Located in picturesque Le Locle, Switzerland, in the Jura Mountains on the northwestmost border with France (in the Canton of Neuchâtel) — Tudor has a new state-of-the-art manufacture.
This is the first industrial facility dedicated to Tudor — and every watch is now assembled and tested in Le Locle, including some models that meet the rigorous Master Chronometer requirements. While the construction (which took three years to complete) was finished in 2021 — the factory was not officially inaugurated until March 2023, hence the reason for referring to it as new.
The objective of moving the assembly operations of Montres Tudor SA from Geneva was to be closer to its affiliates and suppliers in the Jura Mountains. The company owned undeveloped industrial land in Le Lecole next to a Rolex facility (that’s been there since 1970), making it an ideal site for the new factory. The region, which neighbors La Chaux-de-Fonds, has been a Unesco World Heritage site since 2009, and like Biel/Bienne (which also has a Rolex facility) — is a major watchmaking hub.
“All decked out in Tudor (red), the manufacture spans over five levels totaling 5,500 square meters (59,200 square feet) and is physically and visually connected to the neighboring Kenissi Manufacture (silver), the Tudor movement production facility. With Kenissi and a network of Tudor-owned affiliates, the brand has been able to integrate the development and production of high-performance mechanical calibers. As a consequence, Tudor now fully masters the manufacturing of strategic components and can guarantee their quality,’ according to Tudor.
“Many of Tudors’s watches feature a manufacture caliber, which is developed and assembled at Kenissi, Tudor’s movement production arm. In fact, the buildings are conjoined. Everything from research and development to final assembly takes place here for Tudor’s manufacture calibers. In addition to Tudor’s own demands, Kenissi was created in 2010 to develop its industrial production capacity for high-performance mechanical movements. To this end, the brand brought together a group of experts and presented an initial caliber at Baselworld in 2015. The first client of Kenissi besides Tudor itself was Breitling, and as its business developed, Kenissi formed an industrial alliance with Chanel in 2018. Today, the clients of Kenissi also include, Norqain, Fortis, TAG Heuer, Bell & Ross, and Ultramarine.”
“The Kenissi production line exemplifies Tudor’s commitment to leveraging the power of combining the most advanced tech with the expertise of human hand. First, the mainplate is mounted on an insert of appropriate diameter embedded with an RFID-TAG. The inserts are put on a shuttle device and enter the assembly line at the first workstation. The RFID-Tag guarantees the correct routing of the soon-to-be caliber. This tech assures the full traceability of the caliber and collects all the assembly data in order to improve product quality, productivity, and assembly processes through big data analysis. After having passed a first fully automated test cycle on the assembly line, all movements are sent to the COSC, the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute. Then it’s off to Tudor to find a home in a watch.”
There’s a team of 150 working at the Tudor manufacture, and the company states that the factory uses a “unique blend of automated production technology with the technical know-how of highly skilled watchmakers.”
Like most high-tech Swiss watchmaking facilities, a constant positive pressure environment is maintained throughout the workshop. In order to mitigate the opportunity for dust ingress into watches and machinery, the HVAC system, located in the basement, plays a crucial role. The system creates a continuous flow of air from the ceiling to the floor so that dust is kept from floating around the workshop.
Tudor does not maintain a stock of assembled watches. Instead, every watch produced is made just in time. Each watch is closely tracked and the data is used to improve efficiency.
“Watchmakers must master every assembly operation through cross-training. TUDOR achieves this through autonomous cells of four watchmakers that are trained in every discipline of the process. Each bench is laid out in the same way, from its machinery to the contents and organization of its drawers. This is meant to provide a homogenous and ergonomic work environment, optimizing operations and efficiency. The team members of a cell always work together. They train with their cell before being fully operational to create team spirit and improve efficiency. Within the cells, each team member is capable of assembling any reference in the Tudor collection. One cell covers the 3 following operations, in chronological order: dial-fitting, hand-fitting, and casing.”
All Tudor watches with a manufacture caliber are tested to a rate of -2/+4 seconds per day fully assembled (-4/+6) for outsourced calibers. In addition, all watches are tested for waterproofness in hyperbaric water tanks. Some models in the Tudor range meet the even higher METAS standard. Eventually, every TUDOR watch will be Master Chronometer-certified by METAS.
“METAS’ Master Chronometer certification is comprehensive and covers the main functional characteristics of a watch including precision, resistance to magnetic fields, waterproofness, and power reserve. Its standards are incredibly high, starting with precision. In order to qualify, a watch must be able to function within a 5-second range of variation each day (0/+5), that is to say 5 seconds less than the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC) (-4/+6) and a second less than TUDOR’s internal standard (-2/+4), which is applied to the brand’s models with a Manufacture Calibre. The certification also guarantees the timekeeping accuracy of a watch subjected to magnetic fields of 15,000 gauss. Finally, it also guarantees that the waterproofness claimed by the manufacturer conforms with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards, as does the power reserve. It should also be noted that two prerequisites are necessary before the certification can be obtained: Swiss manufacturing must conform with the criteria of Swiss Made, and the movement must be certified by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC).”
Human hands are involved in the production of Tudor timepieces, and Kenissi movements, though it’s clear that the facility is highly automated, and that helps ensure high quality, high accuracy, and relatively accessible prices on Tudor watches, and the same for the watch brands that use Kenissi movements.
Learn more at Tudor.
