Eco Chambers

For these luxury watch companies, growing the business is never done at the expense of the environment.

- Celine Yap

In November 2017, Omega opened its newest production facility. Located in Bienne, Switzerland, it replaces the company’s original building which had been established by Louis Brandt at that very site in 1882. The architect for the new facility was Shigeru Ban of Japan, who is one of the most creative innovators of his generation. Ban’s earlier works include the Paper Church in Kobe, Japan; Centre Pompidou-Metz in France, and the Nicolas G Hayek Center in Tokyo.

His signature style tends towards such unusual materials as paper and cardboard tubing and yet it’s not always about materials for the Pritzker Architecture Prize recipient. Ban is also known for his clever use of timber and glass, the most recent example of which is this new Omega manufacture. In constructing all five floors of this eco-friendly masterpiece, Ban used exclusively Swiss spruce and concrete. In fact, the entire volume of timbre used for the building corresponds to just 2.6 hours of tree growth in Switzerland.

Efficiency is the order of the day here and the factory takes care of production stages T2, T3 and T4, which are watch assembly, bracelets and shipping respectively. A great degree of automation keeps things running smoothly and the interiors have been designed with an ingenious indoor climate and energy concept. Think energy-saving and load reduction, optimised heating and cooling systems, and renewable energy that comes from a geothermal system. www.omegawatches.com