DISRUPTIONS

Europa Star

DISRUPTIONS

Watch Angels: a watch incubator is born

Watch Angels: a watch incubator is born

INDUSTRY

We are witnessing the emergence of a new category in the watch industry. The “incubation workshop” is neither licensing nor crowdfunding; it takes (...)

MicroLean Lab: an industrial breakthrough

MicroLean Lab: an industrial breakthrough

INNOVATION

MicroLean Lab, part of HE-Arc Ingénierie, based at St- Imier in the Jura Arc, is in the process of designing a genuine micro-factory that will fit into one (...)

A 100% digital edition of Watches & Wonders in 2021

A 100% digital edition of Watches & Wonders in 2021

SHOWS & FAIRS

In the light of uncertainty amid the current health crisis, the Watches and Wonders Geneva Exhibitor Committee has taken the decision not to hold the (...)

Watches will have their own biometric passports

Watches will have their own biometric passports

INNOVATION

To replace the traditional authenticity papers, Origyn, a new Swiss foundation, is offering biometric recognition of watches by means of a simple (...)

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Jacob & Co. The Astronomia Art Phoenix

Jacob & Co. The Astronomia Art Phoenix

WHEN INNOVATION MEANS EXTRAVAGANCE

You have to actually handle this incredible timepiece at least once to fully appreciate its absolute extravagance.

Bovet 1822: The Brainstorm Chapter Two

Bovet 1822: The Brainstorm Chapter Two

WHEN INNOVATION IS A STAGE

Back in 2016, Bovet introduced into their collections a highly innovative, asymmetric case in the shape of an antique writing slope. Here comes a new (...)

Citizen Super TitaniumTM

Citizen Super Titanium^TM

WHEN INNOVATION MEANS MATERIALS

As illustrated on the cover of the lastest edition of Europa Star, in 2020 Citizen is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the first titanium (...)

Mauron Musy: a new sealing technology

Mauron Musy: a new sealing technology

WHEN INNOVATION IS WATER-RESISTANCE

Born as a spin-off of a Swiss sub-contractor specialising in exteriors and precision machining for watchmakers, Mauron Musy has built its reputation as (...)

Romain Gauthier: The Insight Micro-Rotor Squelette

Romain Gauthier: The Insight Micro-Rotor Squelette

WHEN INNOVATION IS DECORATION

Exactly 350 hours of anglage and polishing per watch. Or, as one of the anglage specialists at Romain Gauthier puts it, “a genuine test of mental strength. (...)

Girard-Perregaux: The Cosmos Infinity

Girard-Perregaux: The Cosmos Infinity

WHEN INNOVATION MEANS TWO GLOBES

A solar day contains 24 hours. A sidereal day, the exact measurement of celestial time, lasts 23 hours and 56 minutes. To do full justice to this minute (...)

Urwerk: the UR-100

Urwerk: the UR-100

WHEN INNOVATION MEANS SPACE-TIME

Let’s stay in space with the UR-100, the “fourth episode in the intergalactic saga of the 100 collection”, as Martin Frei, co-founder of Urwerk, in-house (...)

Louis Moinet: The Space Revolution

Louis Moinet: The Space Revolution

WHEN INNOVATION IS SCIENCE FICTION

We already knew that Jean-Marie Schaller, the CEO of Louis Moinet – named after the astronomercum- watchmaker who had more or less fallen into oblivion – (...)

De Bethune: the DB28 Steel Wheels Sapphire Tourbillon

De Bethune: the DB28 Steel Wheels Sapphire Tourbillon

WHEN INNOVATION IS TRANSPARENCY AND LIGHTNESS

Denis Flageollet, the founder and master watchmaker at De Bethune, has always said he takes his inspiration from classic, high-end horology while (...)

Bernhard Lederer's Central Impulse Chronometer

Bernhard Lederer’s Central Impulse Chronometer

WHEN INNOVATION MEANS TWO ESCAPE WHEELS

We might as well say it straight out: it is absolutely impossible to sum up here every feature that constitutes the huge originality of the calibre 9012, (...)

Ferdinand Berthoud: the Chronomètre FB 2RE

Ferdinand Berthoud: the Chronomètre FB 2RE

WHEN INNOVATION MEANS COMBINATION

The Chronomètre FB 2RE, the architecture and modular case of which are directly inspired by the Marine No. 6 clock built by the great horologist Ferdinand (...)

Greubel Forsey Balancier S

Greubel Forsey Balancier S

INNOVATION IN INCLINATION

A large balance wheel measuring 12.6mm, set at 7 o’clock and inclined at an astonishing angle, immediately catches the eye. Is it inclined for purely (...)

F.P.Journe: 20 years of Resonance

F.P.Journe: 20 years of Resonance

FROM THE THEORY TO THE WRIST

The most state-of-the-art innovations sometimes have roots reaching way back to previous centuries. Such is the case of the horological application of (...)

A fragile fabric

A fragile fabric

EDITORIAL

When the fabric of a dress dries out, it is weakened, unravels and tears, becomes shapeless and rapidly falls apart.

Grand Seiko's chronometric quest

Grand Seiko’s chronometric quest

INNOVATION AS A CONSTANT FORCE

To widespread surprise, in September Grand Seiko presented a wholly unprecedented concept movement, the T0 (T-Zero) Constant-force Tourbillon. Its (...)

The lesson of Rolex

The lesson of Rolex

WHEN INNOVATION IS A CONTINUOUS PROCESS

In watchmaking circles, people tend to mock Rolex fans who buzz with excitement on social media because the brand with the crown logo has made some (...)

In the white rooms of CSEM

In the white rooms of CSEM

INNOVATION REPORT

In the early 1980s, at the height of the crisis affecting the Swiss watch sector, three separate institutes funded by the Swiss state and large watchmaking (...)

Instant-Lab (EPFL): Breaking the second barrier

Instant-Lab (EPFL): Breaking the second barrier

INNOVATION

It is sometimes said that, as far as mechanical watch movements are concerned, everything, or nearly everything, has already been achieved. So is (...)

Innovating in times of crisis

Innovating in times of crisis

EDITORIAL

Innovations are perhaps were we need to look, if we are to overcome the major challenges of our time. In our latest report we identify some of the major (...)

Tissot: connection without disruption

Tissot: connection without disruption

STRATEGY

It will be new CEO Sylvain Dolla’s first major project. Tissot’s connected watch, the T-Touch Connect Solar, has been eagerly awaited, as the new market (...)