The Watch Collectors' Club runs regular events where we teach members a little about watches, watchmakers, watch

A club for everyone who likes watches.

Our last Blog Post looked at the history of Watch Manufacturing, and we hope it piqued your interest in the long history of horology. There are many excellent books on the subject that we would be happy to recommend. The story of watch manufacturing in the Twentieth century is a fairly straightforward one of modernisation, but the details of how complex and varied it is today are of great interest to many watch owners. This week's post will try to outline some of the details, but much more can be found online or even by visiting a watch "manufacture" as they are known. The Watch Collectors' Club is very excited to be visiting a modern watch factory on February 10th 2023, and there are still spaces available for those who want to join us; details can be found on our Events page.

The Modernisation and Mechanisation of Watchmaking

Watchmaking is a conservative industry, but the constant demand for low priced watches led watch companies to find ever more ways to incorporate mass production techniques in the same way as other industries. The largest amount of push back against machine manufacture of parts was from luxury watch brands, and there are interesting statements from the likes of Henry Stern, who ran the luxury watchmaker Patek Philippe in the 1930s - 50s. He said the following:

“Everything that a hand can do better than a machine, we will do. But when machines can assist the work of a person, we will not adhere blindly to tradition.”

Like in many other industries, the real pioneers of low-cost watch manufacturing arose in Asia, namely the two companies Seiko and Citizen, who built companies capable of producing huge volumes of low-cost mechanical movements. For example, Citizen Group own the manufacturer Miyota, which has produced over 2 Billion quartz movements over the last 40 years. These numbers are only made possible by fully automated manufacturing. Today, watch parts and movements are made in China, Malaysia, and Japan, with assembly also taking place in those countries for movements found in a huge number of brands, large and small.

While the Twentieth Century saw a huge amount of turmoil in the Swiss Watch Industry, including the period of the so-called "Quartz Crisis" in the 1970s, the country remains a watch industry powerhouse. There are manufacturers large and small making everything separately and together: for example, Rolex do almost everything themselves, from smelting their own steel to making their own hands and dials, before assembling and testing the whole watches in their factory in the Les Acacias area of Geneva in Switzerland. However, for every part of a modern watch, there are independent suppliers large and small. There are companies that only make the gears or wheels of the movements, those that specialise in hands or dials, and workshops that create the complications that sit on top of base movements and provide functions like a chronograph, stopwatch, or calendar. 

Some of these parts suppliers are famous in their own right, thanks to important innovations, interesting features they invented, or partnerships with famous brands. The Renauld & Papi movement workshop is now owned by Luxury brand Audemars Piguet, but continues to design and manufacture complications for them as well as other leading brands.

It must be understood that most modern watches will contain parts from many different manufacturers. Rolex are unusual in their dedication to making everything themselves. Most other brands will use a mixture. One thing that is important is the Swiss Made designation. For this to hold, 60% of the components of the watch must be made in Switzerland and it must be cased (assembled) and tested in Switzerland also. Only watches that fulfil this can write Swiss Made on the dial.

It is an important component of luxury watch-making that some parts of the watch are hand made or hand-finished and that the watch is assembled by hand. This is not true of low-priced watches, where most have been engineered to be almost entirely made by machine. Quartz watches usually do not feature movement finishing as the movements are hidden behind the case back. For mechanical watches, it is common today to display the movement through sapphire casebacks. This gives the opportunity to create beautiful finishes to the parts and the movement itself. These finishes can be done by machine, but as a sign of commitment to luxury, many high-end brands do them by hand. 

One exciting thing to research when looking at luxury watch brands is how much is done by hand. For example, the luxury German brand Lange & Sohne finish almost every aspect of the movement by hand, including parts that cannot be seen. Swiss brand Patek Philippe are also famous for hand-finishing parts that cannot be seen. They do this as a commitment to quality for their customers, indicating that if they take that level of detail for the parts that cannot be seen, the quality and reliability of the whole watch will be very high.

Watchmakers have used independent organisations to verify the accuracy and reliability of their timepieces for a long time, and the two Swiss certification agencies of COSC and METAS certify millions of high-quality timepieces as chronometers per year in Switzerland. Rolex also test every single watch after it has been finished to ensure it meets their promised high standards, including testing their dive watches to 125% of their rated water depth. Most companies don't have the resources to do this, so will have a different Quality Control procedure. Often these are done by highly trained people, and it is a mark of a quality brand that is happy to advertise and talk about this. One good example is the young British brand Fears, based in the UK, where the founder regularly posts the details on his Instagram account of the quality control procedure he undertakes on every watch before it is delivered.

