Visiting IWC’s World-Class Manufacture In Switzerland (More Impressive Than You Realize)

So Chris, it's great to meet you. Great to be here in Shafousen as well. >> Welcome to Chefen. Yeah. So welcome to the northeastern corner of Switzerland and this is quite far away from the the Swiss watchmaking valley. Yes, most of the manufacturing sites we go to, it's always in the Swiss France France part of the country. So, this is a little bit of a different idea, but it's very specific to IWC's history. Correct. >> Yeah, I think it's the it's linked to the industrial base of this region. So, Stoutgard, the German car industry is an hour up the road here. You have a great engineering base. Trafan for centuries was making industrial products, was making trains later on, even guns for the military. All that sort of industry is here. So when Jones uh crossed the Atlantic from Boston to set up IWC, he really realized that this environment here was very pro- entrepreneurs. It was very tax breaky. It was very good to set up a business. >> And uh I think that's what brought him all the way here because Mr. Moza, who he met somewhere in western Switzerland, he owned the hydrop power station here on the Rine >> that gave him the power. He could build his building here and that's how we ended up as the international watch company in this corner. talk about this structure as well because you were part of really designing this new site. >> Yeah. Yeah. My background is really in interior design in shop design, exhibition design forc. So this was a really really cool project because um something like a factory obviously lasts a lot longer than a shop or an exhibition and to create kind of the watchmaking home forc was a really really fun exercise. And what we wanted to do here is you can imagine our our previous facility our main headquarters is really stuck between the river Rin and a very historic old town. Everything's listed buildings heritage protected. So you you end up with this sort of chaos of buildings and its many floors and levels. It's not very logical for watchmaking. So here we had tons of space. So we said let's really tell the story chronologically from a raw bar and plate of metal all the way to finished watch movement and finished watch case. And that is really this facility is laid out so you can really understand how that raw material turns into a finished watch. >> And then talk a little bit more specifically about what we will see today on this tour. >> So in this facility here you'll see all of our component making. We make over 1500 different watch components here going to ibosh going into all of the uh assembled products. And then we see watch assembly. So you see both fine watch making and inline watch making for our main commercial references, chronographs, automatics and so on. Then we go into case making. So you'll see cases being made from ceramic from serotanium. All the metals, all the precious metals, decorating, finishing, all the hand craftsmanship that goes into it and finally dial pad printing and then we'll finish it off. >> >> Right. So here's really where it all starts. So this is the start of component manufacturing where you see some of our smallest components being milled and machined and turned and really starts with sort of you know tiny diameter couple of millimeter rods. Uh it might be brass, might be steel, might be aluminum. And then from there on you can really see some of the smallest parts where this is one of those regulating clips that sits on the hairspring. And this is the technical drawing. Then you look at the actual pieces just in here, but basically you can barely see it, right? Look at some of these components. They're really a micrometer. So all in all, it's over 1500 different components we're making here. >> So you're working on probably larger components like bridges, wheels, but then you can get down to a very fine detail as well. >> Yeah, absolutely. Some of the mechanisms like perpetual calendar, they really require some absolutely dainty levers and gears, and that is what these ladies and gentlemen here are really focusing on. And then in terms of like the process too, I mean like I'm sure there's like prototyping that happens very much in this facility as well in this department specifically. >> So this does prototyping, it does small series and then whenever we do larger series of gear, screws etc. We tend to not make them in-house. We have our own gear manufacturer that is external but belongs to you partly invested in and those would be the kind of suppliers that make the large series of components, smaller series, individual ones. They're all made here. So Chris, can you tell us a little bit more about the machines as well and like what you have here? >> Yeah, so this is all the milling machines, CNC centers that make components and make some specific things like our new hard ceramic machining. This is something we really introduced very recently. So this is all a diamond tool CNC machining of finished scinted ceramic blocks. So especially in prototyping for ceramic watches, that is the way how you can get to a ceramic prototype quite quickly. Now these CNC machines, they're all multiaxis, you know, front back all at the same time. You see here for example that is a centered finished block of white ceramic already heat treated and then you can use diamond tooling to actually mill out case elements like that finish them machine them polish them getting everything to like a first impression of what a future ceramic was >> and even to get to this