Cartier

Cartier has five facilities in Switzerland, but the Cartier manufacture is in La Chaux-de-Fonds; everything from the Cartier Fine Watchmaking tourbillon to the Santos 100 is made there in one way or other. This provides an overview of the Cartier manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds and the processes in creating a watch; each department will be explored in more detail in later posts. This report also provides exclusive peeks into certain areas of the manufacture never seen before anywhere else. 

 

Manufacture Cartier possesses a high degree of vertical integration and in it one can see almost every single process in creating a watch. At many firms the various steps are done in various places, but at Cartier it is all under one roof at La Chaux-de-Fonds. The benefits of vertical integration are primarily speedier time to market, greater flexibility in production and a higher level of quality control. On average, a third of any one component used in production, be it hands, dial or even screws, is made in-house by Cartier and mostly at La Chaux-de-Fonds.  

 

Manufacture Cartier

 

A notable benefit to the consumer of this manufacturing capability is the nearly unlimited availability of parts. If the spare part is out of stock, even if it is a case, crown or bracelet, which is more difficult to replace than movement components, it can be manufactured. Parts for vintage timepieces are also made here, including hard-to-find bits like the balance wheel and accompanying timing screws.

 

 

Completed in 2000, the La Chaux-de-Fonds manufacture consolidates what was previously a disparate number of production sites into one 33,000 m² manufacture. It currently houses more than 1000 employees, engaged in every aspect of watch production. It is a very large building – in all it took over more than eight hours over two days to cover practically every area of the manufacture. I was fortunate enough to be shown around by Pierre Piffeteau, Customer Service Manager, and Sebastien Mathey, head of the restoration workshop.

 

Cartier's immediate neighbour to the right happens to be the revered Geneva house of Patek Philippe

 

 

 

The view of the staff canteen on the ground level from the rear of the building

 

Of course, size in itself means nothing and could even be a weakness as the spirit of craftsmanship could be lost. But Cartier has managed to preserve artisan skills – the manufacture has its own enamelling workshop with three full time enamellers as well as a high jewellery workshop where spectacular, sculptural jewellery watches are made by hand. Movement component finishing also has its own atelier, where anglage and other top-end decorative finishing is hand-applied.

 

These skills are evident in the high-end Cartier watches, ranging from the high watchmaking complications to the enamelled watches. These are of course separate from the entry to mid-range watches, which are excellent products at their price point, but accessibly priced, honest products, not high horology. It is Cartier’s wide range of products, from the affordable to the Astrotourbillon, that make this vastly impressive manufacture possible, where economies of scale exists alongside skilful, artisanal work.

 

Each of the areas of the manufacture will be explored in the follow-up posts below.

 

click here  for Part I. 

 

 

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-08-21 23:31:13

The entire development department, comprising technical development, R&D and the others mentioned below, are collectively known as the Think Tank (yes, it’s a pun on the that Cartier watch), and is situated in one wing of the manufacture across four floors.

The workflow begins at the top-most floor. Once a week, Cartier’s brain trust, known internally as the Studio, gathers here to brainstorm and discuss ideas. Everyone is represented at such meetings; staff from marketing, design and technical development are part of the Studio.

Entry to the studio...  

The Studio is a comfortable place  

At the Studio, new ideas are proposed and existing ideas are evaluated. Prototypes, mock-ups, drawings are put forward. No detail is overlooked; even new strap materials and styles are part of the discussion. Though the Cartier gets its straps from suppliers like Hirsch and Camille Fournet, straps for prototypes are made in the manufacture.

 

 

Above: Case and bracelet mock-ups 

 

 

Above: Early drawings for the Roadster 

 

Swatches for hides and sample straps  

 

Adjacent to the Studio is Technical Development and across from it – in between are a series of glass-walled meeting rooms – the R&D team. The names of the departments make it pretty obvious what happens here.

 

Below: Technical development  

 

 

 

 

 

The team here were all working on top secret projects but the moment I took out my camera everyone was working on watches already completed.

