There is nothing that makes us work harder than you, the watch community that places faith in our abilities. Our team of watchmakers is deep in the movement and watch casing trenches. Time, takes time and there is no denying that we have incurred delays in production, however, the delays have provided us with opportunities to optimize processes.
There are many considerations to note when sending a movement to COSC for chronometer certification as well as the things to do after receiving movements back from COSC. I hate to drum on about the challenges associated with preparation for COSC, but it's important to note. A new movement based on a completely new architecture certification is a big step for movement makers and there is a reason so few attempt to do this with a first series. We have worked specifically on the tasks on either side of chronometer certification to ensure the maximum amount of movements pass and that is ultimately reducing the amount of post-certification assembly. This creates a tailwind effect that ensures we can move as quickly as possible into casing. Analyzing these processes alongside implementing new operating procedures takes a number of weeks to put into action. Additionally, we have onboarded more watchmakers and worked to bring them up to speed on our movements to ensure we can move through the backlog. Across all departments, we now have twenty-six full-time staff.
Supersede has been akin to changing the oil on a car whilst racing down the highway at 100 mph. The veterans of our team understand this having dealt with challenges associated with the prior tourbillon production. New movements are damn hard and despite having a good handle on what was to come there were some unforeseen challenges.
We are delivering watches weekly based on the batches of movements coming in from COSC. Each batch ranges between 40-60 movements. Once we received these movements back from COSC we can then assemble rotors, re-analyze the movement's run rates and then begin casing the watches. It might sound like this is done relatively quickly however analyzing a movement requires a full run rate of the power reserve, and therefore it takes multiple days. Of course like anything mechanical, not everything passes and therefore they must then go through a more thorough quality control process.
Horage has many facets that include design, engineering, watchmaking, machining and sourcing. Marketing and customer service are of course there and continually ongoing, but neither play a role in the physical production of the watch. Currently Supersede is in the watchmaking phase as design, engineering, machining, and sourcing are complete. The watchmakers are working through various stages of terminage zero, one, two and three and that means the other departments are focused elsewhere.
As a growing company, it should come as no surprise there is always something on the go. From the Lensman 1 tourbillon, the next Lensman series watch 😉 as well as let's just say some secretive "Skunk Works" projects the design, engineering, manufacturing, sourcing and marketing departments are in various stages of parts and project development. Currently, engineering and machining are working closely together to dial in machines and prototype parts while working in unison on the series production of Lensman 1. Until a part moves into series production the back and forth between the teams never stagnates. Our machining division is growing exceptionally fast as we expanded into a partner facility Paoluzzo AG where we have a dedicated Horage wing. I will share more on the expansion there in a future post.
On the business development side of the company a title of sorts that represents a bit of everything related to communication and marketing we have a new addition to the team. David Sharp whom some of you might have met via email has recently come on board. If you are an avid podcast listener you might have heard his voice as he is one-half of Scotland's very own Scottish Watches.
A few inquiries have been made by folks as to whether they were indeed in communication with "The David Sharp" and yes folks it's none other than he.
Just this week a pre-recorded episode of the show aired where he officially announced the next chapter in his watch journey with Horage. If you would like to check the show be sure to click on the episode image below.
Andi and I will be back live streaming next week and will send out a newsletter with an exact date and time a few days prior to the show.
Thank you for your continued support and patience we are grateful to you all.
Until next time...
Landon Stirling
I had to make a business trip to Spain, so naturally, I decided to wear my Supercede. I find that this watch just doesn'tkeep itself wound the way that my K1 based Autark 10 Year model does. In fact, if I don't wind it every few days, it will stop running overnight.
I don't like to have to manually wind it becuase I think that fiddling with the scew down crown every few days will shorten the lifespan of the watch. Does anyone else have this issue? I've read that this is a problem with microrotor watches generally butr I don't have another to compare it to. The same is true of the way the rotor spins when I wind the watch.
Thx.