"We announced it, now Asterix is born!"
It is a watchmaking event whose importance should not be underestimated: the birth of a new watch equipped with a watch movement made in France. It must be said that over time, the vast majority of French watch brands have disappeared. Those that remain have generally adopted Swiss or Japanese movements, most of the watch subcontractors now located in Switzerland and no longer in France, as in the past. In the wake of the wave of quartz, the entire French watch industry has been literally cut to pieces, for lack of national support or the ability to resist the rise of the Swiss Made label.
Fortunately, eternity lasts a long time.
While the pandemic has further awakened the taste for Made in France and the consumption of national productions, we have not seen for a long time so many French watch brands grow, be born, or even resuscitate.
But apart from Pequignet, no French watch movement had survived.
And Pequignet's Royal caliber cannot compete, either in price or in volume, with the giants ETA, Sellita, Soprod or Miyota, producers of watch movements by the millions.
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The Asterix of watchmaking in motion
Le Figaro
Without having the disproportionate ambition to compete with such giants, the French watchmaking house unveiled last October the project of its new movement at a more affordable price, an automatic mechanical caliber made in France called Initial.
“For us, it's just a gigantic project,”
says Dani Royer, president of Pequignet.
Already, in terms of company strategy, but even beyond, in relation to the French watchmaking world today. It is nevertheless the revival of French watchmaking. ”
Symbolically, this Pequignet Attitude is therefore much more than a new watch: with its original movement, it is the first step of the Manufacture de Morteau in a whole new direction. Initially, this high-end piece is offered in a limited edition of 100 pieces in a 39 mm gold case, with within it the new
automatic
“in-house”
Initial
caliber
made in France, with a power reserve. 65 hours cut to spend the weekend. We find on its crown a Fleur de lys engraved in relief. A future collector made in France, offered at 9,000 euros, which displays only the essentials, hours, minutes and seconds.
“We wanted the dial to breathe,”
says Aymeric Vernhol, partner and communication manager for the brand.
It's a beautiful, hyper-classic dial.
We wanted to create a gold coin with no date.
Next year, in 2022, we will launch the steel line, with date. ”
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Pequignet, act IV
Le Figaro
This new Pequignet Attitude can boast of being more than largely three-colored:
“today, on the Initial caliber, 72% of our components are from France,”
explains Aymeric Vernhol.
Against 28% Swiss: we can no longer find the regulating bodies in France. " “It's all very local,”
insists Dani Royer.
There are around 200 components in such a watch. We work locally. We are in the movement, everyone today is paying attention to that. But we haven't changed our strategy. There is really a new dynamic on the French manufacture lately. ”
In terms of production, the Manufacture expects to start producing 2,500 Initial movements per year. Once this first piece has been launched and the interest in its French movement has been consolidated, Pequignet will then develop its Attitude range in 2022, with steel pieces fitted with the same box, which can be delivered fairly quickly.
"We want to offer an alternative to Swiss movements, with a high-quality French-made product for
whoever
wants,"
explains the president of Pequignet.
We started from a blank sheet of paper, we took two years to develop this movement. We didn't want to make a copy of a Swiss movement. It is not adaptable, it is not the same size, a little bigger and thinner. If it is to do the same thing more expensive, it would be pointless! "
Read also:
French elegance on the wrist
Le Figaro
“The idea was really to do something that was as exclusive as possible for the first series,”
says Dani Royer.
These are the first hundred;
each ivory dial is hand painted.
Each watch will be numbered, and each number will be linked to the movement number. "
Attention to detail that the aesthetes of the time should appreciate.
In the same spirit, Pequignet will probably set up a personalized delivery of these parts next November, with hand delivery to the purchaser by one of the directors of the manufacture.
“The idea is also to push the customer experience a little more on such products. On such Made in France pieces, you have to hand them over and spend time with the purchaser. We also like to see who buys them, to meet them. ”
Enough to make fans of Made in France watchmaking want to join the movement and once again see a Made in France heart beating within tricolor watches.
Discover the Pequignet Attitude
