Nowhere is industrial manufacturing extra emotive and interesting to the broader world than in watchmaking. From understanding the most important suppliers comparable to ETA to area of interest impartial watchmakers comparable to Roger Smith within the UK, it appears everybody needs to understand how watches are made. In fact, with regards to wanting beneath the hood, because it have been, there may be not a lot level for those who have no idea what to search for, however we’re getting forward of ourselves. Backtracking a bit, stating that “everybody” needs to know in regards to the screws and bridges is a giant declare. There are not any research wanting into the nitty gritty of watch manufacturing, and the need of the watch-loving public to find out about it, so far as we all know.
Alternatively, given the lengths by which demand for mechanical watches is outstripping provide, it’s only pure that watch lovers marvel about what is going on within the manufactures. If demand goes up, manufacturing ought to rise to match, and that is certainly the expectation. For this expectation to match actuality although, it’s definitely useful to understand how watch manufactures work… which is the place our invitation to go to the Parmigiani Fleurier manufacture comes into the image.
What we will say right here, close to Parmigiani Fleurier, is that it will possibly produce watches solely with inner sources and know-how. To be completely clear about it, the next are the one issues Parmigiani Fleurier sources from exterior suppliers — sapphire crystals, artificial rubies, leather-based straps (from Hermès, famously), bracelets and mainsprings. In case you are a daily reader, you may recognise that checklist from our Parmigiani Fleurier story early final 12 months.
Having already delved into the workings of Parmigiani Fleurier again then, we thought we might full that image by really visiting the Fleurier and La Chaux-de-Fonds amenities that make up the Parmigiani Watchmaking Centre. However wait, why are Parmigiani Fleurier watches made in La Chaux-de-Fonds within the first place, and what’s this Parmigiani Watchmaking Centre? And thus the complexity begins, and by studying this maybe you’ll higher perceive why the Tonda PF — launched simply final 12 months — stays such a troublesome get.
As a fast apart right here, as a result of we is not going to dwell on it, however the sharp-eyed amongst you should have taken word that the completely superb Tonda PF bracelet doesn’t come from Parmigiani Fleurier. That stunned us once we recalled it within the aftermath of the discharge of the Tonda PF (the tl;dr on this assortment is that does sports activities luxurious on the highest degree). The model has a provider for the bracelet, one which (presumably) labored on the same however completely completely different Tonda GT bracelet. Whereas Parmigiani Fleurier has not revealed who makes the bracelets, CEO Guido Terreni informed us that he particularly wished the design evolution on the PF bracelet, reasonably than the identical Tonda GT bracelet, together with the particular particulars about the way it suits and the way it appears.
This squares properly with Terreni’s previous assertion that making the screws in-house just isn’t that spectacular, in contrast with really making the watch, or certainly with the ability to restore an vintage timepiece. Parmigiani Fleurier is, in spite of everything, a watchmaker, not a producer of watchmaking motion screws. This paragraph will stand as a counterpoint to the argument that vertical integration is the reply to the whole lot. That is particularly necessary right here as a result of the Parmigiani Watchmaking Centre does certainly produce its personal screws. It’s also necessary as a result of founder Michel Parmigiani minimize his enamel on watch restoration, and it’s the purpose Parmigiani Fleurier and the Parmigiani Watchmaking Centre exist.
Underscoring this are the photographs of the in-house restoration of the Parmigiani Fleurier La Rose Carrée. As we famous in our story on Luxuo.com on this, the pocket watch took 12 months to finish… or 25 years… or 100 years… or perhaps greater than 500 years. La Rose Carrée is the actual purpose Parmigiani Fleurier is included in our Legacy concern. It speaks to the intent of Parmigiani Fleurier to protect and advance the craft of watchmaking. That is precisely why Terreni speaks in glowing phrases of Michel Parmigiani’s “black belt in watchmaking,” as a result of that’s how he sees the artwork of restoration. Certainly, that is the very purpose the Sandoz Household Basis financed the creation of the Parmigiani Fleurier model and the whole Parmigiani Watchmaking Centre.
To finish the image, you need to recall that Parmigiani Fleurier’s manufacturing amenities lengthen past the 2 areas talked about, simply as its experience goes past the making of business items. We didn’t get to go to escapement-maker Atokalpa and high-precision micromechanics firm Elwin this time, though we did briefly get acquainted with the restoration atelier in Fleurier itself earlier than we needed to scamper off for our interview with Terreni. Thankfully, we now have discovered sufficient about all of the manufacturing amenities over time that we will present a quick introduction.
The rationale for stepping into all of this, and drawing a comparability between the disparate worlds of the Tonda PF and La Rose Carrée is as an example the watchmaking philosophy of Parmigiani Fleurier. It’s a extra poetic, and visually pleasing, manner of understanding how the modern and conventional can each coexist and assist one another.
On that word, La Rose Carrée is a collaborative work, with a Louis-Elisée Piguet grand sonnerie and minute repeater motion (made between 1898 and 1904) that was acquired by Michel Parmigiani within the late Nineteen Nineties. A Parmigiani Fleurier restoration staff went to work on this motion, alongside the technicians at LAB but in addition outdoors specialists comparable to dial-maker LM Cadrans and chain-maker Laurent Jolliet. The involvement of an outdoor dial-maker is intriguing however Quadrance & Habillage was in all probability busy with the oversubscribed Tonda PF, or was maybe unfamiliar with the onyx dial of the pocket watch.
