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Christophe Claret took to watch making as though it were a religious vocation. Micro-engineering is a passion that has been driving him since childhood and this art of great accuracy is built into every watch. Since 1987 he has supplied exclusive movements to prestigious watchmakers such as Guy Ellia and Jean Dunand. Creator of several world ‘firsts’, the micro-mechanism artist developed and transposed his ideas in the spirit of client brands who assemble the movements.
In 1989, he created his own company at La Chaux-de-Fonds, in the Swiss Jura. He then moved to Le Soleil d'Or above Le Locle, a destination that will now be supplemented by two new modern buildings dedicated to watch making.
Clean rooms and temperature controlled environments with noise absorbers are installed throughout the workshops. The components are manufactured in a controlled atmosphere where every movement is meticulously assembled by experts.
From 17 employees in 2001, the factory now employs over a hundred staff with a technical research department that has grown five-fold in three years. Precision to a hundredth of a millimetre is standard; however the workshop often works to the scale of a micron or even a nanometre, which is the measurement for some digital controls. The flow controls organise production from some 8,000 operative ranges, to which are added some 2,000 variations.
The batches are very small, sometimes only about fifty parts, launched at the rate of five per year with about 10,000 reference parts circulating within the factory in order to supply around forty different complete watches. Three huge vertical rotary, automated storage and retrieval bins, hold over four million watch elements in the process of being finished or ready to be assembled.
The stock of machines meets all requirements in terms of milling, jig-boring, electro-erosion, laser cutting, profile turning, gear-cutting and burnishing. The workshop includes 18 CNC machining centres (the oldest is only four years old). The founder never skimps on any expense in order to be equipped with industrial tools at the forefront of technology with quality improvement programs working at all levels.
Multi-purpose machine-tools (prismatic and revolving parts) are preferred because they allow milling in three, four or five axes. This is suited to Christophe Claret as the aim is to complete each part in one hit working to within a five micron tolerance band.
Given its high-technology level, the up-market watch making world is a very closed shop for confidentiality reasons. Yet the factory in Le Locle has no hesitation in revealing one aspect of its efficiency and manufacturing quality assurance: the systematic use of the Blum LaserControl NT-H for thousands of tools, drills, bits, taps and milling cutters that have to be examined and measured daily before use.
Programmable by the built-in microprocessor, this third-generation of laser technology for measuring cutting tools ensures reliability even in extreme conditions. It provides maximum machining precision and the systematic verification of cutting edges at all rotation speeds.
Set up in the machining area, the Blum LaserControl NT-H optical system is sealed against coolant and swarf thanks to the air-controlled shutter that guarantees protection with minimum maintenance and low energy consumption.
Working on cutting tools including diamond shaped or CBN cutting edges, the Laser NT-H conducts tool pre-setting, measurement with or without contact, eccentricity management and marking of runner or taper defects without risk of collision. The control also examines standard or special tools with the precise marking of the number of teeth when milling. Everything is systematically integrated into the programming of the machines before production starts.
Blum adapts its LaserControl NT-H to every digital control and this automatically manages the operational cycles according to tool geometries. A cycle consists of total tool measurement (length, diameter and profile of teeth) with one cycle for each tool. The LaserControl NT-H conducts these measurements whilst rotating, thanks to high precision switches and its laser beam that focuses to within a radius of three to six hundredths of a millimetre.
Production manager Mr Christophe Bouveret states: “We have chosen the most effective system for measuring and controlling tool breakages in a highly-lubricated environment. Above all we search for reliability. The Blum system meets all of our criteria expectations as it is capable of coping with very small tool diameters to the scale of a tenth of a millimetre”.
“The LaserControl has become indispensable for measuring all tools before machining. Data is entered methodically into a table with coordinates of high precision that anticipate any tool breakage. Productivity gains are really substantial. Previously, we wasted a considerable amount of time pre-setting by conventional means. And, very importantly, it’s the automatic input of data and measurements into the machines’ digital controls that was until then, a manual task with risk of error. To summarise, it’s a system that allows us to guarantee quality while simultaneously achieving much higher productivity.”