One of the huge benefits of the move to highly automated modern manufacturing systems is the collapse in the cost of designing and making a watch to a good standard. This has been demonstrated by the explosion of startup watch Microbrands over the last 15 years. Using common design software and Chinese manufacturing and assembly, it is easy for people to make a small run of new watches for a very low price. This has allowed the flourishing of design ideas, the establishment of new brands in countries with no history of watchmaking, and the resurrection of older brands with new ideas and energy. We encourage you to look out for microbrands you like the look of and investigate their background. 

Modern watch manufacturing is complicated and highly sophisticated, and every manufacturer will do something different. We encourage you to ask watch salespeople and brands more about their manufacturing process so that you can appreciate what a brand is trying to do. We hope this article has given you some more questions to ask of your favourite brands, and if you need any help finding out more, just let us know and we can do some digging. It's also great to share you knowledge about how watches are made with other people, and at our regular events we all do just that. Find out more on out Events Page or on our social media. 

We explore modern watch manufacturing and how watches are made

Modern Watch Manufacturing

We explore how modern watches are made

The modern mechanical watch is a marvel of human progress. Whether it's an expensive luxury watch with handmade parts or an affordable microbrand watch with a mass-market movement, both demonstrate the benefits of hundreds of years of innovation in technology and manufacturing processes. This week we will talk about how watchmaking has changed over the last 400 years, and in the next blog post we will talk about how modern watch manufacturing is done. We're focussing on this topic ahead of our visit to the new UK factory of Bremont Watches, where we will receive an exclusive and unique tour of a working watch factory. You can sign up for that event on Friday 10th February, here.

The first watches were small clocks, and the novelty of having a clock that was portable on a personal level emerged in the 16th century. When Queen Elizabeth I of England died in 1603 she was said to have owned 11 watches, which she may have worn on a bracelet attached to her clothes. These watches were all entirely manufactured by a single artist or craftsman. Very few survive and the makers of that time are little known. To make them they would have used skills similar to jewellery-making or locksmithing. 

Watchmaking from 1600 to 1800 is a story of continued and deliberate development. Various watchmakers were spread across Europe, including England, France, Germany and Switzerland. The development of the balance spring and then the lever escapement led to watches that were precise down to the minute. The first minute hands appeared on watches in the 16th century and transformed the usefulness of the watches. These technological developments led to specialisation, so different people and workshops became expert in making different parts of the watch. Some people made the springs to power the watch and run the escapement, and some made cases, dials, hands, or the wheels or gears in the movement. 

The crucial thing about this specialisation, similar to the development of modern manufacturing in other industries, is that it allowed mass production of similar parts. This was seen in France, but particularly in Switzerland after the arrival of Huguenot refugees fleeing persecution in France in the 17th century saw a large number settle in Geneva. Many of these refugees were skilled craftsmen in the areas of metalwork. This provided a massive boost to the Swiss watch industry at a perfect time. The strict religious leader John Calvin had recently banned the wearing of all jewellery and adornment in the city. Focus turned immediately to the production of fancy watches, which were still allowed to be worn and used. The Huguenots brought technological craftsmanship and the Genevans supplied the artistry, and Geneva leapt to the top of the European watchmaking trade. 

In the following century, the Swiss did something even more interesting; a system called the Éblissage was developed in the Swiss cantons of Neuchâtel and Geneva in the 1730s. This clarified the separation of different parts manufacture to different skilled workshops and made the assembly, casing and testing separate and more of a "manufacture" as we know them today. These parts workshops also took advantage of the long snowy winters in Switzerland where travel was difficult. Small workshops in the long Jura valley would make parts over winter and deliver them to Geneva in Spring for watch assembly to begin. 

The largest benefit of this system was that the separate parts manufacturers could innovate and improve their individual parts much faster than someone trying to do it all. This led to Swiss watches becoming the world leaders in quality, accuracy and reliability. 

This Swiss system did not lend itself to modernisation following the industrial revolution. Instead, the vast industrial powers of the UK, Germany and most of all the USA transformed watchmaking into the factory-led process it mostly is today. 

Famously, Henry Ford, the car maker who introduced the "production line" concept of mass manufacturing to large items in the early 20th century, was inspired by watchmakers such as Waltham, Elgin and others in the USA. They found ways to make pocket watches at huge scale. Similarly in the UK, larger manufacturers such as Fears were also selling millions of timepieces a year. The Swiss did not match this at this time as they still used a highly fragmented system of small workshops. 

