Independents

Bernard's latest post has reminded me to ask a question - who manufactures the base movement/plates for the Dufour Simplicity? Does anyone know if the same company supplies base movement/plates for the Ferrier double spiral tourbillion?

suspicions so I won't spread them. But in general there is not a lot of love between the companies in the Vallée de Joux and those in Geneva. (the Geneva Seal was initially made to marginalise the companies in the Vallée) There are many candidate companie... 

who knew of these obscure rivalries?? Thanks Don.

Dufour made his entire movement in-house base up. Doesn;t detract from his great finishing though.

He doesn't have a CNC machine he has someone cut the plates and bridges for him

... just heard from someone who asked the question and the answer from Mr. D was "yes". If I am wrong, I am sorry in advance, but I am pretty sure that I heard it right - but still I didn't hear it directly from the man..... Having said that, everyone get... 

The Geneva seal was not made to aleniate the makers from the Vallée who had been supplying movement blanks to the Genevan houses for years but rather to fight cheeper counterfeits with Geneve on the dial as a sales pitch but which were not made in Geneva

and along the lines that the Geneva movement makers were complaining that most of the high end movements sold by Geneven watch companies were actually made in the VdJ. So to protect themselves they invented the Geneva Seal. Don This message has been edite... 

Hi Don, I'm sure it would be hard to find a real b/w truth here, but my impressions are more along the line of what Alex wrote above. There were very few Geneva based movement suppliers - the large majority of movement blanks (ebauches) were supplied from... 

very interesting and informative.

Thanks everyone for your informative responses. Lots of background information here - actually quite interesting. I wonder if the movement blank manufacturers for Dufour or Ferrier leave a little mark of their own, like the stonemasons used to leave a bit... 

Hi guys, Sorry but one DOES NOT need a CNC to manufacture a blank. One can perfectly well make all the plates etc, buy having a few lathes properly calibrated for milling, drilling, etc. Don's work is the most direct proof of this ! I was under the impres... 

Sorry, "movement blank" manufacturer is probably too wide or insufficiently nuanced a phrase to use. From what I understand, it is not anywhere near the same scenario as, say, a brand having base movements manufactured by a third party ebauche manufacture... 

...I've been in Ph. Dufour's workshop only one time and spoken tohim only on two occasions briefly - so you might know a lot more ? But to my knowledge his plates and bridges are custom ordered and supplied by a (certainly first rate) specialist. This is ... 

He would be making 2 Simplicities a year at that rate. Dufour doesn't hide the fact that he has the components cut and milled by a specialist but cutting components isn't a big deal, its the hand work that has value.

Guys, Thanks for correcting my information- I appreciate it, and sorry for sounding like an ass in my first post- i just reread it and I apologize for sounding so preachy. Could there have been a change in production methods between the first 100 and seco... 

he still wasn't cutting when visited him last in summer of 2010!

then I was completely mistaken- thank you for this info! HAGW, S

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