About two hours away from Geneva, heading north and a contact east, simply alongside the border with France, you’ll discover the Jura area of Switzerland. One of many fabled facilities of Swiss watch manufacturing, the surroundings is idyllic, and the cities are previous, small, and quiet. In comparison with the city facilities of Geneva, Basel, Zurich, and Biel/Bienne, it could be thought-about rural, even when it is just a brief distance away. And but, this pastoral scene belies what is going on in lots of the buildings dotted alongside the panorama. Inside, uncooked metals are reworked into unimaginable mechanisms and luxurious items by means of processes which are each coarse and delicate. Briefly, it’s the place watches get made.
On the tail finish of my journey to Watches & Wonders 2025, relatively than heading straight dwelling, drained and needing a watch detox, I took a brief journey to Jura to go to not a watch firm, however a motion producer: Soprod. Based in 1966, as of 2008, Soprod has been a part of the Festina group, and is one in every of a small handful of third-party, Swiss-made motion suppliers. Though the corporate undertakes behind-the-scenes growth for giant luxurious manufacturers, together with module design, it’s recognized amongst watch fans as a substitute for ETA and Sellita, one that’s changing into more and more prevalent amongst indie manufacturers.
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