point to when you have that centering process you have to think about like the scale because I know that ceramic can shrink very dramatically beyond what you need it to be for a case >> in the beginning well there's two interesting points here firstly like none of the ceramic colors apart from white are the same color in powder form as they are in scented block. >> So for example, Mojave and the woodland, they tend to be quite pink. Um the black ceramic is quite brown as a powder and then you make it 1/3 bigger than the final product. The soft powder is compressed and machined and then when it's centered it shrinks down, but it's about a third to its final shape. So mathematically it's quite it's quite complicated that >> and then the cutting you have to use a diamond tool because it's really the only thing hard enough to actually >> 1300 only diamonds will do the job. >> Yeah. >> And as we continue forward what else can we see in this room? >> So all of this is our CNC machining. So you have traditional CNC machining where you have a single-sided operation in your metal work plate. And then we come to really the latest generation of these very specific um component making CNC centers. So, what you see here is seven of these double-sided CNC centers. And what happens here is basically you have a fully automated loading process for the brass plates into the CNC machine. You have all of the tool magazines with over 100 different tools that the machine can pick. And then it actually flips the movement base plate. So, as you machine one side of the base plate, you don't want to have any quality issues when you do the other side. So these machines basically are able to flip the plate and have absolutely zero variation when they machine the backside. And this is still one of the most complex parts we put into a watch. See you have all of the different machined areas. You have different >> all those pivot points that you have to >> pivot points have to be spot on where the stones go later on. And by achieving this both from the from both sides at the same time in the same process you really have 100% quality control over the outcome. >> So here we can see the different tools for the CNC. >> Yeah. So this is really it's automatically loading magazine. you have over 100 different uh tools and drill heads and CNC and machine heads that are being used in the process and the machine is really able depending on what we're working on to pick the right tool for the right job at the right time making that whole process a lot more fluid. You can also see here this is basically the automatic loading of the brass plates into the machine and then the removal of all of the finished work plates that get put into storage here so they can really run 24/7. So this is basically the next process step. When those finished machines components, they go into here and then they're just being cut out of their holding plates. Right? So there's still the resid residual brass plate uh holding the piece in place. And this is now the CNC cutting process where the excess metal is being removed before it goes into deburring here just on the other side. And there literally we use tumblers with different aggregates. This is from ball bearings to stones to nutshells that remove all of the excess metal and in the end it goes into our watch spar here which is a very elaborate washing machine. Then all the oil gets removed and then you have a finished wall part that's ready for stone setting which is the next step. Can you explain why it's so beneficial to remove all that excess metal in in the movement for especially even for these smaller parts because a lot of people think finishing only happens you know later in the stages but even from a machine level at those base components that need to be considered as well. >> Yeah, it's absolutely key because obviously the last thing you want is any micro filament of of metal that could come loose in the movement and ultimately like clog up with the oil. It would impact chronometry and precision. So from the start of the even to the bare eye of course these parts look almost you know completely perfect but on a microscopic level there's always something happening to the surface some excess metal here and there and all of that needs to be removed in order to have a precise part for the next process step and that's right here. So stone setting as you may know um you have these uh lab created rubies which are basically the bearing points for all of the moving parts inside a watch movement. They come from very small size to quite large a size and they have a top and a bottom because they have a little dip and a dimple on top where the oil will ultimately sit before the gear will actually interact the base plate. Right. And all of these different stones they have to be set correctly, correct size, correct positions and at the correct depth. And again, we've invented quite an ingenious um little setup and machine to help us with that. >> And we could be talking about dozens of different jewels in one movement depending on the complexity. and you do a lot of high complications here at IWC. So, this can all be structured around what the needs are for that specific movement. >> So, it all starts off with a fun sorting process. I'll just open this up for you. We can have a look. >> So, basically, you know, we have a little shoot. All the rubies go in. They get shaken on that rubber plate. The camera will take a picture. You see the green light flash in a minute. And then the little uh vacuum arm will pick up every