UBS Virtual Museum

The addendum "formerly Bank in Winterthur and Toggenburger Bank" disappeared after Union Bank of Switzerland’s 1919 merger with Aargauische Creditanstalt.

Picture from around 1912.

UBS AG, Historical Archive, Union Bank of Switzerland (eds.) 1862 1912 1962, p. 75UBS AG, Historical Archive, Toggenburger Bank 1863-1912, photographer unknown

The Bank in Winterthur, founded in 1862, had developed into an important credit institution thanks to the industrial boom in its area of activity. However, to continue in the long term, facing increasingly tough competition, it had to expand and establish itself in Zurich, Switzerland's most important financial market.

The Bank in Baden, founded in 1863, fitted perfectly into this scheme, because it only wanted to maintain its branch’s presence at Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse 44, regarding the possibility of returning to the Aargau economic territory. Based on these considerations, both institutions signed a contract of interest in 1905 and offered their shareholders an exchange of shares in the other’s bank. Therefore, the Bank in Winterthur acquired a majority stake in the Bank in Baden – and moved into its former business premises in Zurich in 1906. On the one hand, the first Zurich branch of the Bank in Winterthur shortly developed into its business center and on the other hand, gained direct access to the Zurich Stock Exchange, which was previously denied because securities trading was only possible through stockbrokers.

Picture from around 1912.

UBS AG, Historical Archive, Union Bank of Switzerland (eds.) 1862 1912 1962, pp. 56, 75 UBS AG, Historical Archive, H. and E. Bucher, Photographic Institute, Zurich

The two SBC representatives initially wanted to remain on board the liner. But Max Staehelin realized the gravity of the situation when he saw a half-full lifeboat swing out from among the assembling passengers and saw the panic in the face of the sailor in command. Since no one else was around and the sailor was keen to lower the lifeboat, they both got in.

Max Staehelin recorded his observations of the catastrophe in a notebook: "Simonius, Max Fröhlicher and I were at dinner on Sunday night, which ran on until 11:30 p.m. with subsequent entertainment. The weather was beautiful and the night was full of stars. By evening it had become considerably colder, so the electric heater was switched on. The ship was going full steam ahead. Everything was quiet on board. We parted and everyone went off to their cabins. I was still getting undressed when I suddenly felt a mild jolt, followed by a muffled rolling sound that lasted about ten seconds. It was not strong enough to knock me over. I stepped out into the hallway and asked a steward what was happening, although it never even occurred to me that anything unusual might have happened. The man assured me it was nothing, so I headed back. I then made the decision to go up on deck, but I was still unsure of what was to come. Nevertheless, I dressed again – not into the formal attire I had just taken off – and went up on deck. I found Simonius there, and together we saw that there was a lot of ice on a lower deck, covering the floor for quite a way around to a foot or two, or even higher. The ship then released a lot of steam, and it’s likely that the hissing sound from this caused the decks to quickly fill up. The crew kept repeating that nothing noteworthy had occurred, so there were not yet any signs of agitation. There was also a calming effect when the ship’s music began to play. The air was very calm, neither fog nor wind. However, it had become significantly colder. The ship was now stationary and Simonius and I began to observe attempts to lower the lifeboats. The ship’s crew assured us that this was being done only as an extreme precaution and that there was no real and present need to do so. But the ladies in first class were then asked to proceed to the deck where the boats were to be boarded. When Simonius and I saw this, we thought it time to prepare to leave the ship ...

When we got on the deck, there were already a lot of women in the boats, but no major agitation. Yes, there were some women who refused to board, which is why there were so many empty places. When we saw this, Simonius and I got in one of the least-occupied boats, although we were still very calm because the Titanic seemed to be completely safe. The music was still playing, and the crew maintained a professional demeanor despite their obvious anxiety.

It’s likely that no one considered the possibility of the large ship sinking; if they had, the lifeboats would have filled up rather more quickly. Although the engines had fully stopped and the ship was down pretty far at the bow, the electric lighting system was still operational. Some people brought lifebelts on deck before the boats were lowered, and the ship’s crew was now urging everyone to put theirs on. Stokers and other crew members were arriving on our deck too, and rushed to the lifeboats, but other crew members chased them away. Our boats were then lowered and we swiftly descended to the water’s surface. The Titanic’s crew were the first to begin rowing, before Simonius and I and a few others relieved them. A total of 16 to 18 boats carrying between 50 and 60 people managed to get away. As we cast off, the excitement on board seemed to grow enormously. Rescue signals were activated, chaos seemed to be widespread. Before the Carpathia picked us and the others up, we rowed around for three and a half hours in the bitter cold. We did not see the Titanic sink. I learned afterward that it had sunk around half an hour later. A collapsible lifeboat that appeared to have been lowered without passengers was also picked up by the Carpathia.