With the Tonda PF, the scenario was fairly completely different after all. Certainly, the gathering was developed in document time, debuting in lower than a 12 months after Terreni took over as CEO. Such fast growth is just not possible at most manufactures, but Terreni felt it was possible at Parmigiani Fleurier as a result of the whole lot wanted to create the gathering already existed. That, in just a few phrases, is strictly how spectacular this Watchmaking Centre is.
Whereas some watch manufacturers can current sizable company workplaces, and even perhaps fantastically restored chateaus, these are sometimes simply a lot window dressing. No matter else occurs in these areas, watchmaking is incessantly peripheral. Not so at Parmigiani Fleurier, the place the whole system of etablissage that characterises conventional Swiss watchmaking has been assembled from the bottom up in some instances. There are just a few components to the watchmaking hub right here, and they aren’t owned by Parmigiani Fleurier, per se. As an alternative, all are owned by the Sandoz Household Basis, together with the watchmaking model. The assorted components of the Fleurier watchmaking hub are damaged down as follows:
Elwin
Bar turning is what this agency is finest recognized for, which is a course of of constructing elements out of metallic bars by machining them as they rotate. Elwin occurs to make its personal CNC equipment, which demonstrates the extent of its mastery. It additionally develops its personal specialised software program. Apparently, this small firm of simply 20 makes every worker chargeable for his or her personal manufacturing course of, a lot as one watchmaker handles his complete course of. The agency produces screws, pinions, spindles and wheels.
Atokalpa
This superb agency does what few others can: produce the elements of the escapement. These are the escape wheel, the pallet fork, the stability wheel and the stability spring. In response to Parmigiani Fleurier, Atokalpa performs such processes as stamping, reducing, bar turning, and forming enamel on computer-numericalcontrolled machines (generally referred to as CNC) with a precision of as much as 0.001mm. Ending processes, each structural and aesthetic, are additionally carried out on the aforementioned escapement elements (the place related) right here. By way of aesthetics, these processes embody snailing, round graining, sprucing and bevelling. Each part that requires ending receives consideration, which is a nigh-unbelievable consideration to element. In most different watchmaking corporations, all of this work is finished off-site. The Swatch Group agency ETA does all of this for innumerable manufacturers.
Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier (VMF)
Michel Parmigiani informed Revolution in 2013 that to ensure that Parmigiani Fleurier to totally utilise the capability of Vaucher, it must make between 20,000 and 25,000 actions, and that that is unlikely to occur. As a way to optimise the manufacture’s potential, it provides different events, despite the fact that it was constructed to produce Parmigiani Fleurier. Essentially the most well-known of those outdoors corporations is Hermès after all, with the posh agency proudly owning 25 per cent of Vaucher, and Richard Mille.
Bridges and plates are made right here, and actions are assembled. Ending, together with handfinishing, additionally occurs in its workshops. There’s a hightech aspect right here too, with a analysis and growth division that handles all of the watchmaking innovation. The technical drawings of all actions emerge from this division, specifying all operations to be carried out. If Michel is the spirit of Parmigiani Fleurier, Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier is its central nervous system.
Quadrance & Habillage
A specialist within the making of watch dials, this agency has mastered guillochage, sandblasting, satin-finishing, snailing, eparnage and graining, amongst others. Since 2017, Parmigiani Fleurier has been touting the white grained end on its dial, and it is a approach Quadrance & Habillage has mastered. Principally, the white grained impact is produced by rubbing silver powder onto a brass plate utilizing a horsehair brush. For sure, it’s a labour-intensive job that have to be completed by hand and requires absolutely the focus of a extremely expert artisan.
Les Artisans Boitiers (LAB)
Because the identify suggests, that is the casemaking outfit of Parmigiani Fleurier. Water-resistance and structural integrity of the watches are ensured right here. Whereas CAD and CNC machining are the meat-and-drink of LAB, the corporate can also be capable of produce instances solely by hand, utilizing conventional instruments. That is after all the place the extraordinary 64mm white gold case, with double hunter construction, of La Rose Carrée was shaped. Engraver Eddy Jaquet created a Rose Carrée motif for each covers. As you may see, the roses are sq., which is reportedly a reference to the shape rose petals take once they begin to wither. Handworked to the nth diploma, the covers are additionally awash in blue.
“The blue of La Rose Carrée expresses the color of a physique of water as one would see it from the sky – with all of the nuances and refined modifications within the shades of blue in response to the varied depths,” stated Michel. Deceptively easy wanting in photos, there are literally 4 layers of blue grand feu enamel, utilized by inventive enameller Vanessa Lecci. It’s value making an allowance for that each the engraving and the enamelling seem the identical on each covers, which is a really spectacular feat.
Past that, all Parmigiani Fleurier case middles obtain hand-polishing consideration, which is tough to fathom. It’s value noting that the experience of each LAB and Quadrance & Habillage are utilized by not less than 18 well-known names in watchmaking.
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