Looking Back...

As today marks 12/12/12 it seems as good a day as any to look back on some of the highlights of last year.  So I thought I'd start out with a quick re-heating of my visit to Girard-Perregaux/JeanRichard back in March.  This originally ran in several installments, but here they are, all in one place.

As you know, yesterday was a day off from Basel.  This year I wanted to try to visit one of my favorite watch manufacturers and thanks to Dimitra Frechelin - seen here at BaselWorld 2011

I was able to experience perhaps a little bit of  what visiting Wonka's chocolate factory 
must have been like - only for a watch lover!

So after a very scenic train journey, I found myself in the cradle of Swiss watch making - La Chaux-de-Fonds and visiting Girard-Perregaux!  I found my way to Xavier Markl's (Marketing Director) office for coffee with him, as well as Dimitra and Girard-Perregaux's Conservateur des Musees Willy Schweizer.  

Xavier Markl

Over coffee Xavier had a look at my "very vintage" Girard-Perregaux, and after a brief chat with Willy, he informed me that they would "borrow" my watch to see what their restoration department could do to bring it back to something more of its former self.  For the "before, check here:
http://www.tempusfugitwatch.com/2012/01/desire.html

And with that, Willy and I set off "down the hill" to Girard-Perregaux's manufacture area.  One thing to keep in mind, is that due to steady growth, GP now inhabits several buildings in the city.  

Willy Schweizer

And here is Willy in the manufacture building ready to lead me up.  

So having put on our white coats and zipped-up, I found myself in a room with some incredibly complicated looking machinery.  The above photo gives you a hint as to what is made in this area.  Those of you hard-core Girard-Perregaux fans will no-doubt recognize the cut out shape at the bottom of this photo.

And it was at this point where Willy first uttered what would become a bit of a slogan for the rest of the morning - and I apologize for not writing it down at the time, but the general statement was "as you can see, our grandfathers are no-longer working here."  Essentially telling me that I would not see people hunched over with wooden tools, slowly making individual parts all by hand.

 Girard-Perregaux is a modern facility with cutting-edge technology.  Elvis (or at least the watch maker of 100 years ago) has left the building.

What was truly remarkable - at least to "little me" who barely got through trigonometry, was the amount of mathematical calculations and programming that had to go in on the front-end to get these "automated watch makers" performing at the insanely uncompromising tolerances required.

And behind every machine and function - people.  And as odd as it sounds, and as impressive and amazing as the machines are - it is the people who really struck me.  Think about the amount of patience and concentration to not only get the processes going, but to monitor, update, and if necessary correct them?  And by the way - I've been in a few work-spaces and I don't think that I've ever encountered such a friendly and positive group of people.

This is man (and woman) and machine working together.

And one of the other repeating themes in Willy's tour was the unbending attention to detail.  At Girard-Perregaux, it is safe to say that good-enough really isn't good-enough.  At EVERY step of production there are several stages for quality control.  Off by even the slightest variance?  Back it goes until it is as close to perfect as possible - and within tolerances.

The other aspect that really "rocked my world" was the vertical integration of the entire process at Girard-Perregaux.  For those of you out there thinking that they make their own movements, but the rest is "ordered out" - think again. 

Cases, bracelets, bezels - you name it! 

In a time where the majority of watch companies are essentially acting as "assemblers" - movement from ETA, Selitta, maybe a case and bracelet from a specialist supplier... Girard-Perregaux are doing ALL of these things themselves! 

So we moved from one area, down a hallway and traversed another set of stairs -

And for you movement junkies out there - this is where the "heart" of each Girard-Perregaux and JeanRichard timekeeper begins to be brought to life. 

And in this area, a group of incredibly skilled folks start to put the pieces together - yes a GP or JR movement REALLY IS more than just the sum of its parts.

So although on the front end, the individual components are crafted by computerized machinery, once it is time to assemble, the people of Girard-Perregaux are at the forefront. 

So I believe we were talking about watches!  These are for some very special people - you'll have to read to the end to find out who they are going to.

