The big news for Carl F. Bucherer is its new in-house movement, which has been in development for several years. President Thomas Morf saw the writing on the wall when movements started becoming harder and harder to get, so the company bit the bullet and bought movement specialist THA (in St. Croix, Switzerland) on July 1, 2007, renaming the company Carl F. Bucherer Technologies.
“The main focus for us in BaselWorld is the new movement which we are going to show for the first time,” says Morf. “It is an automatic movement with a big date. This is the movement that we are doing in our new factory. We don't have a specific model around it, because we want the movement to be the king at the BaselWorld Fair. We will have production as of September/October and we will gradually increase the numbers.”





THA had long been a supplier to the watch industry, making complications, modules, one-off pieces (jewelled clocks, display pieces, etc.) and more. Carl F. Bucherer has been working with THA for more than ten years.
“THA did part of the TravelTec GMT,” explains Morf. “We have had projects with them for a long time. It's a perfect fit for our brand. We have made a clear decision to go to more of our own manufacturing. The integration of THA makes sense for our long-term strategy. They have done high complications and they design and build everything. They are real watch making masterminds.”
Though this is a big step in the development of Carl F. Bucherer, Morf is quick to point out that it doesn't mean that the brand will start making tourbillons or super-complicated timepieces. “Our movements will be a base for complications in the future, but useful complications, like today,” he says. “We need alternative movements that work and are re-liable. The bottom line is that in the watch industry, you can't take the fast lane; you can't go quicker than is possible and be successful. You have to build on solid progress, that's the way it works. We have no ambition to make the most complicated watch in the world, but we do want our own in-house, re-liable movements.”

The TravelTec 4X
Another introduction at BaselWorld for Carl F. Bucherer is the TravelTec 4X, the ‘4X’ standing for ‘Four Extreme Materials’. “Like the Mercedes AGS and the BMW M Series cars, the 4X is the top end model of the TravelTec line,” explains Morf. “The TravelTec has made a real impact on the line and it is a huge success for us. The 4X is made out of palladium, ceramic, titanium and rubber, and with its very useful complication, it's the real boys’ toy.”
There is more news for the brand, as they just entered into a partnership with custom car house Rinspeed, so look for more information about Carl F. Bucherer in future issues of Europa Star.


Source: Europa Star April-May 2008 Magazine Issue