Jonas, our chief engineer was reported by Swiss HZ (Handelszeitung Switzerland) under the "Ten important minds who bring change" (Zehn wichtige Köpfe, die den Wandel bringen).
*Jonas Nydegger: New basis for an industry*
Making watch movements is difficult. It is even more difficult to manufacture movements in industrial cycles and in series. And it lasts. The average development cycle for a manufacture movement is three years. In the case of industrial movement, it's even seven years. And there's something else: the price. In contrast to manufacturing movements, industrial movements may not cost arbitrarily much.
For many years none of this was a problem for the Swiss watch industry. After all, it was relatively easy for the brands to order from ETA Werke. But ETA is part of the Swatch Group. And, to put it simply, they only want to supply their own brands with plants. So many brands have a problem. And this is where Jonas Nydegger comes into play.
Over the years and through many highs and setbacks, the watchmaker has worked together with a team of like-minded people - Lenny Hohberg, Silvan Deutschmann, Pascal Argast, Andi Felsl and Tzuyu Huang - to design his own, modular, flexible movements that is completely without Components from Swatch Group companies.
It was successful and goes by the inconspicuous name K1. Other works followed, including a tourbillon. Among other things, they are built into watches from the Horage brand. Horage does not keep the works for itself, but licenses them and the associated production processes to other brands.
The British watch company Bremont is again building watches with its own movements based on the K1. And Nydegger could one day be regarded as the one who created a new, alternative industrial base for the watch industry.
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