News Last September, Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier (VMF) inaugurated its new buildings in Fleurier. All of its activities are now housed under a single roof.
In 1996, the Sandoz family foundation acquired a shareholding interest in Parmigiani Mesure et Art du Temps SA (PMAT), setting the seal on many years of work by a watchmaker and timepiece restorer in the Val-de-Travers, Michel Parmigiani.
These craft activities lie at the heart of the renewal of the watch industry in Val-de-Travers. They have contributed to varying degrees to the launch of manufacturing businesses in the region. From 1996 to 2003, PMAT developed its brand and manufacturing activities. At the time, it already placed its experience at the service of private label clients and offered to develop prestigious customised watchmaking products. On that basis, the pillars of Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier were established following the division in January 2003 of Parmigiani Mesure et Art du Temps SA into two separate entities, VMF and Parmigiani Fleurier.
In 2006, the arrival of Hermès International in the share capital of VMF gave its development a new scale. Its activities were then spread between three separate sites, all of them in Fleurier. To safeguard the serene and harmonious evolution of the company, the need to group the workshops and offices together on a single site became increasingly evident. In 2007, the growing strength of VMF led to the implementation of its project.
In July 2009, VMF, fully established in its new premises at the foot of the Chapeau de Napoléon, benefited from a floor space of 6,700 m2, giving it an industrial facility capable of responding to increasingly exacting demand, allying quantity, quality and reliability. Conceived in a long-term global vision, the present structure will permit several phases of enlargement to achieve a total production floor space of 16,000 m2.
Now that the production flow has been optimised – 21 different calibres made in over 90 movement references with an extensive portfolio of developments – VMF is capable of placing exceptional products on the market within competitive lead-times. VMF knows how to capture its client’s DNA to supply a highly personalised product. Its expertise extends from the craft manufacture of one-off pieces to highly personalised series of luxury watchmaking products, ranging from 300 to several thousand pieces a year.
With this new site, VMF has already taken a great step towards the attainment of its goal: the manufacture of luxury watchmaking products based on industrial techniques, using design and production methods for high performance components.
At present 12,000 movements are produced each year. The business is now all set to develop further towards its medium-term target of 20,000 pieces/year.
September 25, 2009
