An exclusive look inside Tudor's new manufacture

Text: Britta Rossander

They have moved out of Rolex's head office in Geneva and opened the doors to Le Locle Manufactur. For the first time since the start the brand has left the head office in Geneva and been physically separated from Rolex. So after several years of building, the door was now opened, a couple of days before Watches & Wonders, to the new building in Le Locle. 

Those who were let in on site first of all were a small group of handpicked journalists from all over the world and Eqotime was invited to share this moment in the brand's history with those who work there. 

Tudor has been strongly on the move in recent years and one has felt that since the Black Bay Fifty-Eight successes the owners have given the brand a lot of air under its wings. They have very consciously established themselves as an important brand at a high mid-level by making watches of very good quality at the best price. 

It was in 2018 that they took possession of the land for the project in Le Locle. The construction was completed three years later and since then the brand has been moving at a rather leisurely pace – everything is not in place yet. The address is Rue de France 63 in the heart of this Mecca of watch manufacturing. 

A formerly empty field that was a neighbour to a Rolex building was taken into use, it was easy of course, ”the Rolex Group” as they sometimes call themselves today was after all the owner.

The facility is impressive in industrial design with a Tudor-red metal shell and glass that adapts in real time to the light conditions outdoors. The building is 150 metres long and 30 metres high with a floor area of 10 642 square metres. 

Since the ground in the area is a bit ”spongy” they have had to make a foundation of 330 pillars, each one 30 metres high, that are drilled down into the bedrock to hold the 8 050 cubic metres of concrete and 960 tonnes of metal in place. 442 solar panels and an HVAC system ensure that both temperature and humidity levels remain constant as desired.

In the assembly area, where the ceiling height is high and the light fantastic, the air is changed 3–5 times an hour with a constant flow from the ceiling so that dust does not fly around in the premises.  

The manufacturing part also contains Kenissi, Tudor's movement manufacturing company. A company that was formed in 2016 and that is led by Eric Yvon Pirson (head of Tudor), Jean-Paul Girardin (previously Breitling) and Philippe Jacques Dalloz.

That Girardin is involved is interesting – he was Teddy Schneider's (the owner of Breitling until 2017) right hand and the one who was responsible for the brand's exemplary production development and above all for the chronograph movement B01. He left as quick as lightning when Georges Kern bought Breitling together with a Belgian venture capital company. To see him standing as the person in charge at Tudor Kenissi was like seeing a good friend again. He shone like a sun during the presentation and is extremely results-driven so there they have a gem on the staff.

Kenissi has a well-organised testing of the movements. After assembly the calibres are moved to the test floor. An area that is completely autonomous and whose operations run 24/7 and that supports METAS and TPC test protocols with 46 tonnes! of test machines.  

A personal reflection

Tudor will of course belong to and live in Rolex's shadow, but the almost 100-year-old brand is in the process of finding its own way and is today regarded with respect.

Good to know

A small detail that can be good to know is that Kenissi today is 20 % owned by Chanel and that they supply movements to several other brands. 

Read more at Tudor