Nothing attracts watch fanatics like manufacturing facility go to. Okay, that’s overstating the case so spectacularly that you just might need laughed out loud. Other than being a type of hook – clickbait, principally – this actually is the inspiration for this story, which guarantees to make you concentrate on the a number of leisure, manufacturing and basic work websites for Audemars Piguet. On this journey, not solely did we get to see the brand new Arc facility that you just might need examine just lately, but additionally the previous website on the predominant workplace, in addition to the model’s swanky museum. We are going to really get into the weeds of all of the websites, however this story is simply an introduction.
The distinction between previous and new – generally as a lot on the identical craftsperson’s desk as between the restoration workshop and analysis and improvement – is putting, however the kinship between the 2 is maybe the extra fascinating bit. Audemars Piguet watches are conventional kinetic precision devices, however they’re the results of what is feasible on the pinnacle of up to date manufacturing. As standard, we’re getting forward of ourselves and haven’t even spelled out essentially the most fascinating half about this go to: a tour of the Audemars Piguet facility at Le Locle, which collectors would possibly recall as the previous Renaud & Papi dream manufacturing facility, and was recognized by the acronym APRP (guess why!).
Anyway, hold all that in thoughts and contemplate how a go to to the constructing the place Giulio Papi and Dominique Renaud as soon as dominated the roost would possibly make you are feeling. In actual fact, Papi remains to be within the image and also you would possibly really catch him there. Even when you don’t, simply assume on sharing the identical house that he did when he did all his most essential work for Audemars Piguet right here. It is a type of expertise that not even everybody who owns an Audemars Piguet watch will get to have. Not even everybody who visits the house of Audemars Piguet will get to go to APRP, which now goes by the extra atmospheric title Manufacture des Saignoles. Does all of that excite you? Does any of it? If not, why not? So many questions…
INDUSTRIAL ACTION
Severely, although, why are collectors no more all for visiting, particularly if one has a number of watches from one model? All these questions emerged after the go to as we have been surveying all of the supplies and ready for the information launch on the official opening of the Arc facility in Le Brassus. That final bit resulted in additional questions, this time in regards to the newsworthiness of manufacturing facility openings. As soon as extra, our personal perspective is biased in favour of such issues, however it’s all too straightforward to problem this as a result of the group is probably not within the realities of commercial manufacturing. Since there isn’t any actual timeliness difficulty right here, we settled on answering a few of these questions on this story forward of presenting the manufactures – there are no less than two websites and Audemars Piguet has a casemaker and bracelet maker in Geneva that we didn’t get to.
To counsel a solution to why you need to wish to go to Le Brassus no less than as soon as, simply give the photographs right here a scan. When you achieve this, recall that watchmaking took root right here within the coronary heart of the Vallée de Joux as farmers sought out work to extra productively whereas away the hours in winter. The setting within the village – it’s nonetheless principally a village, with some startling industrial structure within the combine – goes an extended approach to conveying the feelings behind this historical past. Maybe you’re of the college that prefers to contemplate the contributions of the Huguenots who settled throughout Protestant Switzerland, in exile from France. These gunsmiths, locksmiths, goldsmiths and different comparable artisans wouldn’t have so simply taken to farming and can certainly have wanted to adapt their expertise – watchmaking would have helped. If you look out from the magnificent floor-to-ceiling home windows on the Audemars Piguet museum, France is simply over the horizon. That too is a really actual hyperlink to this side of historical past and acts as a reminder that human capital was key, and stays so right this moment.
The worth of human work makes itself palpably felt on the Arc, even amidst all the flamboyant equipment you would wish to see. We do love our CNC machines, as these accustomed to this creator will know, however we remind ourselves that the very best instruments are not any substitute for the best watchmaking perspective, devoted craftspeople and technical operators; the latter are completely essential to the wholesome operating of a facility with cutting-edge expertise, after all
WORKING SPACE
The Arc construction cuts an imposing determine with its crenelated and curved 321m façade; the constructing is curved like a ‘C’ or ‘U,’ which lends the place its title. It has scale to match at 23,700m2 and may accommodate as much as 700 workers; this workforce had been cut up throughout a number of websites within the Vallée de Joux, together with the previous website on the Manufactures des Forges subsequent door.
That is considerably bigger than the 17,000m2 introduced in 2021 when building started, and it’s unclear the place the extra sq. footage got here from. Is that final bit information? Is that this the most important manufacturing website in Swiss watchmaking? Not by an extended shot, and it may not be the most important watchmaking facility even in Le Brassus, by no means thoughts the Vallée. It doesn’t declare such bona fides. Workspace shouldn’t be the important thing measure right here, though we must always actually care in regards to the consolation of the individuals who make the watches we love.
Properly, you possibly can determine for your self how you are feeling, however Audemars Piguet has taken pains to supply each open areas for straightforward collaboration, and extra conventional closed-off areas for added privateness. These open areas embody the elements of the meeting stations, the place we noticed the watchmakers laborious at work on as much as 5 actions without delay. Whereas some manufactures have delineated areas the place visitors can freely observe however not intrude, Audemars Piguet has determined that in case you are inside, you then belong there. That’s in step with its broader messaging, which incorporates welcoming house owners as members of the “AP household.”
GLOWING UP
In fact, new services lack the nice and cozy glow of historical past – no Piguet or Audemars paced these halls whereas fretting about amplitude. For that, you have to to move again to the agency’s headquarters, which was the place all of the motion befell. The museum – a postmodern behemoth of up to date design – actually fills in all of the blanks on the model’s historical past, together with the household tree, in case you are inquisitive about all of the previous names. When you choose your historical past to be a bit extra bodily, look out for a effectively contained in the constructing. The manufacture used to share this useful resource with the neighbouring home. Once more, the pertinent query is do you care?
Whereas the opening of the Arc facility is information, as a result of it’s new, the price of the story relies upon extra on the small happenings on the manufacture. Which means all its services, the whole thing of its historical past and all its watchmakers as a result of the model’s place within the firmament of watchmaking relies on every thing being aligned. So too the place of the model’s watches in your wrist and in your assortment. As this author and Ruckdee Chotjinda have opined, there’s nothing like some post-manufacture go to euphoria to form some slightly instant acquisitiveness. If nothing else, that final bit in all probability explains the worth of the manufacture go to succinctly.
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