Make it yourself or have it made? Almost every technical discussion on the subject of mechanical watches ends in a discussion about manufacture calibers and bought-in movements. But what factors influence the make-or-buy decision of manufacturers? Is in-house manufacture superior in every case? We contrast the merits of both alternatives and explain which manufacture and standard movements are the most influential models in the industry.

What does the make-or-buy decision say?

The movement is literally at the heart of every mechanical timepiece and poses a key question for its brand: should the drive be developed and produced in-house in painstaking work (“make”) or bought in from a specialized movement manufacturer like ETA (“buy”)? What is primarily an emotional question for the enthusiast is of enormous economic significance for watch manufacturers and by no means a binary decision. Rarely is a complete purchase or a one hundred percent caliber production “in-house” given; rather, sub-processes such as the finishing or the assembly of the movement are taken over in-house. The point at which a caliber may bear the coveted name “manufacture movement” is not defined by law and is thus left to the individual ideas of each watch brand.

Prestige at a high price: Manufacture status is coveted

The general opinion is that genuine manufacture movements should originate from independent development and pass through the majority of their value chain in the house of the respective manufacturer. Contrary to the meaning of the word, manual labor need not be a given, as numerous mass-produced manufacture movements from the Breitling B01 to the Heuer 02 prove.

But even without manual intervention, in-house production involves enormous costs: If a watch brand designs a new movement, hundreds of components have to be developed over months to years, machine manufacturing processes have to be adapted, and tests have to be run until it is ready for series production. The process consumes millions, involves financial risks and requires strategic foresight. It would be cheaper, faster and safer to reach for the tried and tested shelves of raw material producers. But the enormous prestige of a “manufactory,” as manufacturers with self-developed movements are reverently dubbed in the trade, is reason enough for the rocky road to one’s own caliber.

” Made in-house” is always more attractive

No matter how reliable and solid a Sellita movement may work, for most watch lovers the appeal of the manufacture movement is irreplaceable. It proves the brand’s technical expertise, delivers a magical sense of completeness, and greatly increases willingness to pay. There is a tendency for mechanical watches with manufacture movements to be more expensive than their standard-issue counterparts. It has long since ceased to be a simple make-or-buy decision when it comes to watch movements: the long-term brand value and the question of whether to play in the first or second league are directly affected.

ETA, Valjoux and Co.: The advantages of standard movements

If you rely on sober arguments instead of prestige-driven competition, purchased standard calibers from the major movement manufacturers offer clear advantages over manufacture movements, and not only from a financial perspective. Used almost exclusively in the price category up to 1,000 euros and frequently up to 5,000 euros, they score points with decades of technical maturity, resulting in high reliability and precision. In addition, standard movements can be easily and inexpensively serviced by almost any watchmaker, while manufacture movements require overhaul by the manufacturer at the manufacturer’s (typically higher) conditions.

The largest producer of raw movements is the Swiss ETA SA: part of the Swatch Group, the company, founded in 1793, employs more than 8,000 people and is the first address of “buy” in the make-or-buy decision for dozens of prominent brands. The most prominent movements are:

• Caliber 2824-2: Affectionately known as the “tank,” the basic movement is considered particularly reliable and is extremely widespread in the watch industry. Ticking at four hertz, it provides virtually indestructible power to dozens of brands from Hamilton to Tudor.
• Caliber 7750: the world’s most famous chronograph movement. Tag Heuer, Omega, IWC: many prominent brands use the 7750 as the basis for their own developments. As 7751 with calendar and moon phase.
• Caliber 2892-A2: Popular basis for technical high developments like Omega’s first Co-Axial caliber from 1999. Often extended by manufacturers’ in-house chronograph modules, like Tudor.

Manufacturers choose between four quality levels (Standard, Elaboré, Top and Chronomètre) for ETA calibers, depending on the budget, and often give them their own names. When buying a watch, always question the basic movement to gain clarity about its origin. Manufacture movements are usually prominently advertised.

