Ten years after the inauguration of its manufacture in Neuchâtel, Officine Panerai announces the start of work on a new factory into which all the activities of development, production and assembly of the brand’s watches and movements will be transferred. The new production facility will be opened at the end of 2013 in Pierre-à-Bot, overlooking Neuchâtel. Its construction will complete the progress which has established the Florentine brand as a global leader in high-quality sports watches.

The new factory will optimise the production process in terms of both quantity and quality. The stages of development, manufacturing, assembly and quality control are already carried out internally by Officine Panerai but take place at different production sites. Grouping the various stages together in a single location (which is also significantly larger) will bring several benefits in terms of production: higher capacity, greater independence in all stages of production and better quality control.

The new Panerai manufacture will cover an area of 10,000 square metres and employ a staff of 290, which is 130 more than the 160 who work at the current building in the centre of Neuchâtel. In addition to the production lines, equipped with the very latest technologies, there will be space in the new manufacture for all the trades related to prototyping, production, assembly and rigorous quality control of the components, movements and cases of Panerai watches – trades that are carried out by master watchmakers and their highly skilled colleagues.

Inside the new building there will be a large space dedicated to the Workshop of Ideas, the area where all the research and development activities, which for years have been behind the innovative drive of the brand, will be consolidated. Materials research, the study and design of new movements together with the continuous refinement of the quality and creativity expressed by its products are fundamental requirements of a brand which finds in its history and its military origins the need to surpass its own standards so as to meet the requirements of its demanding customers.

In the words of Angelo Bonati, CEO of Officine Panerai, “In 1997 a great adventure was begun which has been creating the foundations for the future development of the Panerai brand and for its perpetuity”.

The new Officine Panerai manufacture will have zero environmental impact in terms of carbon dioxide through careful integration of technologies for the recovery and recycling of resources, devices for reducing emissions and eco-sustainable mobility policies for employees.