insiDER

is FrancE in a posiTion To manuFacTurE prEcision waTcHEs?

ryo saeba

Although watchmaking is a Swiss speciality, particularly in the Frenchspeaking cantons of Vaud, Neuchâtel, Geneva, and Jura, it is also very much a part of the Franche-Comté in France, along the Swiss border. In actual fact, the entire French-Swiss Jura territory is dedicated to this craft. The quartz crisis that struck at the end of the 1970s marked the end of the “belle époque“ of this sector. The industry employed up to 50,000 people, a figure that had fallen to 1,500 by 2017. Nevertheless, the know-how never disappeared. The evidence is that 11,180 French cross-border workers are directly employed in Swiss factories out of the 30,491 watchmaking-related jobs in the Swiss Jura region (2017 figures from the Observatoire statistique transfrontalier de l'Arc Jurassien OSTAJ). Made in France refers to those products undergoing their final transformation in France by a local company, provided this stage is “economically justified“. Various solutions are emerging to manufacture precision watches with a French identity. As a reminder, the reference among the so-called “three-hands-date“ automatic calibres is the 2824-2 from ETA. Introduced in 1972 under the name 2824, it gained its “-2“ status through

Various soluTions arE an update in 1982. Technically, this EmErging To manuFacTurE movement, of which there have been prEcision waTcHEs wi a FrEncH idEnTiTy. TH millions produced and assembled by numerous brands, operates at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour. It has a power reserve of 42 hours, measures 25.6 mm in diameter, and 4.6 mm thick. Currently, the Swatch Group, to which ETA belongs, no longer distributes its components outside its

iniTially, THE bridgEs and plaTEs will bE manuFacTurEd dirEcTly on siTE.

own group. Thus “clones“ have sprung up, the leading supplier being the Swiss company Sellita with its SW200. As a result, the impact of the ETA 2824-2 on the watch market is considerable and continues to be relevant today.

Pequignet can draw on first-hand experience having designed the Royal calibre released in 2011. This high-end mechanism focuses on fine watchmaking. In 2019, the design of a new mechanism entitled “Initial,“ intended for a wider public, began. The approach is to achieve a mechanism that is as French as possible. Thus, 72% of its components are of French origin and the rest are sourced from Switzerland, all within an 80km radius of the factory. It should be noted that the components are not manufactured on the company's premises. Dani Royer, general manager, explains that “the main criterion enabling the qualification of a 'French' approach is the creation of jobs in France“. The Initial calibre displays the date, hours, minutes, and has a central swift second hand. It is calibrated to 4hz, with 65 hours of power reserve. It measures 28.2mm in diameter and is 4mm thick. It is intended for Pequignet watches as well as for other third-party brands. Orders are already being taken since the end of 2021. It is difficult to specify a firm price point however, for similar quantities, it corresponds to “approximately four times that of a Sellita SW200“.

Humbert-Droz is a company assembling watches using mechanisms from a number of different sources: Swiss, German, and even old French stocks from the 1960s. The company joined forces with the highly reputable Lajoux-Perret motor manufacturer from La Chaux-de-Fonds, owned by the Japanese group Citizen, which is launching the G100, a new “threehands-date“ automatic calibre. The latter can accommodate hands, dials, and cases designed for the ETA 28242, whilst increasing the energy reserve to 60 hours for the same frequency and still with a single cylinder. Lajoux-Perret will in fact supply kits to the HumbertDroz workshops for assembly and will offer to customise the rotor. The price will be aligned with that of the Sellita SW200, regardless of whether it is assembled in Switzerland or in France. However, for movements rolling out of the Humbert-Droz workshop, “Made in France does not apply because the components are not manufactured in France and we want to be transparent with our clients,“ as Julien HumbertDroz explains. Yema is part of the Ambre Group that unveiled in 2011 the MBP1000, an automatic calibre displaying the hours, minutes, seconds, and also the date. Designed and assembled in Morteau, France, the components of the watch are manufactured in Asia. With a diameter of 28mm and a thickness of 5.15, it oscillates at the same standard frequency, delivering 42 hours of autonomy after being fully wound. A second, more reliable generation developed exclusively for Yema appeared in 2020: the YEMA2000. Yet the most significant development is the repatriation of production. Indeed, William Germain, general manager of the Yema brand, explains that he decided to “withdraw from the Asian arena because their components can no longer meet the brand's new requirements“. To achieve this, Yema took the necessary steps to modernise and expand its premises to 1,600m2 spread over four floors. “An entire floor will be allocated to the watchmakers with the latest generation of machines“. Initially, the bridges and plates will be produced in-house and Yema will be the only French company to do so. The rest of the components will be sourced in France or from Switzerland, although the intention is to produce more and more of them in its workshops in Morteau. The YEMA2000s are meant to supply Yema watches, though the possibility of supplying third party brands remains open “on a very selective basis“. France has a role to play in the future of the watch industry as the sector is in constant evolution. This quick overview is by no means a comprehensive account. The next issue will follow-up on this article with a fourth promising project steeped in history. The everincreasing number of French brands will have plenty to choose from to assert their national identity.