B.S.o.W  SWISS  TRIP  2008

19th - 23rd of May our second year students visited our founding member manufacturers in Switzerland.

Monday

Visit to Omega in Bienne

Our first call was the repair and spares department, then moving on to the restoration, and case refinishing, which was of great interest to our students. Bienne are currently handling 3500 repairs.  The Omega central tourbillion in various stages of assembly was of particular interest. Afterwards we visited the Omega Museum including the historical moon watch story.

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Monday PM

Visit to Breitling

In the afternoon we visited the impressive new building in Grenchen where we were shown the repair department where the specialised service of the emergency watch takes place. Most watchmakers will never see the antenna of one of these watches extended as to do so would alert the emergency services and incur costly bills in a false alarm situation. Their huge spares department guarantees future after sales service. The homologation department is where movements and complete watches are tested to destruction.

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Tuesday

Richemont

Cartier’s new building in La Chaux-de-Fonds, manufacturing and assembly of high value watches. Cartier are investing a great deal in the manufacture of their own impressively high value movements and, as many other Swiss manufacturers, are striving for independence. We all came away with a renewed impression of Cartier watches. Our thanks to our guide who made the visit enjoyable and who’s enthusiasm for the brand was infectious and Their hospitality during our visit to the museum and a typical Swiss country restaurant in the evening rounded off our visit perfectly.

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In the afternoon we visited the National  museum in the town. A must for any tourist interested in horology

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That evening our hosts took us to typical old country farm where there was historical feeling of the past, a mixture of farming and watchmaking, now converted into a restaurant we enjoyed the local cuisine.

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Wednesday

Panerai

Visit to the assembly and after sales technical department. Another example of the high investment in an established company that has expanded in recent years into the high value market. We were taken to Flurier to their movement manufacturing centre. Extremely interesting for the students to see the mass production of components and the precision machines that are employed, and obvious high rate of expansion. Our guides were keen to answer all our questions and were most helpful ensuring our visit was a great success.

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Then on to Flurier to their movement manufacturing centre, extremely interesting for the students to see the mass production of components albeit on a smaller scale, and obvious high rate of expansion.

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WOSTEP (Watchmakers Of Switzerland Training & Education Program). Providers of our training program and examination certification, recognised by the industry world wide. Our student had the opportunity to see and compare the facilities and to ask one of the Swiss instructor’s questions. As our own examinations are approaching- there were many.

Our students could see that the installation of equipment and implementation of the WOSTEP programs at the BSoW is to the same standard as that operating at the WOSTEP headquarters, with the exception of new equipment and extra training aids.

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Thursday

 

Rolex

After an overnight stay in Geneve we were taken to Rolex to visit one of the assembly departments and were shown various quality control tests performed during assembly. The large waterproof testing machines and the rigorous tests employed were interesting. We were shown a presentation of their world wide service structure by the head of world service. In the afternoon we visited the newly automated spare parts distribution department and we were honoured to visit the private Hans Wilsdorf historical collection of Rolex watches along with a tour of the impressive and inspiring Geneve headquarters of Rolex.

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Friday

Patek Philippe

An unexpected visit of all the technical departments, including assembly and production of the new escapement. A tour of the complication repair and historic restoration department was inspiring to all the students, especially and the amassing stock of very old and obsolete parts still in the rough state. The watchmakers have to finish and fit these parts which requires the highest standard of watchmaking. Special thanks to our guide who was helpful and flexible in answering questions and showing the students areas of particular interest.  

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In the afternoon we visited the Patek Philippe case factory in Perly and the production of high value pieces which left the students in awe. Finally the visit to the Patek Philippe Museum which no horologist should miss when visiting Geneve.

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Our thanks to all who were involved in the organisation and success of this trip. This was a once in a lifetime visit to the above factories only available to our students and will be remembered for the rest of their careers. Our students were filled with renewed goals and inspiration, confident in a secure future and aware of the high skills required by the industry.

 

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A. Burtoft 2008