The Circular S - Sun

From ID Genève -

                                              Courtesy of ID Genève

So point of information, when I was working on mandate with a brand in La Chaux-de-Fonds, we had investigated the possibility of sourcing watch cases from a firm that was recycling steel and titanium. I believe that this is the same foundry (or re-foundry?) that is being used by ID Genève. In the end the brand I was working with opted to stay with what they were using. But the idea truly intrigued me.

Fast forward five years and ID Genève and I came face to face on the second floor of the Time to Watches show in Geneva this past April, and I have to say that I was impressed with what they were doing. Which brings me back to the Circular S Sun -

Courtesy of ID Genève

There is a bigger, more important message about ID Genève, which I promise to get to. But for the moment, I am crushing pretty hard on the beauty of this watch - in particular the dial.

Courtesy of ID Genève

ID Genève is based on the idea of - and I am guessing I'm going to flub this - circular manufacturing. The cases are crafted from reclaimed steel. Per ID Genève:

ID Genève launches a new collection made from 100% REPROCESSED steel melted in a solar furnace and presenting a carbon footprint 165 times lower than the industry average.

Courtesy of ID Genève

The movements are not exactly recycled, but could certainly be considered upcycled:

Movement
Refurbished automatic movement sourced from unsold stocks
Swiss made ETA 2824, robust and easily reparable worldwide
Power reserve: 38 hours
Functions:
Hour, minute and second in the center, Date at 3 o’clock

For those of us in the lower 48, there is currently 1 point of sale - Watches of Switzerland (according to the brand's website). Although a Google search turned up Mayor's who are listing a few ID Genève watches for sale on their site. Now for those of you just tuning in, Mayors is Watches of Switzerland...

At any rate, I have seen this beautiful watch in person, and it is something special.

 

Circular Watches

From ID Genève -

Courtesy of ID Genève

Every watch fan and most watch journalists get excited about the construction aspects.  But anyone who has toured the factory floors can tell you, there is a shit-ton of waste.

Courtesy of ID Genève

Now a little inside baseball for you, the majority of watch cases start life thousands of miles away from where they claim to originate. They typically start out as "blanks". Essentially cases that are the first step in case production. They arrive after a long boat ride, or via cargo plane but the point being is that 9 times out of 10, your stainless steel watch case did not spring to life within the cantons of Switzerland. Now as these cases start out as rough forms, there will always be a fair amount of excess that accumulates as they are shaped and formed.

Courtesy of ID Genève

So what if you collected all that waste, and re-purposed it? Well, that is what the people behind ID Genève are proposing to do.

The case is 98% recycled 4441 stainless steel collected in the Jura region.

The movements are re-furbished ETA 2824s.

Courtesy of ID Genève

Now regular readers will note that at Tempus Fugit we do not promote crowd-funding projects, and to be clear, that is still the case.  But this idea is a pretty interesting one, and once it has cleared its crowd funding phase.

Stay tuned!