Posting on behalf of Don Corson.





As Bulgari decided several years ago to reinforce its presence in Switzerland, making its center for watchmaking here they purchased the old FAVAG factory in Neuchâtel.  Many of you may know FAVAG as one of the major producers of master-slave clocks and the punch clocks used in factories.  They have completely renovated the building which now houses several other divisions of Bulgari along with the watchmaking activities.

We had the please to be able to visit the watchmaking shops as well as watch development, after sales service and quality assurance.

We start out in the watchmaking shop where the products that we have seen today all flow together.  We see the cases from H.Finger, the bracelets from Prestige d’Or and the dials from Cadrans Design once more along with movements from Bulgari Le Sentier and other high end manufacturers.

Here a pallet of gold cases from H.Finger.




We see the dials being mounted and the hands applied.











Depending on the size of the product order hands are mounted either manually or with a semiautomatic tool.  Here the semiautomatic tool which speeds the hands mounting greatly.





After the dial and hands are mounted the movements are cased up.






Of course particular attention is paid to cleanliness.





A small selection of the watch heads seen here.




















After final assembly the watches are tested for watertightness. 
Initially just using air...



The final step is a test in water.  The test using air finds about 90% of the "leaky" watches, but the final test with water is necessary to have full confidence.


After the pressure test under water the watches are heated up to about 45°C and then a drop of cold water is placed in the crystal.  If there is any humidity in the case it will show up immediately as condensation on the inside of the glass.  If this is the case the watch is disassembled completely and the movement cleaned immediately so it is not damaged.


Then the watches are all fully wound and tested after a one hour wait in all positions on an automatic tester.


Assuming that all is well at this point the watches are checked once more for cleanliness and anomalies in the polish or other decoration and then packed in a protective plastic in which they will remain until they are sold.

















We now move on the the development offices who’s main job it is to interpret the wishes of the designers into words that the manufacturing people can understand.  On the way between first ideas and a final product many models and prototypes are made.  Quite handy is stereolithography which allows "printing" in 3D directly from a computer.  This produces a plastic 3D model.








Moving on to the quality assurance department we find another set of optical measuring equipment.  This is used to control all the parts coming in from suppliers, even the suppliers belonging to the group.  As often as possible they try to do the controls at the premises of the supplier to avoid shipping delays there are quality faults found.


Any faults found are catalogued to help in rectifying problems found in the future.


One of the exclusive pieces of test equipment found here is a tester for waterproofness to 400meters what can actuate the buttons of a chrono during the test.





Our last stop of the day is in the after sales service shop.  Bulgari tries to do all the service as close to the end customer as possible in keeping with their goal of service times of not longer than 3 weeks.  The shop here does the service for Switzerland and repairs and service of complicated or vintage watches that can not be done at the other service centers.
A watch is stripped down for cleaning.


Cases and bracelets are also repolished or brushed.





Of particular interest here are the vintage Bulgari watches that have been repaired here.  They are compiling a catalogue of these pieces along with the pieces that are in the Bulgari Museum for internal reference.




I would like to thank Asha Langdown of Bulgari South Asia for the invitation to accompany this group to visit the Bulgari watch manufacturing facilities.  For those who like the smell of a working machine shop it was a good day.  Bulgari has a long history as an innovative jeweler who has made jewelry timepieces since the 1920’s, but has relatively recently decided to move into the domain as a watchmaker.

With the industrial basis they have made for themselves in the last years they are a real factor in the business now.  To their own movements from DR&GG, cases from H.Finger, bracelets from Prestige d’Or and dials from Cadrans Design they can add their knowledge of jewelry making, working precious metals, and the Italian flair from their design center in Rome.

Their newest model shows just how far they have come.  The Sotirio, named after their founder Sotirio Bulgari, no longer has a bigger than life BVLGARI logo on the bezel. This is a sure sign for me that they are now settling down as watchmakers and have gotten over their youthful insecurity in the watch market.

Don

This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2009-06-16 13:55:51 This message has been edited by MTF on 2009-06-19 08:39:03