MASTER MECHANICS

HARRY WINSTON movements
with BC-Technology. This machine cuts out
70 per cent of the component parts. In four
hours, it does the work of five electro-erosion
machines that would have to run for 24 hours.
This gain in time and energy relegates the
other machines to the status of ‘dinosaurs’. In
the same workshop, is a Witech machine tool,
used up to now only in automobile production,
but that Christophe Claret had adapted for
watchmaking. It has a system permitting the
automatic replacement of 96 tools that it controls,
or the auto-control of the pieces being
produced allowing for automatic corrections.
And, there are other top-secret machines, hidden
behind doors that can only be opened with
TOURBILLON ORBITAL by Jean Dunand
a digital recognition system, such as the mysterious
machine capable of automatically polishing
the curves of sapphire crystal. (Remember
that it was Christophe Claret who was one of
the pioneers in the use of sapphire.)
“I am always looking to maintain a very progressive
vision of the modes of production,”
explains Claret, “and to be as innovative in
the domain of equipment as in that of watchmaking.”
But this concern has other reasons.
The mastery of the fabrication process, besides
bringing an always welcome autonomy, allows
for better reactivity by decreasing deadlines,
allows for ‘real time’ research and innovation,
and for these various factors, is economically
determinant.
We cannot go into detail here about all the ateliers
of this manufacture—of which the great
specialty is the tourbillon—but, other than the
assembly of movements that is obviously done
in-house, the finishing, polishing and decora-
europa star MANUFACTURING 25
DUAL TIME by Christophe Claret
tions also occupy a choice position: thermal
treatments, tempering and then polishing after
tempering, electroplating, the impressive chamfering
atelier where no less than 15 people
work to patiently hand-finish the component
parts, and the decoration atelier where finishings
such as Côtes de Genève and circulargraining,
among others, are carried out.
A style apart
In spite of the large diversity of timekeepers
produced in the manufacture, we can say that
the fascination Christophe Claret holds for
the machines, the processes, the savoir-faire
and the innovations is the same for the products
he designs. Connecting rods, rollers, animations,
chimes, mechanical ballets, all play a
part in this. The mechanical is not hidden, on
the contrary, it is showcased; it is discovered
under the sapphire cases; it plays with volumes
and depths.