MANUFACTURE

Etymologically, “Manufacture” means “made by hand”. The term refers to factories or workshops whose products require skilled labor. In watchmaking, it has taken on a more precise and prestigious meaning: a Manufacture is a company that designs and produces its own movements — or even most of its components — as opposed to an établisseur, which assembles ébauches and parts purchased from suppliers. Having a “Calibre Manufacture” has thus become an argument of technical credibility and prestige. The marketing use of the word has grown particularly since the 1980s, driven by the communication departments of major watchmaking groups, to the point that its exact definition is sometimes debated. Historically, Swiss watchmaking production long relied on a division of labor among numerous specialized workshops; the integrated Manufacture, bringing together expertise under one roof, today embodies a certain idea of “Autonomy and technical mastery.