Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier – Vaucher Private Label: Offering Independence and Openness to Talented Watchmakers and Emerging Luxury Watch Brands

Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier produces movements for major brands in high-end watchmaking. The manufacture has also set up Vaucher Private Label for talented watchmakers and brands with small volume production in mind.

Some eleven months after its launch by the Fleurier movement manufacturer, Vaucher Private Label confirms that it is meeting a real need on the part of brands seeking to break into or consolidate their position in high-end watchmaking. With a minimum order quantity of just 25 and short delivery times, the Val-de-Travers manufacture supplies movements to watchmakers who, without its services, would struggle to flourish in the current watchmaking environment.

The Vaucher Private Label new business unit  has confirmed that it answers a real need on the part of small volume companies wishing to break into or consolidate their position in high end watchmaking. The Fleurier Manufacturer supplies upwards of 25 movements which are available in a matter of weeks. Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier caters for watchmakers who would find it difficult to flourish in the current watchmaking environment if such a supplier did not exist.

It is a fact that watchmaking groups seek self-sufficiency by assuring vertical integration of their watch movements. With Vaucher Private Label, the Fleurier movement manufacturer fosters the dynamism needed to rekindle and develop a fertile breeding ground of watch designers. Since its launch, around thirty have called on its services, not only for movements but also for cases and dials. This year, Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier has largely met its objectives; while the level of interest generated means it will have no difficulty fulfilling its longer term business plan.

The division into groups of the watch market made Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier decide to provide greater access to its products through Vaucher Private Label. Already independent and vertically integrated – one of its sister companies is none other than atokalpa, an expert in gear-wheel and oscillator technology – industrialised and highly focused on the personalisation of its calibres, it was strongly placed with its skills centre to respond to the creative aspirations of talented watchmakers.

Marketed under the symbolic “Seed” name, movements available through Vaucher Private Label differ from other Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier products only by their personalisation, the high-end level of finishing being the same as that of the main product range.

Vaucher Private Label Movements
Vaucher movements are rare and exclusive. Thanks to total control over their supply chain, the manufacture guarantees that each part is Swiss made. Vaucher Private Label movements are the manifestations of Swiss watchmaking tradition and are the pure expression of valuable know-how. Designed for customisation, they combine quality, elegance and accurate chronometry. These movements are made up of more than 200 components that are finished to a high standard. Moreover, they represent the essence of tradition and watchmaking know-how and have been built to stand the test of time. Vaucher Private Label guarantees a long term parts supply, global customer services and movement after-sales service.

New Calibres
Thanks to a new industrial and artisanal structure, Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier (VMF) offers more competitive prices to its partners. Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier (VMF) stands out by its movement manufacturing process.

The Fleurier movement supplier is a shining example among watchmaking manufactures. CEO Jean-Daniel Dubois attributes its standing to the way in which it reconciles high-end watchmaking criteria with industrial processes, ensuring the repeatability of components, uniform quality, and lower production costs. An approach that gives the VMF product range its underlying quality, aesthetic appeal and competitiveness.

In the context of the manufacture, industrialization is synonymous with improved quality and reliability. By implementing processes which optimize the value added to the caliber– each movement is finished and decorated by hand by its artisans – the perceived aesthetic value remains intact, reflecting the qualityof craftsmanship that characterizes VMF movements from their initial conception. Orchestrated by proven methods, man and machine work together in the pursuit of excellence: latest-generation CNC machining and pre-assembly stations, presses, stamps, piercers, tweezers and gravers are among the tools of today and yesterday mastered by experts. Accordingly, the manufacture’s products will remain high-end, at a price more accessible to brands.

With this in mind, VMF will be presenting two new products in its private label assortment: a self winding flying tourbillon, the Seed VMF 3024, one of the thinnest in the world; and a development of its extra-thin micro-rotor, the Seed VMF 5401, whose performance is optimized by a variable inertia balance developed and produced by atokalpa, together with new automatic functions.

Customer Service and Guarantee
Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier provides a two year cover for movement overhaul including external parts. In case of faults covered by the guarantee, VMF will repair or replace, at its own discretion and free of charge, all parts and/or will correct any improper repairs identified as such by its after sales department. The guarantee does not cover normal wear and tear or damage caused by accident or lack of proper care. The guarantee becomes null and void in the event of repairs carried out by persons not affiliated to VMF’s after sales department.

Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier is equipped with modern workshops and qualified personnel to repair service and restore movements and external parts. We thus ensure the high level of service that our clients deserve. Technical information is kept up to date and supplies of spare parts are always available (in compliance with the guarantee). Furthermore, the qualified team benefits from regular training so as to maintain and improve the level of service provided for the customers.

About Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier SA
Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier SA first opened its doors in January 2003. It marked the division of Parmigiani Mesure et Art du Temps (founded by Michel Parmigiani in 1990) into two sister companies: The Parmigiani Fleurier brand and the manufacture. This clearly separated its watch production activities from the promotional activity of the Parmigiani Fleurier brand. With headquarters in Fleurier, VMF specialises in the “High-end” and “Prestige” market segments and creates high-quality movements. Its creation also signals a commitment to pursuing the private label activity that Parmigiani Mesure et Art du Temps began some time ago. It brings together the business areas of R&D, CNC machining of main plates, bridges and certain watch components, mechanics, pre-assembly, assembly, casing, plate and bridge decoration, including hand-chamfering of all components, galvanoplasty, not to mention training in a workshop dedicated solely to apprenticeships in the watchmaking/repairing field. The new VMF site in Fleurier covers 6700 m2.

The watchmaking companies of the Sandoz Family Foundation include 50 fields of expertise:

• atokalpa SA, in Alle, gear-wheels and oscillators,140 employees
• Elwin SA, in Belprahon, precision turning, 20 employees
• Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier: high-end mechanical movements and kits, 200 employees
• Quadrance et Habillage, La Chaux-de-Fonds, traditional dials. 20 employees
• Les Artisans Boîtiers, La Chaux-de-Fonds, high-end watch cases, 40 employees