From “single formwork” to manufacture

Many brands, from which one would expect exclusively manufacture movements due to their prestige and price ranges, purchased their calibers for decades. Rolex once used Zenith movements in its Daytona, Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin sourced their drives from Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Omega equipped its Speedmaster with Lemania calibers. Solving the make-or-buy decision in the most economical way possible used to be the standard even in the luxury class and was not viewed negatively; it is only in the last 20 years that the importance of the manufacture caliber has increased enormously. Rolex, for example, nowadays exclusively uses manufacture movements with a vertical range of manufacture close to the magic 100 percent.

NOMOS Glashütte provides a prime example of the development from a modest “one-pusher,” as watch brands with purely bought-in movements are often called with a certain condescension, to a serious manufacturer. Founded fresh after the fall of communism in 1990, the company resorted to ETA’s Peseux 7001 movement until the introduction of its in-house Alpha caliber in 2005, and even the Alpha still bears high similarities to the 7001. The big breakthrough came in 2014 with the “Swing” system, a completely independently developed regulating organ. Calibers like the DUW 3001 since then bear witness to an engineering art that few other watch brands can boast.

Best manufacture caliber of all time? Rolex, Omega, Zenith and Co.

More prominent is the Rolex 3135, often referred to by aficionados as the “best automatic movement of all time.” Introduced in 1988, it has been fitted in more Rolex watches than any other movement, from the simple Datejust to the water-resistant Submariner, and has provided reliable service for decades. While 48 hours of power reserve is not a sensation, the movement’s robustness against disturbances – from magnetism to shocks – is legendary. The fact that the Geneva-based luxury brand has chosen a clear side in the make-or-buy decision is also demonstrated by the caliber’s derivatives: for example, the Rolex caliber 3186 was used in the GMT-Master II from 2005 and was only replaced by the 3285 in 2018.

When it comes to chronograph movements, one name is infamous in the watch world in a positive way: the Zenith El Primero. First presented in 1969, it continues to thrill its fans to this day with its high frequency of five hertz. Omega’s modern movements also play in the top league: models such as the Master Chronometer caliber 9900 impress with their extreme magnetic resistance, possess the highly competitive METAS certificate, and are considered to be highly reliable.

Der Beitrag Watch caliber make-or-buy decision erschien zuerst auf Uhrinstinkt Magazine.

One of the greatest mysteries of the mechanical watch world is how to construct a precise escapement. Only a few companies possess the expertise to manufacture the extremely delicate assembly that sets the pace. In 2014, Nomos Glashütte succeeded in doing the seemingly impossible: After seven years of development and an investment of eleven million euros, the successful Saxon brand launches its own escapement, the Swing System, and gains complete independence in movement production.

What makes the escapement so complicated?

The escapement, also called assortment or regulator, is both the heart and the most complicated component of a mechanical movement. Acoustically characterized by the typical ticking sound, the escapement gives its timepiece its beat and consists of several components, all of which must have only minimal manufacturing tolerances. Otherwise, the precise display of the time would be impossible.

The main components of the assortment are the balance, hairspring, escape wheel and pallet, supplemented by other microscopic parts. The extremely thin hairspring in particular, which is increasingly made of silicon in modern watch movements for reasons of reliability and robustness, requires an immeasurable amount of effort to produce, which only companies with generous budgets can afford. The central challenge is the small format of the escapement in wristwatches – if the assembly is designed for larger timepieces, the implementation is far simpler.

Knowledge from a past time

The fact that Nomos came up with its own escapement, the Swing System, in 2014 caused quite a stir in the watch world. That’s because the Glashütte company couldn’t use existing literature or mathematical calculations of assortments – the latter didn’t exist. There were historical reasons for this: With the emergence of the first quartz movements in the late 1960s, many people in the watch industry believed that the mechanical movement had no future. They imagined an electronic future on the wrist.

