.S.).
• It also acquired Sabex (Canada) around this time.
• In 2009, Sandoz acquired Austrian EBEWE Pharma's specialty generic injectables division and in 2010, acquired Oriel Therapeutics
• In 2022, Novartis announced its intention to separate the Sandoz business to create a standalone company. In October 2023, Sandoz became independent.
• Prior to October 2023 it specialized in medicines used in organ transplants and various antipsychotics and migraine medicines. Its headquarters were in Holzkirchen, Germany since 2005 and after the spin-off from Novartis, it announced in June 2023 it would move its headquarters from to Basel, Switzerland. On October 4, 2023, Novartis completed the spin-off of Sandoz as a stand-alone company.
• In January 2024, Sandoz announced it would acquire biosimilar drug for vision Cimerli (official website: https://www.cimerli.com) from Coherus BioSciences (official website: http://www.coherus.com). The acquisition was completed in March 2024.

Esteban Rivera, 10 April 2024

Satom

SATOM SA, a company established in 1972 and active since 1976, is involved in waste recycling. Its main shareholders are 40 municipalities in the canton of Vaud and another 34 in the canton of Valais, and the two cantons of Vaud and Valais.
SATOM operates two sites, a thermic waste recycling plant in Monthey (Valais) and a methanization unit for green waste in Villeneuve (Vaud), acquired in 2007 and modernized in 2012. SATOM also manages the regional waste site of Collombey-Muraz and the inter-municipal waste site of Corsier-sur-Vevey, and, only for the administrative part, the municipal waste sites of Collonges, Evionnaz, Liddes, Martigny-Combre, OrsiËres, Port-Valais, Saillon, and Vouvry. (https://satomsa.ch)
For its first 40 years of operation, the Monthey unit has processed 4.4 million ton waste. Now the biggest producer of thermic electricity in Switzerland – and also the cheapest incineration plant, it processes waste generated by some 300 000 people (180 000 ton per year) and supplies electricity to the equivalent of 40 000 households (Source: 24heures.ch, 1 April 2016).

The flag of SATOM, as hoisted in front of the Villeneuve plant between the flags of Vaud and Valais, and in front of the Monthey plant between the flags of Valais and Vaud, is made of the graphic element of the company's logo. Beyond reasonable doubt, the green and red parts represent Vaud and Valais, respectively (Photo Villeneuve, Photo Monthey).

Ivan Sache, 28 August 2019

Saurer

Flag of Saurer AG (today: Saurer Intelligent Technology AG) offered on an auction platform. The company was founded in 1853 by Franz Sauer as fabrication of housewares. After the move from St. Gallen to Arbon (Thurgau) in 1869, his son Adolph, now under the name Adolph Saurer AG, began to produce embroidery machines with raising success, so that the company still today is one of the biggest producer of textile machines worldwide (synthetic fibre, since 1999). Today Saurer is part of the Chinese Jinsheng Group, which bought the company in 2012 from OC Oerlikon Corporation (Pfäffikon, Switzerland), which had bought Saurer in 2007.
Since 1897 the Saurer company was also engaged in producing motor cars, since 1903 they also built commercial vehicles, which became their only vehicle branch from 1914 onwards. In short time their trucks and busses got good reputation, so that they built subsidiary companies in different countries: Austria (1906–59), France (1910–56), United Kingdom (1927–31), Germany (1915–18), USA (1911), Yugoslavia (FAP with license from Saurer, 1953–61) which finally were taken over by other companies. Saurer became the world leader in developing Diesel engines and could hold this position until the 1980s. In Switzerland Saurer trucks and busses shaped the street scenes from the 1930s until the 1990s (besides Berna, which was owned by Saurer), and also the Swiss Army and Swiss Post (bus service) were equipped with Saurer trucks for several decades. The guaranteed supply for the army and the post were not conducive for innovation, and in addition the international competition and the concentration on the commercial vehicle market have been a problem for the small-series manufacturer Saurer since the 1970s. The missed expansion led to a crisis in 1975–86. Commercial vehicle production was discontinued in 1983, the last military truck was delivered in 1987.

Sources:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Saurer_AG
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saurer
http://www.saurer-club.ch...
https://saurer.com/en (Website of Saurer Intelligent Technology AG)

Martin Karner, 11 December 2023

Swissair

The historic airline flag of Swissair (in use late 1930s – late 1940s).
Miles Li, 23 March 2015

[Variant with lettering (probably 1940s), source]

Swissport

flag proportion 1:1
field : white
logo : SWISSPORT in black letters and red parallelogram with flying airplanes over the Earth
Nozomi Kariyasu, 23 October 2007

Syngenta AG is a large Swiss agribusiness. Its flag is simply its name in blue on a white field, with a green leaf over the letters "ge".
Eugene Ipavec, 22 May 2006