Montblanc Le Locle Workshop Tour

A visit to Montblanc Montre in Le Locle.

Arriving at  Montblanc Montre in Le Locle you would think that you really made a wrong turn on the way.  The chemin des Tourelles is a little ally; no way two cars could pass, although a two way street.  Strangely enough one of Switzerland's biggest watchmakers is also on this street, Tissot, and Tissot’s factory is just across the street from Montblanc.

Montblanc has nested themselves in a beautiful Jugendstil villa.  A large addition is largely unseen partly buried in the garden.

On arrival I was welcomed by Florence Kirkorian, responsible for communication.  Look at the décor of these suites!  The mansion itself now houses offices and reception rooms.

We descend to the manufacture in the addition which is airy and light flooded.  Our first stop is the design and the technical department.

Here we see examples of the in-house design activities, from hand drawings to their integration and rendering on the computer.

Once on the computer it is easy to try out different possibilities, a bezel without or with diamonds, for example.

Once the designers think that they know what they want it is time for the engineers and technicians to tell them what they really want.  And to make a construction that will make for a waterproof watch that will withstand many years of use.

Here is where any new materials will first be tried out.  Montblanc was one of the first to use the DLC (“Diamond like carbon”) coating process on their cases and could not rely on the experience of others to learn how to make them so that they are long lasting.  They did it themselves.

Montblanc has organised its production along the traditional Swiss method of an établisseur. They design and specify the components and then have them made by specialist companies.

Since 2008 Montblanc is producing its own movements with the start of the production of  the Montblanc Rieussec Manufacture calibres.

Here we are in the quality department.  This is a key department for the production quality and all components whether made in house or by external specialists have to pass here.  In this picture we see to carts of parts.  Each cart has the parts that arrived during one week.  At Montblanc the watch components have to be controlled for correctness within one week of their arrival to reduce stock and delays if the parts are not conform.

Components that have been controlled and are conform become part of the stock and are placed in the Kardex.

Each movement is tested first being wound on the winder and then placed on the bank of automatic testers to be tested in 5 positions.  Movements that do not fulfil requirements are returned.

Each workplace has a PC to be able to have all the information about the components being tested and to be able to enter the test results.  Testing patterns are changed and corrected according to the history of the components.

This optical comparator from Aubert makes comparisons between the real components and technical drawings and can also aid in giving numerical information if there are non-conform parts.

After the final watches are completed they come back here once more for a final inspection before shipment.

Here we see testing equipment for both pressure, watertightness, and underpressure, to test the fitting of the glasses.

In the next installment we will see the assembly of the Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec movements, the MB R110 and MB R200.