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TGV Rhin-Rhône Franche-Comté 11 Dec 11
Heart and soul of French watchmaking
We've been in Besançon since 2000.
Before that, we were in very nice premises in Paris,
Antonio Martinez Chairman, Festina France
but they weren't quite suited to our business.
We chose Besançon because we thought that the region had a lot of things going for it.
One day, our chairman said:
"If I make Champagne, it has to be in Reims.
If I make watches, it has to be in Besançon".
I think there's history
in the cradle of French watchmaking
and it's an advantage for a watchmaking company to be located in Besançon.
Heritage & Future
Franche-Comté has had a very prominent
watchmaking industry since the 18th century.
Take the Haut Jura region, for example, with the whole watchmaking industry.
There were also cross-border ties with the Swiss watchmaking industry.
Thomas Charenton Curator, Musée du Temps
In the Haut Doubs and the Montbéliard region,
there have always been workshops making blanks
and watchmaking parts for use across the border.
Besançon's watchmaking industry really began
when Laurent Mégevand became
head of a colony of Swiss watchmakers in 1793.
The watchmaking industry continued to grow
throughout the 19th century,
taking on all sorts of industrial formats,
from very small workshops to big companies.
It went hand-in-hand with a whole set of institutions,
turning the Besançon marketplace
into an industrial complex revolving around watchmaking.
A number of institutions inherently linked to the development of watchmaking
are based in Besançon
and continue to play an important and prestigious role
in the development of these industries. The observatory springs to mind, of course,
with its policy of certifying chronometers.
It is really a hallmark of excellence
for the watches and clocks produced here.
The observatory was originally
a chronometric, astronomical and meteorological observatory.
François Meyer Director of the Chronometry Department at the Observatory
It supported the watchmaking industry
by providing a scientific measurement of time.
Over time, this watchmaking role
gradually evolved into the role of
controlling time and frequencies.
Our everyday job is more about billionths of a second.
We regularly check atomic clocks, frequency meters
and assorted time and frequency instruments
for which we hold top-level national accreditation.
In recent years, we have noticed
renewed interest in getting back to basics.
In other words, the time-keeping and time measurement precision
that can be obtained from such a fine instrument as a mechanical watch.
The skills are still very present and omnipresent in Besançon.
There is still a host of craftsmen and subcontractors,
Jean Muller Designer - Atelier Muller
who are vital cogs in the development of watchmaking today.
There is far less watchmaking in Besançon today than there used to be.
Yet I don't think that watchmaking is dead.
Breitling has been operating in Besançon since 1995.
Why Besançon? It's close to Switzerland, for a start,
Jean Kallman CEO, Breitling France
so, close to headquarters. And Besançon also
has a long-standing history of watchmaking, which meant
it was both efficient and productive
for Breitling to be associated with Besançon.
The labour force, technical competence, micro-mechanics,
the engineering school... there are lots of reasons.
Skills & training
The training courses delivered in the various centres in Franche-Comté
Jean Muller Designer - Atelier Muller
are a gold mine for the development of watchmaking and luxury watchmaking
because the training is good, it's tried and tested,
honed over many years. The young people who have done
these courses are immediately usable in the field
and are top-flight workers.
ENSMM "Luxury and precision" engineering diploma (sandwich course)
In that course, for example, they do gemmology.
Guy Monteil, chief academic officer Apprenticeship courses in industrial engineering technology (ENSMM)
Another thing they do, in the module on traditional materials, is precious materials:
how to use them and what their specific properties are.
Something very original
is the design aspect - not very common in an engineering school.
It's the history of art - knowing what makes something beautiful.
And then design in the true sense of the word, where the aim
is for engineers to know how to manufacture what the designed has imagined.
All of this is extremely specific and you won't find it anywhere else.
In Franche-Comté, there are enormous numbers of manufacturers
working in luxury and precision, and of course in watchmaking.
These people told us they needed specific types of engineers,
trained to draw and manufacture items
designed for the luxury and precision market.
So the initial impetus for setting up this training course came from industry.
It was the manufacturing sector that helped define the course objectives
and essentially drew up the standards to be met.
We designed the course content that would give trainees the required competencies.
People from Franche-Comté are, in all likelihood, inventive. Why?
It's a fact that Franche-Comté had been the home
of microtechnology for many years.
People in microtechnology necessarily have a sharp mind
Jean Muller Designer - Atelier Muller
and are always looking for something different, something new.
It may or may not be more rational, but they are always a step ahead of things.
Tradition & Innovation
The microtechnology cluster in Besançon has often been seen
as an off-shoot of the watchmaking industry.
Thomas Charenton Curator, Musée du Temps
It was not necessarily a direct transition:
companies split and merged, and know-how was reused.
But today we can still see a strong connection
between watchmaking and microtechnology.
The advances achieved in the microtechnology cluster today should be
able to be put to use in contemporary watchmaking.
It's something I'd like to see, but I don't know whether it's technically feasible
and especially whether it will be developed by today's microtechnicians.
Within the cluster, we have a technology commission
led by the Lux & Tech association,
which is supposed to decide
Etienne Boyer Chairman of the Microtechnology Cluster
in which areas we should develop innovation in Franche-Comté.
I'll give you just one example: the field of surface treatments,
which is very important in jewellery and watchmaking
for the finishing and forming of watch cases, for example.
When Besançon was the undisputed watchmaking capital,
at least in France,
a lot of research was done in the field of time to achieve further advances,
François Vernotte Director of the Observatory
either in time scales, for example at the observatory,
or to give clocks and oscillators
ever more sophisticated performances. This is when Femto
set the world record for short and medium-term stability
over measurement durations ranging from 1 sec. to 1,000 sec.
To date, the record still stands, worldwide, for durations of that magnitude.
Fresh lease of life for watchmaking in Besançon
As the city of Besançon's partner, we wanted to be involved in this renewal.
Antonio Martinez Chairman, Festina France
Especially as one of the group's companies is now established
in Besançon - the top end of the range with Leroy.
Leroy and the observatory have a long-standing history
François Meyer Director of the Chronometry Department at the Observatory
and we were all very happy
to see Leroy return to Besançon.
If we look back over its successful past
and its efficient, dynamic establishment in Besançon,
Jean Kallman CEO, Breitling France
the future is looking into the long-term future.
This is where Breitling is looking.
Personally, I think that watchmaking in Besançon
Jean Muller Designer - Atelier Muller
is a bit like a fire smouldering under ashes.
There's no reason why France can't regain
a major, or even dominant, position in watchmaking.
It's just a question of wanting to do it.
Directed by Agence Régionale de Développement de Franche-Comté
Visuals ARD Franche-Comté / Pôle Promotion & Communication Jérémy Hugues Dit Ciles
Thanks
© ARDFC - March 2011