DonCorson's report on his visit to Habring2 offers a rare glimpse into the workshop of independent watchmakers Richard and Maria Habring. This article is particularly relevant for understanding the challenges and dedication involved in small-scale, independent watch production, especially concerning movement development and parts sourcing. DonCorson provides an intimate look at their efforts to maintain independence amidst industry shifts.
A visit to Habring2, Richard and Maria Habring
Don Corson, October 2012
While there are many independent watchmakers close to home in Switzerland there is always the time when one wants to get out to new places. This time came with a vacation planned to Croatia, just over a mountain pass to southern Austria and the Habrings.
It was a beautiful drive in horrible weather, sinuous mountain roads following the most southern valley in Austria. If we drive it again we will certainly be very surprised by all the beautiful landscape we didn’t see the first time because of the clouds, fog and rain. In any case we made it to Völkermarkt and found the Habrings right down town.
The Habring workshop is on the top 2 floors of a building directly on the main square of Völkermarkt with a wonderful view looking south across the Drau valley.
Lost in the horological outback of Austria the Habrings are fighting to preserve their independence and business just like all the other watch brands big and small that have been more or less dependent on ETA for parts through the years. We will talk more of this throughout this report.
Let’s dive right in. Below we see the main plate for the new Habring movement that Richard has been optimising and perfecting the reliability of for the last 3 years.
In their well equipped shop they can make most of the parts that they need, which they do for prototypes. For production quantities they make use of specialist suppliers, many in Switzerland or Germany.
This machine is specially set up to drill the stem hole on the new movements.
Here we see the bridge and dial sides of a movement prototype, undecorated.
The same movement decorated with spotting and rhodium plated.
A series of raw plates as they are delivered by the supplier.
The first series of new wheels for testing and qualification. They are just missing the central hole to be complete. The wheels and pinions are a central portion of the pieces that many watchmakers have been purchasing from ETA. Although one may be tempted to say this is not rocket science and that anyone can do it, the precision and quality control which is needed is extreme and the new potential suppliers are all struggling trying to attain the quality that ETA has been delivering consistently for years. For some things the theory is difficult, for others the practice.
Parts from new suppliers are slowly filling the stock so that when the last ETA deliveries come in, in 2013 or 2014, they will no longer be missed, here some stems.
The watch assembly workshop. Habrings have 5 employees at the present time to keep up with the demand. It is apparently a challenge to get well qualified watchmakers to move to Völkermarkt, but they are successful as they offer very interesting and varied jobs.
Richard Habring’s workbench, he has been working on some servicing today.
A good portion of Habring’s work is not for wrist watches, but for clocks which they make as a supplier for other brands, most notably for Buben & Zörweg.
Here we see a dashboard clock movement.
A tourbillon movement for Buben & Zörweg
The orbital tourbillon for Buben & Zörweg
Several different clocks in production testing.
Escapements for the dashboard clock.
Parts for the inline clock movement, Habring’s first completely in-house movement.
Now we are back to the wrist watches, a chrono movement with central minute counter and monopusher.
The movement from the dial side with the minute counter wheel on top.
A jumping minute movement.
The watches that the Habrings make for Sattler in Germany have been a big success. They have regulator faces based on the faces of the Sattler clocks.
And now to the finished Habring watches.
The COS chrono with central minutes counter.
I love the blued hands and indexes. It is also neat that there is almost no hint on the watch that it is actually a chrono.
A simple small seconds with date.
The split-seconds chrono
Isn’t that chestnut dial just exquisite?
Note the blued split-seconds cam with the ruby actuating pins.
The split-seconds in a noble gray
From the older collection a time zone watch.
Look how the mother of pearl changes with the viewing angle.
A central seconds with date and power reserve indication.
Earlier, we saw some parts for the in-line clock movement. Here is a prototype movement, without decoration. Richard is particularly proud of this movement as it is, as he says, his first truly in-house movement where none of the parts are used elsewhere.
I am looking forward to see the first clock sporting this movement.
The Habrings have the parts supply for their watches for the next 2 years for sure. During that time Richard will continue to qualify suppliers to arrive at replacing all the external parts he still uses, including things like the anchor and escape wheel, by parts to his specification and made expressly for or by him.
The watchmaking industry has always been an industry of specialist suppliers, until the big groups bought up many suppliers to be autonomous, but at the same time clearing out the possible suppliers for others. This has been going on for a long time, it is not something recent. With ETA’s new politics of restricted supply to 3rd parties the pendulum is starting to move back and the previous ways are finding usage again as new suppliers open up. Only time will tell who will be the winners and losers in this game, but Habrings are positioning themselves to not only survive, but to have a prosperous future among the independents.
We can’t leave Völkermarkt without mentioning the good soul of the house, Mickey. Mickey welcomes everyone, friend or foe, with a concert of barking and growling so no-one feels they have been overseen. On the other hand his perseverance and attention makes him most certainly a good addition to a household of watchmakers. Mickey’s default position when people visit is locked away in another room, but being dog lovers we preferred to see who was barking at us.
I would like to thank Maria and Richard for their welcome in Völkermarkt and in their workshop. It was a very educational visit to a very dynamic shop. I wish them all the best.
Don