Survival was in the foreground. After the end of the quartz crisis, the decisive knowledge about precise assortments remained with two companies: Swatch subsidiaries ETA and Nivarox. Those who wanted to build mechanical watches from then on had two options: The safe and relatively inexpensive purchase from the Swiss monopolist or the risky in-house development with unknown costs.

90 percent manufacture movement are not enough

It is understandable that, in view of this uncertainty, most watch brands in the mid-price segment opt for the safe route. In practice, however, this means that many of the manufacture calibers we know are not at all one hundred percent in-house developments – although most components are manufactured, assembled and checked “in-house,” the tiny assortment has to be bought in. Nomos Glashütte was in the same position before the Swing System. Since its foundation in 1990, the brand has gradually increased its independence.

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First from an aesthetic perspective – with the timeless Bauhaus designs of its original collections Orion, Tangente, Ludwig and Tetra from 1991 – and then from a technical perspective. The most important year for the brand was 2005, when it made its ceremonial step towards manufacture with the presentation of the Alpha movement. The latter enormously enhanced the reputation of the young brand in professional circles and contributed significantly to its recognition as a permanent fixture in the Glashütte watch world. A whopping 80 percent of the work on the movement is now carried out in the hometown.

Swing System from Nomos: The ultimate in-house technology

However, 80 percent is not enough to achieve the goal of complete independence from third-party sources – the Alpha factory’s assortment still has to be sourced from Switzerland. Only the Swing System from Nomos was to change this situation. In 2007, the vision of an in-house escapement was born when the watch manufacturer embarked on the mammoth task in cooperation with the Technical University of Dresden.

The advantage over previous decades: Complex computer simulations allow calculation of the interaction of all components that must mesh smoothly in the assortment. In addition to the structure, the materials are a central challenge in the Swing System. Nomos is receiving support from the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology in Dresden, which is driving the search for modern materials. Key roles on the way to a one hundred percent manufacture caliber are played by the young technicians Theodor Prenzel and Lutz Reichel, who help the Swing System progress from prototype to series production.

“Like landing on the moon”

In 2014, the mega-project is completed after seven years and over 11 million euros in development costs. The Swing System celebrates its glorious world premiere at Baselworld, where the experts cannot help but be amazed. Suddenly, Nomos is no longer one of many brands in the mid-price segment, but belongs to a small circle of elite watch companies that can mass-produce their own regulation system. How significant the step is for the company is aptly expressed by CEO Uwe Ahrendt at the time: it feels like landing on the moon, says the company boss.

Speaking of showcases, the technology made its market debut in the Metro hand-wound watch, followed by its gradual adoption in the rest of the product portfolio. Today, the Swing System is mainly represented in the middle and top of the product world, while most entry-level models are fired by the Alpha.

In which watches does the Swing system work?

To identify watches with the Swing System, you should look for the movement designation “DUW”: Common hand-wound movements with the in-house escapement are the DUW 4101, which is installed in the classic Nomos Glashütte Metro 38 Datum, among others, and the DUW 4401 used in the Tangente Datum Gangreserve.

If it has to be an automatic movement, we recommend the Nomos Glashütte Minimatik and the Nomos Glashütte Metro neomatik – both editions are powered by the DUW 3001 and are distinguished by their simple, reduced aesthetics. Enthusiasts can also enjoy the manufacture escapement in automatic watches with the DUW calibers 5201, 5101, 5001 and 6101.

Once the decision has been made in favor of the Swing System, there is of course still the big question of appearance. Those who prefer compact watch sizes should definitely get to know the Minimatik in night blue (Ref. 1205) with its 35.5 millimeter diameter – if automatic winding is preferred, we recommend the 35 millimeter slim Metro neomatik (Ref. 1114).

Der Beitrag The Nomos Swing System erschien zuerst auf Uhrinstinkt Magazine.