Ingersoll, another US watch company, created a watch called the Yankee in 1892 that they sold in person for $1.50 and via a catalogue for $1. This started a boom in cheap watches for $1 and it's estimated that over the next 20 years, over 500 Million were sold. This was possible only thanks to large scale mass manufacturing. They were of low quality and not even designed to be repaired, and many even had paper dials.

One of the most interesting things that these industrial-scale watch producers had to do was conquer precision machining for such small parts, and it is the watchmaking industry we have to thank for the tools to do this. These tools were later used to make precise scientific instruments such as microscopes and measuring devices that changed the face of modern science. It was the need for smaller-than-a-millimetre sizing and precision in watchmaking that led to these possibilities. 

By the time of the First World War, the world was awash with low-cost pocket watches, and any man who could have would have owned and used one. They were produced in many countries across the world, and examples can be found from places such as Russia and Japan, as well as across Europe. For high-end watches it was still the case however that most watches were sold as a movement only, and a local jeweller would separately buy a case, and potentially the dial and hands, and assemble them for sale. Often the movement manufacturer was not even mentioned on the dial. Indeed, it was Rolex who really pushed hard for this (and then eventually made it mandatory) on their wristwatches in the 1920s.

The boom in men's wristwatch demand following the First World War changed everything again. Pioneering manufacturers of both luxury and mass-market watches used their brand name to sell the brand and by the 1930s the era of manufactured watches had truly arrived.

The Swiss catch up and everyone mechanises

Eventually, watchmakers in every country adopted the full benefits of mass manufacturing and making timepieces in large factories. Only the very high-end brands retained the skills to make every part by hand, and even those such as Patek Philippe embraced automation and high-tech machinery from the 1930s onwards. In our next Blog Post we will explore what happened in the 20th Century and what it means for how watches are made today.

We look at the first few centuries of watch making and manufacturing

A short History of How Watches are Made

We explore the early histroy of watch manufacturing.

If your work or personal life means that you need to quickly work out what time it is in a different time zone, a watch that displays multiple time zones can be a very useful one to have. I was reminded of how useful this function is on New Year’s Eve this year, when I was trying to contact friends around the world to wish them a “Happy New Year”. It took me a long time to work out what time it was in 8 different countries using google. If I’d had a world-timer watch, I would have been able to work it out instantly. There and then I decided that I would like to purchase a world-timer, but actually didn’t know much about their history. What follows is a fascinating short story that covers not just the development of wristwatches, but also how we measure time itself. 

What is a world-timer watch, and how does it work? 

A world-timer watch is a watch that displays all 24 main time-zones simultaneously. For example, if you are in London, you can instantly tell the time in New York, Mumbai, Moscow and Tokyo. Modern world-timers also let you quickly adjust the time-zone you are in and reflect the updated times of the cities. So, if you travel from London to New York, and still want to know the time in Moscow, Mumbai and London, a few quick presses of a button allow you to read the multiple time-zones on the dial. 

World-timers are quite simple to read, despite their complicated looking dials. The most common format has three displays that you need to read. An inner ring with 24 hours indicated on it, and the two outer rings. The inner of these two is called “home time” and the outer is called “local time”. 

In the photo below, you will see London is at the top of the inner ring, and the time is 10.10am. London is set to “home time”. If you want to know the time in Moscow, locate it on the outer “local time” ring. You can see that the 24-hour ring has a little arrow pointing at Moscow a little after the number 13. This reflects that in Moscow, the time is 13.10pm. Another example is Tokyo, which has the number 19 pointing at it on the 24-hour ring. This denotes that the time in Tokyo is 19.10, when it is 10.10 in London. With this type of world-timer, you can click the button, or pusher on the side of the case to change “home time”. 

World-timer watches are a relatively modern invention. They required one very important thing to be able to exist – a globally agreed reference point for time, or more specifically for longitude. 

Before the mid 19th Century, time was calculated relatively inaccurately by anyone that needed to keep to a schedule. This caused all sorts of problems. For example, it was incredibly difficult to catch a train on time, because there was a high likelihood that the train company thought it was a different time to you. In the United States, railway timetables had conversion charts with over 100 different times – for example, it might be 12.14PM in Albany, New York, whilst in it was 12.26PM in Salem Massachusetts.

British railways were some of the first to adopt a standardised time, called Greenwich Meantime, in 1847. The rest of England followed in 1880, when Greenwich Meantime became the legal time in England. 