Christophe Claret took to watch making as though it were a religious vocation. Micro-engineering is a passion that has been driving him since childhood and this art of great accuracy is built into every watch. Since 1987 he has supplied exclusive movements to prestigious watchmakers such as Guy Ellia and Jean Dunand. Creator of several world ‘firsts’, the micro-mechanism artist developed and transposed his ideas in the spirit of client brands who assemble the movements.
In 1989, he created his own company at La Chaux-de-Fonds, in the Swiss Jura. He then moved to Le Soleil d'Or above Le Locle, a destination that will now be supplemented by two new modern buildings dedicated to watch making.
Clean rooms and temperature controlled environments with noise absorbers are installed throughout the workshops. The components are manufactured in a controlled atmosphere where every movement is meticulously assembled by experts.
From 17 employees in 2001, the factory now employs over a hundred staff with a technical research department that has grown five-fold in three years. Precision to a hundredth of a millimetre is standard; however the workshop often works to the scale of a micron or even a nanometre, which is the measurement for some digital controls. The flow controls organise production from some 8,000 operative ranges, to which are added some 2,000 variations.
The batches are very small, sometimes only about fifty parts, launched at the rate of five per year with about 10,000 reference parts circulating within the factory in order to supply around forty different complete watches. Three huge vertical rotary, automated storage and retrieval bins, hold over four million watch elements in the process of being finished or ready to be assembled.
The stock of machines meets all requirements in terms of milling, jig-boring, electro-erosion, laser cutting, profile turning, gear-cutting and burnishing. The workshop includes 18 CNC machining centres (the oldest is only four years old). The founder never skimps on any expense in order to be equipped with industrial tools at the forefront of technology with quality improvement programs working at all levels.
Multi-purpose machine-tools (prismatic and revolving parts) are preferred because they allow milling in three, four or five axes. This is suited to Christophe Claret as the aim is to complete each part in one hit working to within a five micron tolerance band.
Given its high-technology level, the up-market watch making world is a very closed shop for confidentiality reasons. Yet the factory in Le Locle has no hesitation in revealing one aspect of its efficiency and manufacturing quality assurance: the systematic use of the Blum LaserControl NT-H for thousands of tools, drills, bits, taps and milling cutters that have to be examined and measured daily before use.
Programmable by the built-in microprocessor, this third-generation of laser technology for measuring cutting tools ensures reliability even in extreme conditions. It provides maximum machining precision and the systematic verification of cutting edges at all rotation speeds.
Set up in the machining area, the Blum LaserControl NT-H optical system is sealed against coolant and swarf thanks to the air-controlled shutter that guarantees protection with minimum maintenance and low energy consumption.
Working on cutting tools including diamond shaped or CBN cutting edges, the Laser NT-H conducts tool pre-setting, measurement with or without contact, eccentricity management and marking of runner or taper defects without risk of collision. The control also examines standard or special tools with the precise marking of the number of teeth when milling. Everything is systematically integrated into the programming of the machines before production starts.
Blum adapts its LaserControl NT-H to every digital control and this automatically manages the operational cycles according to tool geometries. A cycle consists of total tool measurement (length, diameter and profile of teeth) with one cycle for each tool. The LaserControl NT-H conducts these measurements whilst rotating, thanks to high precision switches and its laser beam that focuses to within a radius of three to six hundredths of a millimetre.
Production manager Mr Christophe Bouveret states: “We have chosen the most effective system for measuring and controlling tool breakages in a highly-lubricated environment. Above all we search for reliability. The Blum system meets all of our criteria expectations as it is capable of coping with very small tool diameters to the scale of a tenth of a millimetre”.
“The LaserControl has become indispensable for measuring all tools before machining. Data is entered methodically into a table with coordinates of high precision that anticipate any tool breakage. Productivity gains are really substantial. Previously, we wasted a considerable amount of time pre-setting by conventional means. And, very importantly, it’s the automatic input of data and measurements into the machines’ digital controls that was until then, a manual task with risk of error. To summarise, it’s a system that allows us to guarantee quality while simultaneously achieving much higher productivity.”
