The times are changing… Today we have a very big announcement for all of you that have taken part in our Tourbillon 1 pre-order and for those wishing to take part in our second pre-order run.
HORAGE founder Andreas Felsl, Florian Serex and I sat down for a round table announcement after a very long separation due to COVID-19. We managed to film our announcement on Friday June 12th and are releasing today on Wednesday June 17th.
Now you are probably wondering what kind of announcement we have in-store for you.
To understand completely we have to take a big step back in time to when we started the Tourbillon 1 project. Florian Serex who is a longtime friend, consultant and engineer of HORAGE was working as CEO of La Joux Perret and therefore we looked to work with him and his team on our Tourbillon 1 watch. Florian and our team were excited to take on the challenge of further optimizing one of the La Joux Perret tourbillons. However, life of course changed, and Florian moved on from La Joux Perret, but the agreement with their new team was to ensure we continued in the same respect as when Florian was still there. Our engineers looked to continue the collaborative effort with La Joux Perret. With improvements identified by our team and needing to be made to the tourbillon movement we were left waiting to sign off on production. Along with Florian’s surprise departure there were a few changes of the guard so to speak and in May of this year a new CEO was hired to take over the reigns of La Joux Perret. At that time our initial pre-order was complete and COVID-19 began to step into all our lives. Following the new CEO being hired there would be additional changes to management and staff.
With our pre-orders in place we began with production of our watches or so we thought. Our cases, crowns, crystal and straps were finalized sent out for production with other suppliers, but recently we were notified by the new CEO of La Joux Perret that he refused to make the improvements needed to the movements that our team identified and then he dealt a final blow of refusing to produce our/your movements.
A Goliath and classless act by La Joux Perret to say the least. Given the global state of things brought on by COVID-19, their previous promise to make the movements for us and pre-orders in-hand from our customers, one would think that they would have bonded more closely with us to move things along. However, during times of crises, we have come to learn that one’s true colours shine through.
With the reality of the situation at hand and our commitment to our community to deliver the best value Swiss tourbillon our team of engineers and watchmakers met on Monday June 8th to lay our options out on the table.
The decision was unanimous, and our only option was to make a tourbillon on our own utilizing our in-house technologies. What Goliath does not or may not have understood is just how talented our team is and what we have in store for this movement.
We first looked to our K1 movement and what elements we could pull from it and later looked to our future micro-rotor movement K2. Leaning on the gear train, stem, time setting and silicon escapement technology from those two movements we then dove headfirst into the tourbillon cage. By the weeks end our engineers were well off to the races with a completely new cage in the works.
So what can you expect?
The aesthetic of the watch will remain relatively unchanged with regards to the the bridges and of course overall case construction as cases are already ordered and in production. With regards to the tourbillon cage there will be some slight aesthetically different changes due to this being a completely new cage design. One such change that we are looking at incorporating is the addition of second markings at the tourbillon cage as the tourbillon rotates once every 60 seconds. It is a must for the cage to be aesthetically mouthwatering and we will do what we can within the constraints of physics to deliver a look that aligns well with the previous cage.
This will not be a shelf movement bought from a supplier, rather it will be a completely new movement design and you will be the first to wear this. The biggest bonus is what this means for run time and future service and reliability. Our team is looking to achieve an incredibly light Tourbillon cage that should be significantly lighter than the current one and as our engineers continue development, we will be able to provide more specifics at a later date. Less weight means more power reserve. By doing a completely new movement and cage in-house we look to target a power reserve of around 100 hours over the previous 72. In-house means that service happens at our facility and parts are readily available to us. The advantage is that should a watch require any future service, the turnaround time will be significantly faster as we control all processes and parts ourselves.
The only downside to be expected is timing. Thanks to Goliath throwing us all under the bus we have an expected delay of 3 months from our original October’s end delivery timeline.
The upside is that you have an incredibly dedicated team of engineers and watchmakers working to deliver you more watch than we could have all previously dreamt about. As well you will be taking part in a very positive shift in Swiss watchmaking history.
Transparency in communication must be a part of any brand moving forward and this includes its suppliers. Without unified supplier and brand partnerships the customer is left on the hook and we simply cannot and will not let our community down. We have clearly expressed our disappointment to La Joux Perret a company held by the highly respected Citizen watch company. Given the chain of events a fruitful and collaborative partnership will not happen and their decisions have forced us to take this project in our own hands, but nevertheless an apology to all of you would be welcome from their management.
There are many positives from this, and this means we will be able to involve you all much more in the tourbillon development and will at every chance document, share and update you all along the way. Should you be in the Biel/Bienne area this August we will be holding an open house for all who wish to visit us and view our developments firsthand. Andi, Tzuyu, myself and the entire team are here for you.
We appreciate each and every one of you and cannot wait to deliver to you a completely new, never before developed and ultimately superior Swiss tourbillon.
As a small and independent business, we are extremely thankful for your support.
The future is in all our hands and together we can change the watchmaking world for the better.
We will be happy to have a one on one call with each and every one of you. Should you like to arrange a call please email us at lostintime@horage.com.
My Best,
Landon Stirling
As I read more about tourbillon movements on the internet, I notice that the Tourbillon 1 looks more like a carrousel construction. Or did I miss something?