News 
On the occasion of Baselworld, Willemin-Macodel is presenting two machine models that are particularly well suited to watch industry applications: the 701S which achieves extraordinary results for movement components and the new 5 axis machining centre 308S2 designed to combine outstanding performance with minimum dimensions.
Launched on the market in 2014, the 701S machine, equipped with parallel kinematics and a delta architecture, works by interpolation to achieve submicron levels of accuracy. And although the machine has already attracted considerable attention since its launch, this year it is the complete and robust solution offered to the watchmaking world that is being widely reported, especially for its exceptional results in machining movement components, bottom plates and bars. All the component parts of a watch calibre can be made from a single blank. The unique design of this machining centre cuts start-up reset times to almost zero while the number of tools needed to make complex parts is greatly reduced.
With its inverted concept and machining by interpolation, the 701S machine revolutionizes traditional production and manufacturing management methods. It offers unrivalled flexibility and enables parts to be made in small, medium and large series to meet demand most effectively: genuine industrialised tailor-made output. The accuracy and quality of the surface states also enable decorative operations of all kinds to be handled (such as Côtes de Genève), chamfering, circular graining or preparation for gemstone setting while purely aesthetic functions are also assured.
Unveiled for the first time in Switzerland at Baselworld, the 308S2 is highly compact and ideal for complex prismatic workpieces, typically for exterior timepiece parts but also for wider uses. Equipped with measuring rulers, direct motor drives, a new 60,000 rpm spindle and a divider running at 4,000 rpm, the machining and precision capacities of this 5 axis machine enable even the most stringent demands to be satisfied. Apart from its size it is a truly big machine!
While the two solutions presented here differ widely, the fact is that they have been developed to satisfy market demand. The morphology of the components to be made dictates the machine design. And this process is being taken to ever greater lengths: rationalisation of the production processes encourages manufacturers to cooperate more closely with the suppliers of solutions upstream and downstream in the production chain. The fact is that Willemin-Macodel is increasingly becoming a solution integrator rather than just a machine manufacturer.
Based in the Jura region, Willemin-Macodel supplies avant-garde customised machining solutions for complex and particularly precise workpieces with high added value, especially for the Swiss watch industry. Located in Delémont, at the very heart of the microtechnology market, the company has been developing highly innovative machines for the past 40 years, designing increasingly flexible, dynamic, stable and productive solutions based on a perfect understanding of clients’ needs.
March 23, 2017