According to what was said on the Carpathia, fierce battles among the swimmers had taken place for spaces in this boat, resulting in 17 members of the ship’s crew finding refuge in it, alongside a student from Geneva whose name I do not know. Simonius and I had not seen any signs of approaching danger and only noticed afterward how extraordinarily cold it had become. When I had gone back on deck, I heard that some gentlemen still sitting in the Paris salon had suddenly seen the glimmering, towering white mountain in the path of the ship. But as the ship was moving so fast, it was no longer possible to avoid the iceberg. There were plenty of empty places, both in the boats and on the Carpathia. The scale of the loss of life was due to the ship’s crew, in trying to avoid wild uproar, committing the opposite error by denying that there was any danger to the passengers."

UBS AG, Historical Archive; Hans Bauer, Anmerkung zur Geschichte des Schweizerischer Bankvereins 1972 (Note on the History oft he Swiss Bank Corporation 1972)UBS AG, Historical Archive, photographer unknown

The MADAS, used by the Union Bank of Switzerland’s Winterthur accounts payable division, was one of the successors to the Millionaire machine.

UBS AG, Historical Archive

The photo depicts workstations in the firm’s Montreux office in 1968, with two MADAS 20ATG mechanical desk calculators, manufactured in 1951, in the foreground.

H. W. Egli Ltd. Manufacturers of Calculating MachinesUBS AG, Historical Archive, Photographer Jean Schlemmer

Courses in “machine arithmetic” were made available to staff so that they could acquaint themselves with how the machines worked, and particularly with the potential of electronic computers.

These took a total of 12 hours (one hour per day) and involved using mechanical addition machines alongside electronic calculators for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, but also for calculations using constants and memory functions.

The Casio AS-A, manufactured in 1969 and shown in the photo, was the electronic calculator used for the machine calculations course. It was operated via a Nixie Tube display.

UBS AG, Historical Archive

The name was a good omen. Even as development was going on, the bank’s space requirements increased as the business grew.

Photograph circa 1926.

Baugeschichtliches Archiv, photographer unknown

The polished rosewood, the bronze lettering and the alabaster lights all add to the air of dignity.

Photograph circa 1919.

Baugeschichtliches Archiv, photographer unknown

In the building across the street (left) predecessor Bank in Winterthur opened its Zurich branch in 1906 and remained there also after the merger with Toggenburger Bank in 1912 until the move to the new edifice.

Baugeschichtliches Archiv, photographer Guler Romedo

A number of companies for whom the bank served as paying agent for coupons is listed at the bottom of the page. Among these, Chocolat Frey AG, a chocolate manufacturer established in 1887 and owned by Swiss retailer Migros since 1950.

Illustration: Aargauische Creditanstalt advertising brochure from 1919.

UBS AG, Historical Archive, photographer unknown

In 1909, a further branch was added in Wohlen and 1918 saw the opening of the Liestal branch.

Illustration: Aargauische Creditanstalt advertising brochure from 1919.

Photo dated 1922, from the brochure about the new bank building in Aarau.

UBS AG, Historical Archive, photographer unknown

The main staircase leads to the boardroom, the workrooms of the various departments, and the management offices on the first floor.

Photo dated 1922, from the brochure about the new bank building in Aarau.

UBS AG, Historical Archive, photographer unknown

In essence, this was a booking machine with an additional built-in register. Previously, two separate machines had been used. The addition unit’s gears rotated simultaneously when the number keys were depressed, thus recording an addition. Depending on where the addition was needed, the addition register could be moved on the carriage to the various columns.

Shown here is an electrically powered Remington bookkeeping machine, Model-23 from 1932, with an estimated cost of CHF 7,000.

UBS AG, Historical Archive

The additional multiplication body that was installed on this machine made it unique, as did the way it combined a typewriter and an addition machine. Similar to H. W. Egli’s Millionaire mechanical calculator, the device operated by doing multiplications with a single crank turn for each decimal place rather than serial addition similar to the addition register.

A Burroughs Class 1 addition machine with 15 columns, built in 1911, is the device on the right in the photograph. It is an early example of an electric drive.

UBS AG, Historical ArchiveHerbert Bruderer, Milestones in Computing Technology (Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2015).

Here, work was completed on continuous paper by using Underwood accounting machines with an integrated addition function.

Photo circa 1931.

UBS AG, Historical Archive

Excitement about the move was clearly expressed in an SBC brochure: "We have been very much impatiently awaiting the completion of the new premises. For some time, it has been clear that the old stock exchange’s meager resources are completely insufficient to handle the high volume of traffic. (...) All shortcomings have been addressed in best imaginable way by the new stock exchange. A larger number of officials at the modern telephone desk can inform our clients and guarantee the prompt execution of their stock exchange orders thanks to the continuous communication between the two rings and our roomy stock exchange."

UBS AG, Historical Archive, photographer unknown