Photo: Lang & Heyne


Watchmaking is on top form. Everyone is saying it; everyone is repeating it. The industry’s good health is attracting a number of vocations, and today, we are witnessing a boom in births and rebirths; new brands, new products, new launches and re-launches are appearing, one right after the other.
This new wave of watchmaking is being formed by the efforts of people from all over the world and of all nationalities. Among them are many young and talented watchmakers who, after having cut their teeth on the workbenches of the large brands, are now exploring the roads of independence.
Many have passed by the difficult but excellent school of restoring antique timekeepers, which have become an important part of the time sector, thanks notably to the auction vogue. By digging into the entrails of these antique clocks and watches, new watchmakers have been able to learn some of the secrets of past masters. They have been able to admire the technical imagination of yesterday’s horologers and the care they brought to the decoration and manual finishing of these early timepieces. Now, in the 21st century, with the latest technologies and cutting-edge computer-controlled equipment, most of today’s new wave watchmakers are not content to merely reproduce this wonderful heritage; they want to draw upon this savoir-faire to help them go beyond it, to make new discoveries.
We also find young entrepreneurs, trained in marketing or business, who, as seasoned professionals, want to create inventive brands, niche brands that can fill the voids often left unattended by the large groups.
We also find strong units made up of watchmakers, engineers, and entrepreneurs who are steadfastly determined to patiently invest over the long term in order to construct brands that will endure and assume a permanent spot on the watch landscape. The most striking example of this category is the new Schaffhausen-based company, H. Moser & Cie. We were so impressed by this new entity that we devoted an entire article to its approach, its purity of design, its extreme ingen-uity, and its great elegance. There is no doubt about it; H. Moser & Cie will be one of the great names of tomorrow. This prediction is reinforced by the brand’s vigorous response to two of the major challenges that await this ‘new watchmaking wave’ – reliability and after-sales service. On these points alone, H. Moser & Cie has come up with an elegant and ingenious solution that will make the large brands turn green with envy. While long-term reliability and after-sales service may be the Achilles Heel of the new wave of timekeeping, these factors are crucially important for all players, large and small.


Source: Europa Star February-March 2007 Magazine Issue