Horological Meandering

SJX
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An outsider brand, Carl F. Bucherer, and its innovative new in-house calibre

Located in Lucerne, Carl F. Bucherer owned by Bucherer, one of Switzerland's oldest watch retailers, but run as an independent company. The parent Bucherer Group is a huge enterprise with revenues exceeding CHF500 million, making it one of the largest retailers in the world and also a strong backer for the Carl F. Bucherer brand. Bucherer had always sold its own line of watches, but Carl F. Bucherer is its most ambitious attempt to conquer the global market. The brand is now distributed worldwide and has a significant presence in Greater China, which is its largest market.

Carl F. Bucherer is headquartered in Lucerne, a highly unusual location for a watch company. The reason behind it is simple - the Bucherer Group, is also based in Lucerne. Also notable is the fact that company is largely Swiss-German; the Bucherer family is Swiss-German and the Bucherer retail chain is also strong in German-speaking markets, Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

When I met them yesterday, I noticed both the CEO, Thomas Morf, and David Vallata, Regional Market Director (Asia), were speaking Swiss-German. So I posed the question to Mr Morf, given its location and culture, does he see Bucherer as an outsider, apart from the rest of the largely French-speaking industry?

Indeed it is, according to Mr Morf. "We are away from envy and gossip," he says. In his candid style, Mr Morf also notes that it is an advantage being Swiss-German; the brand's relationships with suppliers are very strong and he says with a touch of humour, "French-speaking suppliers like doing business with us because we are reliable". 

Mr Morf has ambitious plans for the brand, which last year unveiled the innovative Cal. A1000 in-house automatic movement. Carl F. Bucherer took over Techniques Horlogères Appliquées (THA) SA in St Croix last year to beef up its development and manufacturing capabilities. Now renamed CFB Technologies, THA was founded by Vianney Halter, Francois-Paul Journe and Denis Flageollet, and is now Carl F. Bucherer's technical development and manufacturing arm.

In my conversations with Messrs Morf and Vallata, it was made clear that the goal is for Carl. F Bucherer to produce innovative but reliable watches that are relatively accessible - no half-million dollar multi-axis tourbillons are in the pipeline. The current Carl F. Bucherer product line is attractive but not yet world-beating and outstanding. That could change with the new in-house movement and resulting calibres derived from it.

The brand's best selling model is the Patravi TravelTec (above), a triple timezone chronograph which both gentlemen were wearing. The movement is an ETA2894 modular chronograph with an in-house timezone plate added. The case and dial were well done, and while the complication is impressive I am unsure it if is convenient to use given that it appears very complex.

However, the highlight of the afternoon was the Cal. A1000. I went to see the calibre because the day before I received an phone call from Dr Bernard Cheong who told me I absolutely had to take a look; when Bernard says you gotta see something, whether you like it or not it will surely be interesting. More on the movement below.

- SJX

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