Around the same time, the Chief Engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Sandford Flemming, published a memoir that advocated a standard 24-hour global time system. This quickly gained international recognition. In 1884, the International Meridian Conference determined that Greenwich Meantime would be adopted as a standard global time standard. 

At roughly the same time, a Swiss watchmaker called Emmanuel Cottier was approached to design a clock that could tell the time in multiple time-zones at the same time. He was unsuccessful, but his attempts inspired his son, Louis Cottier, who was an exceptionally talented young watchmaker, to complete his father’s work. 

In 1931, Louis Cottier completed his “heures universelles” mechanism, and the world-timer was born. Wristwatches weren’t that common in the early 1930s, so the first world-timers were pocket watches. However, trends changed and in 1937, Patek Philippe used Cottier’s “heures universelles” movement to launch a series of world-timer wrist-watches. The most famous early production world-timer is the Ref 1415 picture below. 

The system he designed is still in use by most modern world-timers. The mechanism explained earlier is almost identical to Cottier’s system. 

You can read a longer-history of Patek Philippe World-timers here.

There are some problems with the 24-hour world-timer in the modern world. There are now 37 time zones, and some of them don’t comprise a full hour. For example, India is 5.5 hours ahead of Greenwich Meantime. Additionally, world-timer watches can’t calculate daylight savings time – so there is a big portion of the year where the wearer needs to manually adjust for an additional hour in some time zones. 

World-timers are beautiful and interesting watches, and are worth going to try on in your local store. Many high-end brands, particularly Patek Philippe and Breguet, make fantastic world-timer watches with beautiful and intricate dials.

However, many more accessible brands are now making great world-timers. Omega, Nomos, Frederique Constant and Christopher Ward are just some of the brands making them at more affordable prices. 

As with all watches, world-timers are best seen in person. Have a look at our events page and sign up for an event to see a world-timer in real-life. 

We are extremely excited to bring you this event with IWC in their newest boutique anywhere around the world. Join us on Tuesday March 14th from 6:30PM at the IWC Boutique at Battersea Power Station. Featuring all their amazing range of watches, their latest display technology and a relaxed informal yet high-tech design, this event will introduce you to IWC's incredible engineering heritage and fantastic timepieces. 

You'll be able to try on all their watches including high complications, talk to their in-house watchmaker and we'll hold two short talks to dive deeper into IWC's historic focus on highly engineered timepieces. You can also expect warm hospitality from the boutique's staff, and enjoy the astonishing Battersea Power Station that has only recently been refurbished.

We will share guests' information with IWC ahead of time so if you intend to bring anyone along please ask them to register separately. 

Join us at the new Battersea Power Station Boutique for an evening with IWC

EVent exploring the engineering of IWC with The Watch Collectors' Club

IWC Battersea Event March 2023 with The Watch Collectors' Club

Exploring the Engineering of IWC at IWC Battersea

We are extremely excited to be able to visit the new Seiko and Grand Seiko boutique on London's New bond Street. Join us on Thursday 9th March from 6:00PM. At this joint event for two brands you'll explore their many amazing timepieces from across their ranges, hear how the companies work together and learn a little more about their impressive history. 

These timepieces feature impressive technology, incredible finishing and beautiful dials and this is an opportunity to try many of them on across a whole range of prices. We will help you understand more about the different ranges and enjoy the new boutique.

We will be sharing all guest details with the boutique ahead of the event, so if you want to bring anyone along please ask them to sign up separately using the link below.

Join us at the new Bond Street Boutique for a wonderful event exploring the Seiko and Grand Seiko Brands

Seiko and Grand Seiko Event with The Watch Collectors' Club

Seiko, Grand Seiko and the New Bond Street Boutique

Join us at Bucherer's amazing boutique in the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden for an evening exploring their Certified Pre-Owned watch business. These are the watches they buy, authenticate, service and put on sale.

You'll get the chance to see items from their inventory, learn more about how their pre-owned business works, and understand what it is that the new Rolex partnership program offers to buyers. 

There will be two short talks to help you learn more, as well as wonderful hospitality from the boutique staff and Bucherer's experts in pre-owned timepieces. There will of course be a wide range of watches to explore and try on. 

This is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about buying pre-owned, how authentication and servicing works at reputable retailers like Bucherer, and explore the types of watch they stock.

We explore the benefits of buying Certified Pre-Owend watches at Bucherer Covent Garden

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