single ruby. That's the right way around. When it's done, it shakes them again. It takes a photograph. You can see it there. So it'll know exactly the precise precision. >> It knows which one is the right way up and which one is not. And then >> adds it to these magazines which we make in house which are ultimately where the rubies are being picked from to go into the watch room. >> So some of these kits and these trays for the actual rubies that you're actually going to in the same department like you you'll actually machine those here. >> See this downstairs in the machine shop. All of these machining aids they're all done by our apprentices here in the machine shop as part of their CNC apprenticeship. So once the magazines are filled with rubies, you have this machine that we developed together with our machine partner where you will actually see that every time it identifies in the movement base plate which ruby it needs, which position at what pressure. It'll pick the right ruby, insert it, and then check immediately that all of the quality is 100% correct. And that way you end up with all of the rubies set 100% quality control before we go into the decoration. >> Now we're here at casem. And one thing I want to talk about here especially is this is one of the common aspects of watch production that is outsourced but here at IWC this is one of your specialties because of this material ability that you have. So talk us a little bit through about what we're looking at. >> Yeah this so this is really our you know raw metal rod store where it really from brass to aluminum to stainless steel bronze titanium serotanium platinum gold white gold red gold all of those start here. So you can really imagine like all of these special alloys, they come in rod form, they get sliced and from the slicing, we really turn and mill this into a raw case shape, a raw bezel shape, a raw case back shape. It's sometimes amazing just to remember when you compare the weight of stainless steel, which is this one. >> Sure. >> She gave me a warning for that. >> Steel is quite heavy. And then you compare it to titanium or serotanium, there's really a marked weight difference which really comes across when you when you hold the raw bar of it. It's good for the gym. >> Yeah, it is. Yeah. Yeah. Get some bicep curls in. Huh. And then serotanium of course which is completely unique to us. You see it looks roughly like titanium before it's fired but because of the ceramise particles in the alloy once it gets heated and fired we get this like really deep dark gunmetal kind of finish to the material. >> What's the challenge with this alloy? I mean you're combining both you know the titanium part of the chemical makeup with uh ceramic. I would imagine from like the even just getting this rod into into its form is probably difficult even. >> Yeah, it's an excellent question. and we'll see it in a minute. But the main challenge is to have a perfectly even distribution of all of the different components of the alloy across the rod. And what we worked out even in smelting and forging if it's under control when you come to extruding the metal into different diameters, it reshuffles the you know crystallic the structure of the metal and the alloy. And this is where we had a lot of problems in the beginning with inclusions with rainbow effects once it's fired where you've got these weird colors happening. And we found out that we really have to heat up all of the material dur during extrusion. You can't cold extrude it. And that is then the the the path to actually getting to even distribution. But it's always in R&D before you understand these effects, everyone is a bit baffled because you don't quite know where it goes wrong cuz you have the alloy which is perfect, you have the forged bar which is perfect, and then you come to fire the component and it's just not working. So this is always the the iterative learning of how to actually process material in the end. >> So you start with these rods. Now, how are the cases actually formed? >> It happens in these big five axis machining centers left and right here. You basically feed the rods into this huge salami slicer as it were. >> You again have all of the tools. Everything is a bit more heavy duty compared to what we've seen upstairs in component making. You know, we're working with bigger parts here, working with harder materials. And then you have all of the main case shaping, drilling and milling operations done here in one go before they then get moved on for surface finishing, engraving and decoration. And again I want to show you as well you know in terms of being as uh as cyclical as possible. All of the excess metal gets pressed into pellets is fully recycled. All of the oils from the machine is a closed circuit of uh recycling of cleaning the oil. Water comes off the roof. a lot of rain water. You've seen that today being used in manufacturing as well. So, we try to keep everything as close cycle as possible in our manufacturing. >> And then you'll will you melt this down and then reform it into the rod that we just saw at the beginning here. >> Exactly. >> So, serotanium really is a combination of the best elements of titanium with the best characteristics of ceramics, which is all about the hardness on the surface and scratch resistance. And we've used serotanium in quite a wide range of watches. So, from a simple chronograph and double chronograph in the Top Gun series to our unique time zoner where you have this bezel system where you just press down and you change the time