Laying the foundations for the future







New production facilities for Harry Winston in Geneva; new Manufactures to come for Jaquet Droz and Hublot; extensions to Cartier’s watchmaking site in Le Crêt-du-Locle; more square metres for IWC in Schaffhouse; twice the area for Vacheron Constantin in La Vallée de Joux; new premises for Audemars Piguet that will bring watch production from all its other sites under one roof; plans for Franck Muller to develop in Les Bois; Breitling Chronométrie expanding in Les Eplatures, not to mention the 9,000 sq. m. that Jaeger-LeCoultre will add to its existing 16,000 sq. m. in Le Sentier, with a new building that meets with precise ecological and environmental criteria. The list could go on… and on, and on. However, these examples suffice to show that Swiss watchmakers no longer have an inch to spare and, in need of more space, are building new structures left, right and centre, as large and impressive as their global ambitions.

The only question for the moment is whether increasing production capacity at a high point in the economic cycle will bring trouble later on, meaning overcapacity when what goes up eventually comes down. One thing is sure: now is the time to invest in bricks and mortar. Firstly, the Swiss property market is continuing its upward trend and secondly watch firms’ results are generating such a high gross cashflow they have no difficulty financing these new premises and the machines that go with them.

The greatest strength of Swiss Fine Watchmaking over recent years has been its ability to conquer every world market, and in doing so achieve a healthy balance across its distribution channels. In other words, the crisis that hit the sector in the 1980s won’t happen again. If, then, these additional industrial resources meet a genuine need, which clearly they do, this is very much a move in the right direction and one that will also create employment. C.R.

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