Beyond The Watchmaker's Bench

Though steeped in centuries-old traditions, modern mechanical watchmaking is all about future-proofing through technological innovation.

- Alvin Wong

It is tempting to imagine that the gleaming, skeletonised tourbillon you acquired for a quarter of a million dollars was fastidiously crafted by a silver-haired watchmaker, hunched over a worn wooden bench deep in the Swiss Jura Mountains. Some things never change. The human-centric aspects of the craft, from design to assembly, remain essential. And, as a US$50 billion-a-year industry, Switzerland still produces the lion's share of the world's luxury watches.

However, mechanical watchmaking did not evolve from an 18th-century cottage network of Swiss farmers moonlighting as watchmakers during harsh winter months into what it is today without enterprising businessmen and forward-thinking watchmakers who repeatedly pushed the boundaries. While the virtues of a luxury timepiece have long been established-its status-signalling allure, its suggestion of provenance and craft, its sense of deep technical gravitas-watch companies continue to reimagine how such qualities should look and how they ought to perform in step with changing tastes and modern demands.