zone at 12:00 and it's fully synchronized even across the date line so you can play with it forward backwards. Movement never loses a beat. Perpetual calendar and the big pilot on a full set bracelet. And then my personal favorite, which is the shock absorber XPL with a mechanical wristwatch that protects the movement against acceleration forces of above 30,000g where we stopped testing. And you can imagine, you know, if you have your wristwatch on and you really whack the table, you're probably going to generate something like 1500g inside the watch case. This takes 30,000g. Wow. >> And still the watch movement survived. And I find that fascinating because when you see a watch movement being assembled, you see the intricate parts. I'm I'm surprised it survives any shocks, but getting this up to 30,000g by suspending it in that BMG spring and decoupling the winding uh mechanism from the movement, that's really been quite a breakthrough for us. >> Where do some of these acts of innovation come from? Do they come from requests for because you have all this a the aviation connection and all these extreme environments that your watches are needing to withstand? Like where does this come from? Like serotonium is not like something you just wake up one day and say we're going to make this. Like where did this all come from? have this desire. >> Serotanium was really an internal development. Titanium was a question of the hardness at the end of the day. The lightness is there and ceramics is always the question. You always have to make certain adaptations to your case design for ceramic because of that risk that a too thin ceramic part could fracture under pressure. Right? So, we wanted to solve that issue by combining really that toughness of titanium with the surface characteristics of ceramic. And that's why serotanium was really a development that came from us. The shock absorber was direct feedback from our US Navy pilots because we've seen especially in the FA18 Super Hornet, it's still a analog digital mix cockpit and everything is metal and the watches get banged about a good amount. Like when you look at the prop watches that went to Top Gun Maverick, you know, we had some PVD coated watches there because they all had to be done really quickly and they came back absolutely battered. And from that insight of seeing just how this uh these kind of instruments uh have to you know survive you know these extreme uh circumstances that's really when we started to think about okay what could we do to really shock protect mechanical movement much more uh than it is in a standard watch. Serotanium totally unique process. You have this electromagnetic smelting process. So you end up with residual metal looks like that. It's it's quite funky. You also see that rainbow effect I was talking about inside. You know that can happen in the metal. >> It then gets forged uh in the highlands in Switzerland in BM. And then we start extruding from the forging process into the different diameters you need for watch manufacturing for smaller parts like crowns and pushers for case rings and actual cases. Then we machine like titanium. We sand blast those components and then they get fired to that finished product which then gives you that deep done gunmetal effect versus the raw part you see here in that double chronograph case. Now we've machined our raw cases and our raw casebacks. Now it's all about the finishing and decorating and turning into that look and feel that you ultimately carry on your wrist. And one of the key innovations here in this whole um axis of engraving is all about laser engraving. So laser engraving, if you know how to program a laser, is an amazing technology to get to really beautiful three-dimensional light facets and engraved effects. It's a a multi-level programming that makes sure that the laser goes to certain depths at certain angles and it allows you to produce really intricate um patterns. When you think about our Chinese New Year editions, right, you have dragons on there with scales. That's only possible with laser engraving and that's something that's still relatively new. So here, for example, you see the Top Gun case back engraving for the Top Gun logo that's on our Top Gun watches. That's all being done here with laser engraving before we then go to the next step, which is all about the case finishing, the polishing, the brushing, and making sure that all of the final anglage and all of the accents are here. >> Wow. >> And once again, this is a 100% manual process. You literally have muscle memory in the very very skilled operators that have been doing that uh in many cases for many years. And this is a constant polishing, brushing, visual checking, using the loop to make sure everything is up to standard and then finishing every case individually. >> And then they might be using like diamond tools or for polishing here because it's for like a higher >> diamond. We'll see in a minute. So, you know, as we're working on stainless steel and similar materials, those are not diamond tools. But then for the actual edge and bevel finishing, you'll see diamond tooling. And >> so you so you'll use larger wheels for like the bigger surface areas that need to be polished. But then for those fine points, you might have to use, you know, diamond tools over here for that kind. >> You also see that um the gentleman here is using a special holding device that actually holds all the surfaces of the case in legs >> as he needs to machine them. So it gives him perfect access to the surfaces he's getting