 

The extremely talented Carole Forestier is the head of this area and her notebooks are the key of all of its secrets.

 

 

 

 Early sketches for Santos Triple 100 (above) and Astrotourbillon (below)  

 

 

No photos of the R&D area are available except this one taken from a long, long way away. I heard a rumour the people there are working on the ID Two. Who knows?

 

 

click here for Part II.

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-07-08 07:45:52

After development and R&D is construction. Put simply, technical development creates the movement and construction puts it in a case; the folks here design the case, dial and hands around the movement. One of the most challenging creations was the Astrotourbillon, primarily due to the multi-layered dial and orbital tourbillon.

Below: The Astrotourbillon 

Note the complex construction of the various dial layers and orbital tourbillon in the cross-section below 

On the lower floors are the areas for creation of prototypes. These include the resin models created by a 3D used in early stages of product development to fully working prototypes in metal used in the final stages.

Below: The 3D printer and the resin models  

  

As such the prototyping department is fully equipped with all the tools necessary to create a watch, including CNC milling, drilling and cutting machines that make everything from movement components to case and bracelet parts.

 Below: Prototyping

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Below: A sample of the parts produced here including bracelets, cases and movement components 

 

 

 

 

Of course the prototypes and early production watches are tested and this is also done at La Chaux-de-Fonds. For instance, down a corridor from the main lobby of the manufacture sits a large machine with a mechanical arm that slams itself onto a platform repeatedly, for several thousand cycles. Strapped onto the arm is a watch of course, undergoing shock resistance testing.

 

 

 

 

On the other hand, chronographs are monitored with a high-speed camera that records up to several hundred thousand frames per second. This measures the movement and flexing of the chronograph hand as it start, stops and resets, over several thousand cycles. The pushers of the chronograph are also tested to ensure that the force required to depress them remain constant over many cycles.

 

Testing of the new Calibre de Cartier Central Chronograph  

 

 

Above: High speed camera 

 

Above: the footage from the high speed camera 

 

Results are then compiled in a report:  

 

 

But this is merely the tip of the iceberg. Cartier owns another facility in a top-secret location that is one of the best equipped testing facilities in Switzerland; more to come on that in another post.

 

  click here for Part III.

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-07-08 07:46:34

Cartier’s production is most impressive, both for its scale and range. For instance there are 18 turning machines (specifically bar-fed, turning machines) in La Chaux-de-Fonds making only bracelet and clasp parts.

 

 

 

 

 

Below: Some of these Bumotec S-1000 machines were even specifically designed for Cartier, hence the C-suffix.  

 

 

Below: A selection of components produced here

 

 

But even though the bracelet and clasp components are machined on a vast scale by enormous machines, they are deburred and cleaned by hand, one by one.

 

 

  

 

Case components are created the same way – fabricated on a machine before being hand finished.

 

 

Below: Case component production

 

 

 

Below: Case finishing

 

 

 

For example, the lugs of the Calibre de Cartier are polished by hand, both the brushed finish on the large surfaces and the polished bevels. In the photos below, the pink film on the parts is applied to protect the portions of the component that is not being polished.

 

Below: The parts are gripped in a vice for manual polishing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note that this hand-finishing of cases and bracelets includes all Cartier watches, including the entry- to mid-range pieces like the Santos and Calibre de Cartier. So even though they are made on a large scale, these watches are nonetheless well made and finished.

 

click here for Part IV.

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-07-08 07:47:05

Movement components are of course manufactured in La Chaux-de-Fonds, ranging from the basic 1904 MC automatic to the Astrotourbillon.

 

Below: Samples of the various parts made here, some of the more distinctive include the bridges of the Santos skeleton and the rotor of the ID One.  

 

 

 

 

These are made on a variety of milling and drilling machines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raw components from the milling machines are beadblasted to clean them before the tolerances are checked on microscopes.

 

 

Above: Raw parts are deburred by blasting them with tiny pellets made of ceramic or other abrasive materials

 

 

Above: Tolerances are checked to the micron

 

click here for Part V.

