How masterpieces Are made
From start to finish, the manufacturing of a high-end timepiece is a complicated process.
AVISIT to the Girard-Perregaux Manufacture is an eye-opening experience that helps visitors better appreciate the intricacies that go into making a highend timepiece.
In late March, media members were flown by Girard-Perregaux into Zurich, Switzerland, for a pre-Basel presentation (featured in Clove yesterday). They were also ferried via bus to its workshop-factory, located in La Chaux-deFonds (about two hours’ drive from Zurich’s city centre).
The tour was given by historian and curator Willy Schweizer, who has been with Girard-Perregaux since 1986. In the beautifully-restored century-old building, we were asked to put on white watchmaker coats before we began our tour.
The GirardPerregaux Manufacture houses many different skills under the same roof in order to design and manufacture a timepiece and its movement in its entirety.
The design phase is the foundation stage that creates watch concepts in line with Girard-Perregaux’s philosophy, where each detail has its importance. It is at this stage that the sketches are drawn.
The creation of a new movement requires months, sometimes years of development. This task is entrusted to highly qualified engineers, using CAD tools with the latest 3D simulation software. The watchmakers and micro-mechanical engineers in the R&D department have control of the entire development process, from design to the production of the pieces. The challenge is one of scale: 200 to 300 components, which are sometimes microscopic, need to be assembled within a diameter of a few centimetres, while ensuring their long-term durability and controlling their thousands
of interactions.
> Design:
> R&D design:
> Prototyping:
The theoretical design of the movement comes to life in the form of the first prototypes. The laboratory’s specialists manually assemble over 10 pieces, to check on each parameter step by step, detail by detail. The mechanism undergoes a whole variety of tests, conducted one after the other by the vigilant team over a number of months: rate regularity, resistance to physical impacts and thermal variations, identical performance after simulating several years’ wear. All the functions are tested and subjected to stresses well in excess of the normal scope of use under which a watch is worn. The tour was given by historian and curator Willy Schweizer, who has been with Girard-Perregaux since 1986.
> Manufacture:
The process starts in the “ebauche” workshop, where main components of would-be movement are machined using digitally controlled machining units. After rough machining, each part undergoes processing. Holes are bored or ground down to enable highly precise adjustments, and diamond polishing operations are carried out to prepare surfaces for the requirements of the finishing operations. Machining is also used for modelling watch cases. After these operations, the middle parts are entrusted to the polishing workshop to give them their final appearance and finish, through patient manual work. The various constituent parts of the watch case (bezel, crystal, gaskets) can then be assembled to form the case.
Each machined and inspected movement part is ready to undergo a decoration or finishing operation. The main plates and bridges are finished and decorated, even if their surfaces are covered and hidden by other components. Top-of-the-range finishes are essential to perfect the harmony of the movement’s architecture. Bevelling is a delicate surface finish producing a beautiful polish. It is applied to sharp edges of various metal parts of the movement. These tiny edges are in turn softened and then hand polished over several stages.
The care taken with the decoration enhances each of its components. The decoration of each part is not solely a question of aesthetics; it also guarantees its technical perfection.
Among these adornments, engraving can be performed mechanically or manually to carve and trace delicate patterns, numerals or letters on a movement component. Many other operations (such as circular graining, satin finishing, skeleton working and enamel-
> Finishes:
> Decorations:
ling) can enhance various watch parts.
We may be in the 21st century but the computer has not replaced the watchmaker’s specific expertise. Watchmakers meticulously assemble the various components, using the main plate as the base element in the movement architecture. This operation requires experience and days of patience to assemble complicated movements. The master watchmaker patiently adjusts each part of the mechanism. Once assembled, the movements go through an “activation” phase, where they will tick for the very first time.
Various parts of the case are put together. The movement has undergone two entire weeks of checks and tests. The case, hands and dial have been checked with the same care. The dial is meticulously adjusted to the movement so that the hands can be driven onto the wheels one at a time. The timeless ritual of casing is performed in a silent, spotlessly clean environment, and is complete when the case-back is fixed.
There are checks punctuating all stages of manufacture – all components are stringently inspected upon arrival in a workshop as well as upon leaving. Every workshop and watchmaker has the necessary checking equipment. The quality control department is involved throughout the development and manufacturing process. To meet Girard-Perregaux’s quality requirements, watches are given a final check once finished.
> Assembly:
> Casing:
> Quality checks: