34 MANUFACTURING europa star clones, but they are compatible.” In passing, we might add that Laurent Besse casts a doubtful eye on the famous ETA clones. In his opinion, “ETA is absolutely unbeatable in the domain of cutting tools and not one of its rivals can touch it, at least not for now”. The thought behind this approach has permitted LAH to offer a complete range of classic complications, a totally personalizable range that will allow the creation of their specialties, which include the tourbillon in first place. This approach also lets them plan for the longterm vision, to think globally about the collection and the reliability of its production. By standardizing a large part of the components and by being able to purchase in large quantities, they ensure their production according to industrial criteria, thus offering better reliability and greater precision. Since 2008, LAH has proposed five basic calibres, ranging from 8'''3/4 to 13'''3/4, available in more than 40 versions, with manual winding, automatic winding (equipped with a circular oscillating weight, their great singularity or a small exocentric weight), and even manual winding with a tourbillon escapement (another great specialty). The importance of dialogue In a few years, their proposition, coupled with their ability to personalize products to the extreme, attracted strongly different brands that asked for specific movements. Among these brands are Maurice Lacroix (Mémoire 1 and Pontos Excentrique, for example), MB&F (with which it has a very close collaboration, resulting in notably the HM1 and the HM4 Thunderbolt), Harry Winston, Universal Genève, British Masters, Peter Speake-Marin, Rebellion, Zeitwinkel, etc. Clearly these brands are quite different from each other. “In the approach to design and construction, it is necessary to have a very detailed dialogue with the brand that asks you to design a movement,” explains Laurent Besse, “because each time you have to find the internal logic of the brand and succeed in mechanically express- ing its DNA. So, in order to take this logic to its full potential, we will go as far as creating the case in certain cases, and even in designing the final packaging. We are, of course, watch engineers, but we are also closely interested in industrial design”. Economies of scale One of the reasons for this success is due to the economies of scale that are fostered by the ‘Lego method’. Despite the fact that they make essentially only small series of timepieces, LAH can still offer an extremely attractive price/quality ratio thanks to the economies realized as much in the realm of construction as in production, stock management, assembly and the ability to meet deadlines. “Today, we make 1,000 movements per year, but our goal is to increase this number and to lower our costs even more, while remaining a small player, working exclusively in specialty watchmaking. We hope to increase these numbers to 5,000 to 10,000 movements per year within five years.” Is the moment right? “It is correct to say that movement makers are currently suffering more than during the height of the crisis. Brands are apprehensive, fearful. They want to offer exclusivities, amazing products, but they don’t dare move for- ward. Pressure on pricing has also increased. Investors are holding back. We recently studied a demand that would have resulted in 50,000 movements, with the creation of a factory, but the green light never came…” Another savings factor is the modesty and flexibility of LAH’s own structure. Today 15 people are divided between R&D, construction, prototyping, logistics, controls, the preparation of kits and the assembly of small series (assembly of more than 200 pieces is done in partnership.) “We don’t want to grow too big and, notably, we do not envision producing the pieces ourselves. On the contrary, as indicated by the three wall clocks at the entrance, we operate between Le Locle, where we are based, La Chaux-de-Fonds, and Neuchâtel, where we have developed a dense network of favoured
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