to. And this, you know, now we have a case back ring, but this also works when you have lugs to be polished so that you protect the side elevations of that lug and just go to the top section which you want to polish. >> So make the do the polishing. He's always going to inspect after every surface >> and it's all about feeling. You know, this really muscle memory from feeling the pressure in your hands and arms and it's something that's just I always, you know, it's so human. >> What is it about the human touch that is so crucial for this step? And you would think that oh we have this very complicated material type you know why are humans intervening here why is that important for you at IWC to have this set >> well I think it's really interesting about this idea of these analog machines having a soul and a character and none of these watches none of the movements none of the cases none of the dials are really identical in the end and I think in terms of forming a relationship a watch is something we hold on to for a long time >> and I think we you know we like things that have edges and have a bit of character and you know many electronic devices is they're 100% the same. You know, when you think about software, it's 100% the same when it's replicated. At the end of the day, every watch has had this human touch and every watch has its own different character, its own different heartbeat. So, for example, we're now introducing an authentication system called Hawkeye, which actually takes a high definition picture of a watch movement and a watch dial. And that is enough by looking at 250 points plus on a watch dial and a watch movement, we can tell them apart, every single one, >> right? So you'll be able to visually identify each portion individually. >> So now here we're looking at like inside the lug or like the like the like that faceting and >> the bevel beveled edge right here. >> So you need a smaller wheel to be able to make these cuts. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Like what are the different types of machines? You have these like fine tuned uh wheels that are going to be able to get these small detailed, you know, beveled edges. I saw like a a spinning is like a zalis machine or something something of that sort. the brushing wheels which give you that you know very very nice horizontal brush on the case. You have the softer machines for the polishing elements on different materials and then it goes all the way to diamond cutting really hard materials on those beveled edges to get that perfect final definition of what you've been seeing in terms of light reflections on your wrists. >> Mhm. And then what's the inspection like for like the quality check for like polishing at at each one of these stages? Cuz I would imagine it's going through some different hands. >> Happens right over there. >> Oh, look at this. I'm reading your mind again. This is great. >> Look. surface control. This is really uh the ladies really very hawk eyes are are working here and really you can see it right now you hand inspecting every single uh uh case part uh in terms of the aspect check to make sure that everything passes or not and you know if need be we rework but again making sure that when things go into case assembly everything is 100% quality checked you know ultimately we don't want a quality department we want every manufacturing step to be completed at 100% % before it gets passed on cuz the last thing you want is notice something right at the end. Have to disassemble the watch, disassemble the movement and fix something. It's much better if every step is quality checked 100% and you end up with a much more efficient way of assembling watch >> when you're finishing a case. I mean, you're you're basically removing material from a case. What if they inspect something and there's almost too much material taken off? Like what happens to that case? Does it do you have to melt it down completely? Do you have to start from like over? Yeah, it's not going to happen here because I think in the beginning we're talking about um such small amounts of metal that you're not going typically to get to a point where too much metal has been taken off. Yes, of course in customer service in repairs many years down the line you will have these situations where there's too much metal gone and then there's which is amazing to see our silver smiths and goldsmiths actually working by hand to laser weld material back into the case part and then to repolish and refinish it. And I've just had the demonstration again from one of our goldsmiths a couple of weeks ago. And when he patches up a really deep hole and he actually sort of racked it with a hammer and got a big chunk out, then laser welded it back in place and finished it. I can't tell where that spot was. Like not at all. Even if you look at it magnifying glass, you cannot tell. So it's amazing how they're able to restore. And then of course at some point if it's all polished away, you might have to replace a case component. But we're talking here 50, 100 years down the line. >> >> So Chris, now we have dial printing and also beyond that printing of other smaller parts as well for indicating whether it's power reserve indications uh outside bezels. Correct. >> Yeah, absolutely. So this really started off with the aquatimer challenge for us because you have an internal rotating bezel that's at an angle and it's very very complex to bring the super luminoa and the pad printing actually onto that shape. And after being continuously dissatisfied with the quality