The first mention of Buser Frères & Cie SA dates back to 1892. Right then Albert Buser founded a family-owned watchmaking business in Niederdorf with a branch in Reigoldswil, Switzerland. The company’s initial focus was on designing, producing and delivering select components and ebauches (the so-called ‘raw movements’, typically consisting of plates, bridges, wheels and barrels) to other watchmakers for the further assembly.

Only a few decades later, in 1916, Buser turned into a watchmaking manufacture and started producing completely assembled watches. The product range varied from pocket and wrist watches to necklace watches for ladies and dashboard clocks for vehicles.

In 1923, the company was listed in Niederdorf as a manufacturer of rough movements.

In 1924, the two would-be Buser watch sub-brands Tip Top and Nidor were introduced to the American market.

In 1925, Buser was listed as a company specializing in production of levers and cylinders, and joined a group association, which became Ebauches SA (a holding company for Swiss watch movement manufacturers) in 1926.

In 1949, the company exhibited in Basel, Switzerland. The same year, the Buser brand list was supplemented with Esta, Neo, Neova and Nidor brands, and with Frenca brand in 1951.

In order to optimize and rationalize the production process, Buser and three other Swiss watchmaking companies (Phénix, Revue Thommen and Vulcain) merged into Manufactures d’Horlogerie Suisse Réunis SA, or M.S.R. (United Swiss Watch Manufacturing Companies, Ltd.) in 1961. The newly-formed federation headquartered in Biel produced over 600,000 watches per year, making it one of the largest in the Swiss watch industry. As part of M.S.R. Buser and Phénix were in charge for assembly, while Revue Thommen focused on production of components and Vulcain handled product marketing and commerce.

In 1963, M.S.R. launched a new ladies’ caliber, and in 1967 introduced their jointly developed modern automatic movement with steel ball bearings. This movement was set to production the next year and became the key component of Revue Thommen and Vulcain watches in 1969.

Throughout the 1970s, M.S.R. developed a high-frequency quartz movement and introduced their LED digital watches.

In 1976, the Marvin watch brand joined the M.S.R. as the fifth member, bringing in 600 new employees.

In the late 1970s, Buser switched over from watches to the industrial sector and production of pressure instruments, resulting in the Buser watch brand retirement in 1978.

In the 1980s, M.S.R. encountered a severe quartz crisis and its production dropped down to 25,000 timepieces a year. This rebounded in the 1990s, but the company refocused on the Asian market and managed to produce only 40,000 watches annually by the end of the century. In 1999, M.S.R. divested its La Chaux-de-Fonds facilities and concentrated production in Waldenburg. The watchmaking era ended in July 2000, marking the end of M.S.R.

In 2023, Dekla Watches launched production of some vintage Buser watch models with a modern twist in its facilities.