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-07-08 07:53:36

Cartier even manufactures hands in-house. The department producing hands is fully integrated, from stamping, polishing, bluing or plating and application of Luminova.

 

 

Below: Hands are stamped from strips of steel

 

 

Below: Polishing of stamped hands

 

 

 

 

 

Below: The hands are then pressed to give them the rounded shape

 

 

Below: Luminova is applied by hand

 

 

 

In fact, it even has a machine that cuts and punches the small paper cards that hold the loose hands, shown below.

 

 

Above: The various types of cards 

 

 

Given the skill of this department, I personally believe that Cartier actually makes hands for other Richemont brands, including highly technical brands that have their own integrated manufactures.

 

One of the more interesting manufacturing departments is the making of curved mineral crystals watches like the Tortue, including the new perpetual calendar with open dial. The process is simple but entirely manual: a skilled craftsman heats a flat crystal under an intense flame to soften it, moulds it into the required curvature and then holds it against a light guide to check the shape.

 

 

 

Below: Checking the curvature of the crystal

 

 

click here for Part VI.

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-07-08 07:54:47

Movement assembly is done in a clean room so visitors have to suit up before entering.

 

Lab coat... 

 

 

And shoe covers 

 

 

No running! 

 

 

Assembly is split into four areas: mechanical, quartz, high complications and casing up.

 

Below: Entering assembly department

 

 

Assembly for mechanical and quartz movements are done assembly line style, with one watchmaker assembling one portion of the movement.

 

 

In the mechanical movement assembly section, movements are slid from one watchmaker to another via a seesaw. In the mechanical section for example, one watchmaker installs the wheels of the gear train while another puts in the escapement and so on, finally reaching the watchmaker during regulation.

 

 

Below: Regulation of 1904 MC

 

 

 

Below: Assembly of Central Chronograph 9907 MC

 

 

 

The mechanical movements put together here are mostly time-only calibres like the 1904 MC and small complications like the Central Chronograph.

 

Below: Various calibres assembled here  

 

 

 

click here for Part VII.

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-07-08 07:48:08

Cartier makes all the mechanical and non-moving components of the quartz movements in-house, save for the quartz, battery and integrated circuit. The quartz movements are designed by Cartier and the ICs made to specification by an external contractor.

 

 

 

These are not low-end quartz movements with plastic bridges; the bridges are rhodium-plated brass and decorated.

 

 

Cartier is one of the few companies able to do so since production on a very large scale is required for this to be economical. As a point of note, Cartier has been making its own quartz movements for over 20 years.

 

 

 

 

 

Quartz movements are assembled in batches and sent from one watchmaker to another on a mechanical assembly line.

 

  

 

click here for Part VIII.

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-07-08 07:49:25

Great to get such an inside in the Cartier-facilities! I think it is also very good people see how high end a Cartier-quartz movement is.

Martin

This is excellent information. I am the proud owner of a Cartier Tank Solo. Although I knew that the movement is made inhouse, this extra information has added to my confidence in the Cartier inhouse quartz movements.

Since getting my first Cartier with a quartz movement, and learning more about the movements in this fine presentation, I have no qualms about getting another Cartier Tank model with quartz movement.

Cheers,

Carl

High complications are completed in a separate area. Each complicated watch, the Tortue perpetual calendar or Astrotourbillon for example, is completed by one watchmaker.

 

 

Below: A watchmaker working on several Astrotourbillon watches which are complete save for the straps and buckles

 

 

 

 

Generally, all the parts that comprise the watch, case, dial, hands and movement components, are placed inside a plastic kit box for the watchmaker to assemble. There are exceptions of course, like the Tortue Perpetual Calendar. The base for that is the 1904 MC which is assembled in the mechanical movement assembly area, after which the calendar plate is added and the watch is cased in the high complications area.

 

Below: Perpetual calendar plate parts for the Tortue Perpetual

 

 

 

Below: The completed movement and kit for casing

 

 

 

If the movement is outsourced, from Renaud & Papi for instance, it is delivered in completed condition to the watchmaker.