we're receiving, we started to develop this ourselves. And we've become sort of a bit of a expert in pad printing. It's something we really specialize on. And we're doing some really intricate parts here. You see, for example, these star charts that go into that Portuguese acid, which is a customized star chart. See things like the eternal calendar dial, which is a glass dial, right, with that opening for the 400year gear. You've got these complex rails. This is an eternal calendar one. But then also some really sort of fun and interesting special things um from the military series. We have a 25 years top gun instructors in Fallon Top Gun watch different bits Vegas special edition you know where you have that roulette wheel >> where I had to learn that roulette doesn't actually have alternating red and black numbers that was quite a >> brain teaser for me to learn at that point and then also something like this this is the crew watches um of the Polaris Dawn mission Jared Isaac man SpaceX last year um individually marked with these Polaris Dawn uh crew patch star sky in the back so these are typically the watch watches for movies for example we do here as well. So all these special jobs. Can you explain a little bit more about like the process like for the machine like you know I have these these pads that will yeah >> take up ink or >> so basically the the the pad will be cleaned with something like alcohol every time in between every a single print and then it's all about picking up the paint or the ink in that case and then it's a question of how long and how many times do you press down on where you want to print and how you get from the master which in this case for example isn't round but actually ovalshaped and then as it compresses and picks it up and transfers it onto the shape, you end up with a perfectly round print. And this is again a sort of iterative learning of exactly how hard, how long, for, and how many times you print before you have a really, really good result in terms of your paint coverage. >> And then when you're doing this print, is it more just for indication or is there also like super luminova that's is applied afterwards or is it applied? Okay, it's afterwards. >> Yeah, it's typically applied afterwards. Yes. And then you also have um an interesting case in hand and I think that actual part is gone now but you had the the pala where the digital indication on the discs happens for the jumping hours and minutes. And in the beginning of the development that mechanism kept getting stuck and we didn't understand why until somebody figured out that the different center of gravities for the weight of the numbers printed makes those disc unbalanced. Right? And in the end, we had to actually use lighter paint and a lighter print to actually make sure that because of the different weight of the eight versus number one, you don't end up with a sort of unbalanced effect when those discs are tanning. >> Interesting. >> Switching quickly. So sometimes it's just part of the R&D as well to try out different paints, different print weights and make sure that in the end you have a very balanced component if it's a moving one. >> And you'll also print on things like sapphire as well. >> Yeah, sapphire or glass indeed. We we do. You know, this is typical glass back print, a Louiswis Hamilton edition here or AMG edition or the things we do Flores. And then really one that we're very proud of is our moon disck printing. So it's a very small part. You can see that you have these polished moons and the little stars and then the night sky is perfectly printed in between the stars. So right here you can see pad printing in action. So the first step is see that the operator will place the print medium correctly into that hole that needs to be 100% calibrated. Now the machine will calibrate itself. It makes sure that the pad alignment is 100%. And now actually it moves over. It picks up paint. It goes back to the print medium and actually now does a first pass. I make one pass. I make a second pass and then the part is printed and we go back to cleaning the pad before the next part is inserted. That's really pad printing. >> >> So Chris, now we're behind the scenes of watch assembly here at IWC. So it looks like there's a variety of ways that you have this set up. There's a couple different rooms. Looks like high complications happen here and then more of your standard production types of pieces and movements will happen back there. Is that correct? >> Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. This is the heart of the facility. It's an over 1,000 square meter clean room. Absolute perfect conditions for watch assembly. And as you mentioned, you know, we're working both in sort of a a shared team line assembly where the idea of um you know, a standard chronograph and automatic movement is really to make sure that the quality and finishing level is as constant as possible because when these watches go into service later on in Dallas, in London, in Dubai, you really want to be able to for every watch maker, for every spare part, for everything to be as constant as possible, right? So the idea there is that watch makers are sharing the work they assembly different stations when people are off sick or they're on holiday you can actually subsidize that substitute it with somebody else and it's a very sort of team approach to assembly for even quality right and then you have fine watchmaking which is perpetual calendars plus >> where it really is all about one watch maker one watch and you see