Willy continued to lead me through the various stages of production and assembly.  As he said again and again - "our grandfathers don't work here".  What was truly astonishing to me was the sheer volume of production performed at such an exacting level of quality.  At every step of the way, there are MULTIPLE quality control checks.  If any part of the watch doesn't meet the exacting specifications?  Back it goes until it does!

But I would have to agree emphatically, that all of that attention to detail is worth it!  There are a lot of "haute/luxury" watch brands out there, and sometimes it is difficult to understand why they cost what they do.  As Gertrude Stein once said about Oakland - "There's no 'there' there".  Not so with Girard-Perregaux - having seen the amount of work, care and attention that goes into every Girard-Perregaux and JeanRichard - I can assure you that you get even more than what you pay for!

By the way - this is my ALL-TIME dream watch!  I am proud to say that one of these did not find its way into my bag!  The temptation, I can assure you, was strong!  So I will need to start the GP Vintage 1945 fund!

And this one is timeless.  This is not a fad, it is not of the moment - it is of EVERY moment.  This is a watch that will be passed from father to son.

And JeanRichard really is a manufacture brand!  It is easy to discount JEANRICHARD as a poor relation - but this is really not so.  This is obvious in walking through the manufacture - there is not a "B" team or a JR/GP division of labor or know-how.  Both fantastic brands are worked on by the "A" team.

And those chronographs at the beginning of today's installment?  They are 30 year service awards for a certain transportation manufacturer in Turin.  Let's see... I'm 43 now, maybe I could still squeeze 30 years in...

More to come - including a history lesson from the Professor himself,  Willy Schweizer.

So after the Manufacture, we were off to the JeanRichard Museum.

And who better to get the grand tour from than the Conservateur des Musees - Willy Schweizer?

The museum itself has an upper and lower floor - the upper being administrative offices, and the lower level being divided into three uniquely defined areas.  We entered into what Willy informed me was a library that he is in the process of assembling.  Yes, it is a library, but it is also a very elegant lounge-type area, some beautiful mid-century furniture, airy, spacious and, well - perfect!

Photos and keepsakes of "friends and family"abound.  This is just the sort of place you'd want to visit to relax and talk about your passions.  My understanding is that the library is currently "in process" but Willy is off to a fantastic start.

From the library we moved to one of the main collection rooms which housed tools and pieces from the era of the original Daniel JeanRichard.  Legend has it that a wealthy man had bought a watch in London, and upon his return to Switzerland it was not working, and that the young JeanRichard without proper tools or training was able to repair it, as referenced in the painting above.

I have to say that the sequencing of the tour - first the modern manufacture, and then the museum was particularly well thought out.  From the present (and in many ways the future) to go back to a time where there were no standard measurements.  To that end, the making, and repair of a watch was a very personal thing.

And you could see the progression from a solitary pursuit, to the gradual "industrialization" with several sets of hands coming together to work on a common project.

So what does it take to work for Girard-Perregaux?  Willy gave me a good idea about this after visiting the first display room.

Inside the JEANRICHARD museum, there is a training center.  And this is not just any sort of training center, this is the place where all new Girard-Perregaux/JEANRICHARD team members "cut their teeth"before joining the team.  I asked Willy if this was just new watch makers, and he assured me that no, in fact all of the GP/JR team spend a few days "at the bench".  I was a bit befuddled by this, so he explained - and again I am going from memory - "how can we expect sales and marketing people to talk about our watches if they don't understand how they are made?"

Thanks to a right hand bent and warped from a cycling accident, I strongly suspect I will never be sitting in one of these hallowed seats.  And the setting is just beyond belief.  Clean, airy and... perfect.  And while I realize that it is a training center/workshop - it is in such a wonderfully beautiful space.  For lack of a better right "paw"I'd be in there.  I asked Willy how Dimitra from Public Relations did - and apparently she passed with flying colors!   This is a state of the art training center - the computer age meeting the hand-crafts.

This is truly the "Dream Factory".