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David Walter, a respected voice in the independent watchmaking community, presents a critical discussion on the often-ambiguous terminology surrounding 'Hand Made' and similar phrases. He spotlights Kilian Leschnik's 'A Terminology Concept for Independent Watchmaking,' aiming to foster greater transparency for both collectors and independent makers. Walter's initiative provides a foundational framework to clarify production methods in an industry where precision in language is as valued as precision in horology.
It is true that it is a grey zone with some have the temptation to play with sometimes by letting the consumer think he is in one category while he is in fact in another one. However another question that can be raised is the following : is it better or would you rate higher a brand or a watch with everything (or the vast majority of the components) are made in house and nicely finished but not mind blowing or another one made with high end quality components made partly by skilled partners and
And looking at where the original insta post comes from, I belive it was not targeted for "Brands" but rather for "watchmakers" (Cramain, Dufour, Coyon, AdC etc). I guess this was intended to shed some light on what is "handmade" and what is not. A lot of people believe for example Dufour is handmade, but the components are made via CNC machining, dial outsourced as well as hands and case, but the finish is spectacularly done by himself, so we should maybe coin the terms "Custom made" and "hand
Interesting post. Example: Omega’s co-axial is definitely in-house. ETA is Èbauche. Sellita is Èbauche. Handmade independent must make a watch pure by hand. Like Roger Smith and his watch makers do. An independent which use a CNC machine to laser cut creative cases is not hand made. Only one CNC machine which stay loose in the atelier and a strong Apple iMac with design software is reason to loose the mark hand made. Hand made created always unique watches, instead of copying watches exactly the
Thanks for sharing and let's hope that the terminology of "handmade" get a truly transparent meaning.
Roger Smith no longer makes handmade watches. He uses (and has in his shop) CNC milling machines and CNC lathes which he uses not only for prototyping but also production parts. He started handmade but it seems for the sake of scaling, this path has been mostly abandoned - yet a lot is still done by hand. But (!) also by CNC.
The different approach of how something made. The example of Roger Smith, for me it is hand made. For an other watch enthusiast, lover, fan, etc it could it not hand made. So what do a craftsman write on a dial? Hand made, Swiss made, Made in England, Hand Crafted, semi hand made, mass produced in Germany? Is there a law on what somebody can write on a dial? Other watch makers like Vianney Halter, Kari Voutilainen are seen as hand made artists, but F.P. Journe have a different way of making watc
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