that also in terms of assembly whereas uh usually for our main watch lines we typically assemble the movements here and assemble the cases downstairs but then take them to our headquarters and finish the assembly there with the dial, the hands and the glass. You'll see that here in fine watch making the entire watch head is assembled, disassembled, tested. So you end up with a complete watch head that comes off the desk and the bench of one single watch maker. >> So when you start getting into perpetual calendars, high complications, this is where you'll have one watch for one watch maker. >> Exactly. Yeah. And you also have the both the assembly of the base movement and the assembly and the the marriage as it were of the module both happening in the same step which makes sure that there is really one regulating watch maker that does everything from start to finish. >> Can we talk a little bit about like watch education for IWC because I know that well fantastic I read your mind. So in Shopen and your other facility you have a school associated with that right correct is that true? Well, yes. So, it's it's it's our apprenticeship program and this is on the one hand is watchmaking and a three or four year program but is also CNC machining, surface polishing. >> Oh, so all aspects of watch manufacturing. >> Yes. And it even goes all the way to designers, mediaatic people, business apprenticeships. So in Switzerland and especially here for us where we don't have the valu kind of jobs market out there, we really train all of our watch makers here. So we have an intake of between 8 and 12 watch makers a year. um they will graduate after 3 to four years. >> So what's the typical like path for somebody that's in this room behind us to get into fine watchmaking? Like how long does that typically take? >> Well, it can take literally 10 years plus. You know, maybe start in line assembly, start in simple watchmaking tasks. Then people have different drives to develop at different speeds. You know, watchmaking is quite an introvert profession. It's not something >> there's some isolation in watchmaking for sure. >> There's some concentration necessary and it suits certain types more than others. And especially fine watch making where you're sort of working on your own. They're typically the same types of watch makers that go into customer service as well because customer service you can imagine repairing watches you get in very different watches from very different eras and you have to finish the job, you know, from from the start to the end and you really have to be capable to work on very different mechanisms and sometimes that suits people more and others enjoy really that more kind of repetitive type of watchmaking where you have the same movement over and over again. Man, >> when you're looking at some of these high complications, can you give any sense of like time and scale of how long someone might be working at one of these benches? >> Yeah, so typically when you think about perpetual calendar, we spend roughly 60 minutes on the base movement assembly steps and then it's about 3 to four hours assembling the uh the module and then when it comes to putting it all together and testing and disassembly and reassembly, you know, this can be many many hours depending on the regulating process. So you can easily talk about, you know, almost a day passing for somebody to assemble a highly complicated watch. >> And that's after, you know, a decade of training to get to that point. A lot of people think about just the time, but then what was the time invested to get >> 45 years of product development as well. So here you really have a a good overview of what we assemble here in this facility. So it really is quite a range of different movements. You think about this is our mainstay uh IWC manufactured chronograph movement, the caliber 69. This goes into Portuguese chronographs, pilots chronographs, and so on. Then you have a um a flyback chronograph caliber 89 with a column wheel. This one is really a very robust chronograph that goes into our military aviation watches for example. It goes into your yach club series for example, but also carries a ton of complications including perpetual calendars. And then you have our caliber 59. This is probably the closest to a pocket watch movement. It's an 8 days power reserve handbound movement, you know, with that huge >> almost 38 mm in diameter. That's insane. Yes, >> it's bigger than most watches. It is indeed. On the other side of the spectrum, smaller premium automatics, the caliber 82. So, this is really something we're using, for example, in the big pilot 43 or the Portuguese automatic 40. And then our probably most signature caliber here is that twin barrel 7 days power reserve caliber 52 coming from the Portuguese from the year 2000 then developed incrementally carrying that first car perpetual calendar in 2003 and since then being continuously developed further and it's really quite iconic for IWC because it is the base for big pilot Portuguese automatic 42 perpetual calendars all the big complications as well. >> Chris first time in Shawousen IWC didn't disappoint. I just want to thank you so much for having us here. here. It was a real treat to see behind the scenes and how your watches are ultimately created. >> Thank you so much for coming, Teddy. This was fun. And you know, to all your viewers as well, everyone's always welcome. Chef, I'd love to show you guys around. >> Great meeting you, Chris. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Thank you.