 

Below: Monopusher chronograph with tourbillion, movement from Renaud & Papi 

 

 

Ultra-high complications, like the monopusher chronograph with tourbillon and perpetual calendar, as well as bespoke or custom watches, are assembled in a separate department that is also responsible for restoration for vintage watches.

 

click here for Part IX.

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-07-08 07:50:00

Once the movements are assembled, they are sent to the adjacent casing area.

 

 

Here, dials and hands are mounted on the movement, after which it is cased and the strap or bracelet is installed.

 

Below: Installing hands on a Ronde Solo

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below: Casing of the Santos Galbee XL

 

 

 

The completed watches then undergo quality control checks for timing as well as visual inspection.

 

click here for Part X.

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-07-08 07:50:30

Decoration and fine finishing of movement components is done in an atelier adjacent to the workshops for high jewellery and enamel. The atelier is quiet reflecting careful work done here.

 

 

Above, from left to right: Finishing, enamelling and high jewellery ateliers  

 

The watchmakers in this atelier do bevelling, striping and other decorative polishing. They primarily work on decoration of movement parts from the high watchmaking collection, like the Santos Skeleton for instance.

 

 

  

 

At the time of my visit they were working on bevelling the gem-set bridges of the Panthere skeleton.

 

The bevelling was done with a polishing tool equipped with a spinning, abrasive head (the particular control unit being used is the Eneska 4-1 which can grind, mill and polish), similar to what dentists use to torture patients.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the anglage is completed, benzene is used to clean the bevelled edges.

 

 

 

click here for Part XI.

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-07-08 07:51:07

One of the highlights of the manufacture is its enamelling atelier. This is a rare and impressive skill that few manufactures possess.

 

 

Enamel is created by melting powdered glass onto a substrate, usually metal in watchmaking, with colour coming from metals added to the powder. A vast palette of colours is possible depending on the particular mixture used.

 

 

The enamel powder is ground by hand with a mortar and pestle and a bit of water. It is then applied with a tiny brush via a microscope.

 

 

 

 

 

Three enamellers work on decoration with enamel in techniques like cloisonné and champlevé. Each enamel artist is equipped with her own tools and oven, and generally works on an entire piece from start to finish. Both serial production and unique, bespoke pieces are made here; but because enamelling is so time consuming even serial production means one or two dozen pieces at most and each will nonetheless be unique.

 

 

Remarkable as it is, the enamelling atelier was only established three years ago and is still a work in progress with the enamellers still learning new techniques.

 

click here for Part XII.

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-07-08 07:51:36

Needless to say, Cartier has its own high jewellery department in the manufacture to work on high jewellery watches. Only the very highest end jewellery watches are created here, including the unique pieces with dozens or hundreds of carats of gems unveiled each year at SIHH.

 

This atelier includes both jewellers, who work with metal, and gem-setters, who each sit on one side of the room.

 

  

 

 

This atelier creates jewellery from start to finish. High jewellery watches begin with the drawing, before progressing to prototyping – creating resin or wax model, followed by a brass prototype.

 

Below: The progression of the piece unique double Panther bracelet watch from drawing to prototype to finished piece at SIHH 2010 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making jewellery is an extremely labour intensive process, much more so than most of watchmaking. The precious metal is cast via the lost wax casting technique, before being cut by hand – a manual saw is used. Polishing is done with a hand-drill, much like that in watchmaking and probably the most high-tech part of the process. Gem-setting is then done by hand as well. The work here is much like the work done at the high jewellery workshop in Paris, except only timepieces are made in La Chaux-de-Fonds while Paris makes all kinds of jewellery and objets d'art.

 

Below: Gem-setting

 

 

 

 

As each gem-setter is responsible for an entire piece of jewellery, so piece of jewellery is stored in a tray marked with the names of each of the gem-setters.

 

 

 

click here for Part XIII.

