Watch suppliers


Dubois Dépraz: an introduction

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December 2020


Dubois Dépraz: an introduction

As part of our latest report, we met several suppliers who form the very weft of the Swiss watchmaking fabric. Here is a short portrait of Dubois Dépraz.

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stablished in the Joux Valley since its creation in 1901 and currently employing a workforce of 340 across four production sites, Dubois Dépraz, which has some fifty customers mainly in the top (90-95%) and midrange segments, is a manufacturer of both complications and components and develops new complications on behalf of its customers.

A leader in the field of additional complication modules (for example, it was Gérald Dubois in association with Willy Breitling and Jack Heuer who developed and manufactured the world’s first automatic modular chronograph, the famous Calibre 11 of 1969), Dubois Dépraz recently – in 2019 – presented its first integrated column-wheel chronograph, the DD 540 calibre.

duboisdepraz_portraitsdirgroupe - Europa Star magazine 2020
The three Dubois brothers (fourth generation) at the helm of Dubois Dépraz. From left to right: Pierre (general manager), Pascal (sales manager) and Jean-Philippe (chairman of the Board of Directors).


Even more recently (September 2020), Dubois Dépraz presented three new products or innovations “to provide the best response to the market and demand in the current context.”

The Thila mechanism
The Thila mechanism
A creative and unprecedented reinterpretation of the seconds display: the smallseconds hand moves in a way similar to that of a metronome, rhythmically beating 15 seconds in one direction, then 15 seconds in the other. An unceasing, rhythmic and playful to and fro, compatible with all types of movement.

High-end trains
High-end trains
An expert in the production of watch trains, Dubois Dépraz now offers bevelled wheels with circular graining rimmed with polished mouldings, or pinions with polished wings, the characteristics of which comply with the highest standards, such as the Geneva Seal.

Laser micro-machining
Laser micro-machining
A new high-speed 5-axis micromachining platform allows drilling, machining and cutting without thermal degradation and operates on virtually all types of material in thicknesses from 0.1 mm to 0.8 mm. Jumpers, arm wheels, openwork date discs, levers, cams – the possibilities opened up by this precision technology are vast, and it is equally applicable to the medical and automotive sectors as it is to watchmaking.

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