Pignons was a Swiss company based in Ballaigues that began its life making parts for watchmaking. It bought the rights of a 35mm SLR called the Bolca Reflex and designed by Jacques Bogopolsky, who was already the father of the Bolex movie camera (see Bolsey). It released it under the name Alpa and made successive generations of Alpa models until the beginning of the 1980s.
Recently the name Alpa has been revived by a company that appears to have no direct link with Pignons.