Swiss Tour 2009!

In June 2009, Tom Keegan and the six second year students embarked on a one week whirlwind tour of Switzerland visiting the manufactures of the five British School of Watchmaking founder members and the WOSTEP Head Quarters and training facility.

Their first stop was OMEGA HQ in Biel. The students were shown around the

OMEGA CS workshop as well as the restoration department and the OMEGA museum. The highlight of the tour being to the Centre Tourbillion Department and seeing how some of the micro mechanics etc learnt are put into practical use by these watchmakers.

Next stop was the Breitling headquarters were the group were amazed to see the training facilities and all the materials and tools that were available for training.

At Cartier Horlogerie, the students found the Design and Development department particularly fascinating.

They were also impressed to see that Cartier are able to supply components for the lifetime of a timepiece, by making them by hand from scratch when re-launching production is not possible anymore.

When the students arrived at the Panerai Manufacture, they were amazed by the level of technology: especially an automatic oiling machine and a machine for resetting pallet stones digitally. While there, a brand new building extension was being built which will be interesting to see on next year's visit.

At Patek Philippe the students were enthralled to see how much goes into the movement of a Patek Philippe and also the finishing on each of the parts. This goes further than the Geneva Seal to meet the requirements of the Patek Philippe Seal.

At the Rolex factory the students were interested in the way Rolex track parts worldwide, and to see the workshop and training facilities in Switzerland.