Following the 2018 inauguration of the luxury and fashion giant’s 37,000sqm ArtLab in Florence in 2018 dedicated to craftsmanship and innovation, Gucci has just completed the complete renovation of its 9,000sqn watch production building near Neuchâtel, named Gucci Watch Lab. The site now runs entirely on green energy, supplies watches and jewelry to all Gucci stores worldwide, and is teeming with 140 employees on three levels. They bring Gucci watches to life by combining Italian design with Swiss watchmaking expertise. A showroom and a top-floor VIP area make it possible to combine business with pleasure.
Historical local roots
Did you know that Gucci’s watchmaking odyssey in Switzerland passed the half-century mark last year? There were initially several co-existent production sites spread between La Chaux-de-Fonds, Ticino and Cortaillod (NE). The Cortaillod site absorbed the La Chaux-de-Fonds site and still operates in symbiosis with the Ticino site, which remains very convenient given its proximity to the brand’s Milan headquarters. Gucci’s Swiss workshops have managed the world’s watchmaking after-sales service for 50 years, acquiring valuable knowledge and experience in the process. The teams enjoy great lighting conditions in this modern building with its bay windows and skylights, where the first two Gucci High Watchmaking collections were created in 2022 and 2023, each comprising some 20 models.
Extremely stylish watchmaking
Suffice it to say that Gucci watches are inimitable – and that’s a good thing. One collection in particular symbolizes the paradigm shift in Gucci watches that has occurred over the past two years: the Gucci 25H. On the one hand, its micro-rotor automatic movement is just 3.7mm thick, was developed exclusively for Gucci and is assembled at the Gucci Watch Lab; and on the other hand it also includes a tourbillon movement that is also fitted here. The Gucci 25H tourbillon skeleton is an aesthetic success featuring a very contemporary design in which geometry and aerial sculpture set the flying tourbillon off to its fullest advantage. Another emblematic new model combining High Watchmaking and High Jewelry, the G-Timeless Planetarium with its gemset central tourbillon features a hypnotizing dance of 12 precious stones around the dial, activated by pushing the crown. Equally playful and inspired by the Gucci universe, the G-Timeless Dancing Bees sees tiny gold sculpted bees flapping their wings on the mother-of-pearl engraved dial. The ultimate in personalization comes with the dual-dial G-Timeless Moonlight, whose patented inner bezel ring and oscillating weight express clients’ astral identity. All these marvels emerge from this very special hive.
Italian pragmatism and Swiss versatility
The Gucci Watch Lab includes teams dedicated to R&D; quality control of all components and all stages of watch production and assembly; highly sophisticated prototyping of all parts and models; watch assembly (of mechanical and quartz models); as well as finishing and decoration. Production methods are flexible and regularly adapted to different needs, given that some watches are manufactured in several thousands or tens of thousands of units, others in mere dozens or as one-offs. Moreover, the fleet of 3-axis and 5-axis machinery is designed to meet most needs for all metals, while some machines are developed in-house to be more responsive and advantageous. A small mechanical workshop and a know-how department intervene on small volumes and sophisticated models. Entrepreneurial, passionate and fervent admirers of the brand, the production unit managers enjoy plenty of room for maneuver in testing and working as efficiently as possible, while training their teams regularly. At the same time, they receive support from headquarters for certain activities such as those involving chemistry or sustainable development, as well as back-up in the fields of R&D (50 staff at headquarters) or prototyping (300 staff at headquarters).
A determination to learn faster and more
The strong product development has led to increased quality and considerable adaptability. Over the past five years, the teams have acquired skills that enable them to carry out operations of which three quarters simply did not exist before. In what has become a talent hunt within the watch industry, staff retention is an art in order to keep milling-cutters, mechanics, prototypists, setters and turners, whose versatility increases their attractiveness. For example, people who are comfortable with setting, polishing and micromachining rotate from one workshop to another, both to vary their occupations and to increase productivity. The Gucci Watch Lab is now self-sufficient for all traditional finishing operations such as vertical satin-finishing, sandblasting and bead-blasting. So much so that designers are having a field day and are planning more and more finishes on very small visible movemen components with sandblasted beveling, vertical brushing and mirror polishing on top. Not all of this is new, as Gucci was among the first brands to set diamonds in steel and has since devised new types of settings and achieved good productivity with this expertise, for example in flame setting, bezel setting on crowns and snow setting on the dials. There has been a flurry of firsts, with the launch this summer of a diving watch that meets all standards and for which water-resistance checks are conducted using tools designed in-house. So, if bees are now starting to swim…!
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