Bonjour Philippe,  Thanks for your comments, and your interest.
No, it's not a private museum or a Swiss agency, etc.

The aim of ROMFI (a longer version you can find in the menu bar at
the top "use instructions / about ROMFI") is to become an online
encyclopedia and capture the knowledge that many people have and do
not always write down, and as a consequence of storing and sharing this
knowledge to further support people who are looking for intelligence on
the various products.  Out of this then develop other possibilities,
such as a mirror of the development of the world.

Yes, we are based in Basel, Switzerland, but is this important?
We feel that the content of the site is what we would like people to
focus on.  Our group in Basel just facilitates.  We are a group of
people who believe a resource as ROMFI is very important, and thus
ROMFI was created.

Sorry about the empty spaces but the way ROMFI works is that people
post data, starting with a list of the different products, and then
they and others can fill in the details.  As ROMFI is only three weeks
old there is quite a lot of "No details yet", but we look forward to a
closing of this gap.

In this case the Cuendet catalog is one of ours, as I collect
mechanical music.  I will make a huge effort to get it posted fairly
soon.  As an example: if someone posts details about an object with
a picture from an original catalog, and you have a similar object and
know something in addition to the details posted, you can review the
posting and add your photos and details (and even a sound clip).
With the knowledge of many people working together in this way we
can increase the sum of the knowledge about specific instruments.

Please let us know what we can do to increase your comfort level
with ROMFI, as we do depend on experts like yourself to add to the
ROMFI knowledge base.  By the way, congratulations on the marvelous
collection at Musee des Arts et Metiers that you take care of.
I can only recommend it as a great place in Paris to visit.

If there's anything else you'd like to know please do not hesitate
to ask.

Regards
Mike Moran
http://www.romfi.com/

 [ Mike wrote to me: "My main facination has to do with the technology
 [ and the genius of the people who invented and made the instruments,
 [ especially the precision musical boxes. ... These items were created
 [ to a perfection that, even with the technology of today, is
 [ difficult to surpass."  -- Robbie