News Based in Vandoeuvres since its creation in 2003, the DeWitt Manufactory has taken possession of its new premises in Vernier: 1500 square metres on two storeys.
Located near Geneva airport, the DeWitt Manufactory is now able to accommodate its steady momentum of growth. The available floor space will allow the integration of a large part of all operations linked to the production of components for mechanical watch movements. This development will result in 2007 in a significant increase in watchmaking staff.
It will have taken Jérôme De Witt just four years to make his mark in the very elite circle of avant-garde luxury watch manufacturers. A few key words make it easier to understand why the eponymous company burst so dazzlingly onto the scene in 2003: passion, curiosity, creative audacity and taste for innovation. Such is the spirit of DeWitt, which, rather than being content to rely on ideas from history and the past, chooses to pioneer new and unexplored paths offered by the mysteries of horological micro-engineering.
It is true that DeWitt has passed a number of significant milestones in a short passage of time: presentation of the Pressy Grande Complication in 2003, a World First, followed in 2005 by the launch of an original technological concept: the Tourbillon Différentiel Academia. This patented development was a major event and won the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix in the Innovation category. The following year saw another innovative breakthrough in the form of a new World First: the Tourbillon Force Constante Academia presented by Les Montres DeWitt at Baselworld 2006, setting the seal on a major development destined to enter the annals of watchmaking history with the patented design of a "movement and a timepiece in which the functions of constant force and regulation are clearly separated such that they are visible on the front of the timepiece".
These achievements help to explain the company’s rapid development. The company outgrew its original premises, which no longer met the requirements of its highly exclusive and superior quality production. By choosing to relocate to Vernier, DeWitt has increased its effective production space fivefold and now has at its disposal 1500 square metres on two storeys. The new highly functional premises house a Management suite on the ground floor, as well as all administrative services and production workshops. The bright new surroundings will accommodate more than forty watchmaking personnel, all highly qualified and all with experience of working on the most sophisticated mechanisms.
In addition to the usual watchmaking operations - fabrication, polishing, assembly, finishing and decoration of components, timing, water-resistance and quality testing – the manufactory now boasts an R&D department allowing DeWitt to design, develop and manufacture its own movements. This process is supported by the installation of an inventory of ultra-modern production equipment able to machine a high proportion of mechanical watch movement components. This step forward in terms of verticalisation of production will be accompanied gradually by the introduction of testing centres on different continents.
The firm’s expansion will streamline the overall creation of added value in the mechanical movement and the design of DeWitt creations, consolidating the company’s position as a leading player in the contemporary world of luxury watchmaking. A company intent on giving life to designs that express the values of originality, uniqueness and lasting quality.
January 17, 2007
