A SilMach employee works on a watch with a silicon core, October 6, 2023 in Besançon (AFP/ARNAUD FINISTRE)
A tiny motor, which consumes less energy and ignores magnetic fields: a company from Besançon has developed a “revolutionary” watch with a silicon heart, betting on relaunching French watchmaking.
“It’s a somewhat unique object because it’s a world first. It’s a technological turning point,” assures Jean-Baptiste Carnet, co-general director of SilMach (for “Silicium Machinery”), on the occasion of the Wednesday launch of the watch called “TheTimeChanger”.
In the historic heart of French watchmaking, the company has installed its silicon micromotor production site, which is entered with great hygiene precautions, to prevent dust from settling on the precision mechanics.
SilMach, a young company founded in 2003, has since developed cutting-edge technologies used in medicine, defense, transport or infrastructure, such as nanodrones or sensors which make it possible to electronically control the shock resistance of landing gear.
A robot tests the silicon heart used in the Thetimechanger watch manufactured by the company SilMach, on October 6, 2023 in Besançon (AFP/ARNAUD FINISTRE)
At the heart of its technology: silicon, a metalloid present on a quarter of the earth’s crust and which is also the dominant material of the digital age, via semiconductors.
Since 2018, Silmach has invested more than 5 million euros in a new project: a silicon watch motor remarkable for its small size compared to the Lavet motor, used massively by watchmaking for decades.
“Our engine is more compact: it allows either to make smaller watches, which may be of interest for certain segments such as ladies’ watches, or to keep a watch of the same diameter, but to insert more technology,” explains Mr. Carnet.
– 10 years of autonomy –
The company, which presents its watch as “revolutionary”, insists on its precision and sobriety: its autonomy can exceed 10 years, assures SilMach.
Another advantage: silicon is insensitive to magnetic fields, which can disrupt the operation of usual watches.
But for the company, the main goal is to power as many watches as possible by selling its engine to watchmakers around the world.
A SilMach operator manipulates a Thetimechanger watch, October 6, 2023 in Besançon (AFP/ARNAUD FINISTRE)
“With a team of several technicians, a few operators, we can quickly build up to millions of units” produced, assures Mr. Carnet.
While most watches sold today are screwed by hand in low-cost countries, SilMach argues that its micromotor can be inserted into a watch in an automated fashion.
“The interest of technology is to allow our watchmaking clients to repatriate production, why not to France, the United States, or anywhere in the world,” according to Mr. Carnet.
– Prices and volumes –
But this bet will have to overcome commercial and technological obstacles.
According to Jean-Jacques Weber, president of the French Watchmaking Federation, silicon “is a very beautiful technology”. “But we still have to make a watch that works and at an acceptable price,” he warns, judging “the development possibilities of this adventure are limited, if not non-existent.”
Silicon cores used in Thetimechanger watches from the company SilMach, October 6, 2023 in Besançon (AFP/ARNAUD FINISTRE)
When it comes to operation, Mr. Carnet recognizes “a scrap rate which is still high”.
Price-wise, the watch is sold for 1,850 euros for a limited edition, with only 1,088 units offered to the first customers.
However, in the high-end niche, “a watch is Swiss made or not, with very rare exceptions”, analyzes Oliver Müller, watchmaking expert from LuxeConsult in Switzerland.
To succeed in watchmaking, you need “very low prices that you achieve only through economies of scale by manufacturing in large volumes,” he emphasizes.
To achieve this, SilMach has partnered since 2018 with the American giant Timex, present in Besançon.
“Traditional engines are sold for around ten or twenty euros,” recalls Mr. Carnet, who says he has the objective of achieving this “competitiveness imperative”.
A Thetimechanger watch from the SilMach company, October 6, 2023 in Besançon (AFP/ARNAUD FINISTRE)
Unlike Switzerland, which knew how to invest in the high-end, French watchmaking resisted the invasion of Japanese quartz watches very poorly in the 1970s.
Franche-Comté has retained a watchmaking industry, but which often subcontracts for Swiss brands on the other side of the border. Watchmaking is one of the sectors supported by the State under reindustrialization.
Jean-Baptiste Carnet wants to believe it. “There is real enthusiasm, a real revival of the sector at the French level, with many beautiful brands emerging or historic brands relaunching.”
© 2023 AFP
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