If you know anything about the practical side of making watches, you know that production is a sensitive topic. You might, for example, see news about some massive new structure that watchmaker A is building, and naturally wonder how many more watches will be made under that roof. Now, if you know a little more about watchmaking, it will not surprise you to learn that more watches are not on the cards – at least not right away, but certainly never to the extent that production will suddenly double.
While visiting the new Patek Philippe facility in Geneva’s Plan-les-Ouates neighbourhood (affectionately known as Plan-les-Watches or Plan-les-Watch), we are shown a staggering number of CNC (computer numerical control) machines. It was literally a show-stopping moment for the press tour, organised for Southeast Asia media, especially for those of us who understood that CNC machines can run 24/7. For a moment, this writer considered just how many brass movement blanks could be produced at the new PP6 facility with the multi-axis CNC machines. That foolish moment passed quickly though because Patek Phlippe helpfully informed us that gears, pinions and arbours (also produced here, with different CNC machines in a process called bar-turning, where the raw material bars turn but the tools are fixed) needed to be finished by hand. Anything with teeth, really. To be blunt here, this literally means that every spoke of every wheel gets some individual attention, however miniscule it might be.
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Denne historien er fra Legacy 2023-utgaven av WOW Singapore.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Worth Its Weight
TAG Heuer scored an unexpected win with the Carrera Chronograph Skipper in the recent past, so the brand returned it to regular production in steel last year. For 2024, red gold marks the Skipper's triumph
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The Conversation: Greater Expectations
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FINE TIME
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NEW AND NOTED
As you might expect, we have been covering Watches and Wonders Geneva since it began as a physical fair in 2022 and of course when it was confined to the ether, from 2020.
OPEN SEASON
The world's biggest and most important watch fair gets a little bigger and a little better. As for the watches, they got more than a little precious...
GREAT LEAP FORWARD
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