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-07-08 07:52:22

Restoration of vintage watches and assembly of ultra-complications are done in a small atelier.

 

  

 

 

Practically any vintage timepiece can be restored here, including clocks, pocket watches and pendant watches. And by restoration I mean the entire object, not just the movement. For example the diamond-set bracelet for this vintage ladies’ watch with the tiny LeCoultre cal. 104 below was remade from scratch.

 

  

 

Frequently, vintage Cartier watches with EWC movements are seen here, including the ultra-slim pocket watch below.

 

 

 

More recent complicated or complex watches are also serviced here.

 

Below: An 8-days calibre from La Joux-Perret, followed by a Tortue monopusher chronograph movement with tourbillon from Renaud et Papi 

 

 

 

When the original parts are no longer serviceable and spares unavailable, the parts have to be made from scratch, either turned on a lathe here or if necessary made on the CNC machines in the manufacturing or prototyping departments. Frequently such parts have to be designed from scratch.

 

Below: Drawing for a replacement wheel

 

 

This workshop also does after-sales service for high complications, including movement overhaul and polishing.

 

Below: Timing tests followed by polishing

 

 

 

Because the watchmakers here are exceptionally competent, assembly of ultra-complications is also performed here. Assembly of bespoke or custom order complicated watches is also done here. So for instance the skeleton, monopusher chronograph with perpetual calendar and tourbillon is cased here, though the movement is from Renaud & Papi.

 

Below: A skeleton monopusher chronograph with perpetual calendar and tourbillon before casing  

 

 

And this concludes the tour of the Cartier manufacture. My thanks to the team at Cartier Paris, Singapore and Geneva who made this amazing visit possible.

 

- SJX

This message has been edited by SJX on 2010-07-08 07:39:01

for bringing us one of the most extensive and impressive pictorial reports I can remember reading about any watch company. The incredible amount of time and effort you put in, culminating in a comprehensive report, wiill leave readers - including myself - with a deeper respect for the brand.

With much appreciation,
Jack Freedman

the comments are meaningful. Thanks Jack.

- SJX

very comprehensive...giving us better appreciation of Cartier's horological skills and capabilities.

I love those brightly colored croco hides and those little rubber thingies for the fingers... does durex make them as well LOL..

Seriously though.. Cartier's setup looks impressive and that is mirrored by some of their creatiosn of late.

Excellent report!  It certainly gives one understanding why the watches cost what they do.  Quite an amazing amount of manpower and machine work.

Thank you

I cannot imagine a better overview report of the La Chaud-de-Fonds ateliers, then this one.
Thanks so much for this huge and excellent report,
It's like, if I had been there myself. Superb & great work SJX!
GEO

and I have to go thru it a few more times; really a lot of very interesting information SJX.
It may sound silly, but I was also very impressed and surprised to seeing how the polishing is being done.
Especially since some watch bracelets are pretty complicated, with the matt and shiny parts.
Cartier Amsterdam had given me, some time ago, a demonstration at their (Benelux) ateliers,
so I knew it's being done with tape, but I still find it amazing and smart, when I see it.
GEO

and now you know why.

Thanks for the kind comments Geo.

- SJX

bar just keeps getting higher and higher. GREAT job JX!!

... and many thanks for taking us to see such impressive watch manufacture!

stefan

This is just a fantastic report for the archives. Very comprehensive and eye-opening. Good to know which spa our watches end up at when they're sent to La Chaux-de-Fonds! People who see Cartier as just jewelers should be directed to this post. Thanks very much for a wonderful tour. BTW, do you know which part of the tour would be open to mere mortals?

Currently tours have only been conducted for press, but if you are keen, drop me a line.

- SJX

about Cartier ... chapeau for you kind effort to bring us
atmosphere of big manufacture
All the best
Damian

Hi SJX,

Thank you for your superb report.

Your report shows incredible creation and manufacturing capacities for this great brand that is one of the pillars of the wristwatch history and industry.

I hope it will help people better understand the value of this brand.

Cheers

Dje