Who else makes balance-springs?

Quite frankly, the historical monopoly wielded by Nivarox-FAR over the supply of regulating organs to the Swiss watch industry has never caused any problems. Nonetheless, the sole source of balance-springs has often been portrayed as a sword of Damocles threatening both clients and competitors of the Swatch Group. And what if someone were to cut the thread? Leaving aside scaremongering or conspiracy theories, the prospect has prompted some companies to prepare for the worst. And manufacturers have been all the more determined to break free from dependence on a single supplier since the Swatch Group announced it would end the supply of movement blanks.

However, it’s one thing to wish for independence, and quite another to achieve it. This tiny spring no thicker than a hair gives grey hairs to those seeking to tame it. Even though the technology is well known, a large number of trade secrets are jealously safeguarded. Upstream lies the casting of the alloy in minimum quantities that last a century; and downstream, the crucial need for compatibility. Although everyone refers to the balance-spring, it is of course the entire balance and spring assembly that needs to be mastered. Alternative suppliers of balance-springs are few, and often modestly acknowledge the quality offered by the monopoly at prices that are hard to match with smaller volumes. Indeed, none dares pose as a competitor, the avowed aim being to occupy certain niches, to offer an alternative or something out of the ordinary. There is also a desire for technical control over the production of all watch components – and if that contributes to existing knowledge and performance, so much the better.

Total control of all aspects of production is part of the brand philosophy of Rolex, which heads the brief list of balance-spring manufacturers. The company has a reputation for making advances in research and development, without necessarily applying them in new products. This might be seen as keeping something prudently in reserve, or as a way of staying ahead of the competition. It also enables the brand to play the right cards at the right time, with the confidence that comes from having had plenty of time for checks and crosschecks.

By the 1990s, Rolex had mastered production of the balance-spring in its conventional form. Research then shifted to the independent development of a balance-spring in a new alloy 10 times more resistant to shocks, antimagnetic and notably composed of niobium, zirconium and oxygen. A special electronic bombardment furnace was developed to fuse the constituent elements at 2,300°C into a rod 30 cm long and 1 cm in diameter. The rod is progressively drawn out into a wire just a tenth of a millimetre in diameter but 3 km long. This in turn is rolled into a ribbon with a rectangular cross-section. The ribbon is cut into 20 cm sections, which are wound into spiral balance-springs and heat-treated to keep their shape. The Parachrom balance-spring by Rolex, blued in the old style, has been fitted in the Cosmograph Daytona since the turn of the 21st century.

The most secretive of them all
The above process is followed by all balance-spring producers, using different equipment for identical functions. It is the least standardised and most secretive production sector of the entire watch industry. It took us several years to do the rounds, from Geneva to Schaffhausen, from Biel to Glashütte in Germany and on to Valdahon in France. Yet the journalist, penetrating the contrived veil of mystery surrounding such a confidential activity, and studiously checking his facts, is rewarded with something quite ordinary. There are many and more spectacular aspects of watchmaking than the hair-splitting task of making balance-springs.

Today’s Swiss balance-springs were in fact born in German crucibles. The watershed events occurred in the early 1930s, when Richard Lange was awarded a patent for a “metal alloy for watch springs” that had the exclusive feature of containing beryllium. It was just an idea that never went into production, but Reinhard Straumann of Basel, who was also conducting research into horological metals, further developed Lange’s beryllium alloy and filed another patent complete with a description of the process. Since Swiss manufacturers showed no interest, Straumann turned to the Heraeus-Vacuumschmelze, the German specialists in vacuum smelting, bringing his formula and tools made in his research institute in Waldenburg. He commissioned 500kg castings at the rate of one or two a decade. He named his seven-metal alloy “Nivarox”, the Germany acronym for “nicht variabel und nicht oxydfest”, which would later become the name of the monopoly supplier.

The extremely narrow market led the Straumann Institute to diversify its metallurgical skills in dental and surgical implants. But it continued to specialise in the quality control of all metal casting operations, which were in fact not particularly homogeneous. In an interesting twist of fate, the founder’s grandson, Thomas Straumann, picked up the watchmaking thread by reviving H. Moser & Cie in Schaffhausen. This watch brand is associated in a holding company with Precision Engineering (PE), which took over the quality control activities of the Straumann Institute. PE has the historical ties, its own technology and its own German supplier of alloys cast in small quantities (40 to 80kg) to ensure uniformity. It sees itself as “the second source” and clearly targets the high-end segment. It offers balance-springs with terminal curves that are counted, pinned up to the collet and finely poised. At the customer’s request, the balance and even the complete escapement can be supplied, while customised development is also available. PE emphasises its flexibility and the quality of its rolling operations, to exceptional 0.1 micron tolerances.

A chronometric aberration
Based on the original recipe from the 1930s, the Nivarox alloy – its generic name – has considerably evolved and the market now features a range of balance-springs of varying price and quality. Research continues into the best possible performance under all conditions. “But there’s no point in talking about the quality of a balance-spring if you don’t take account of the end curve and the adjustment system!” exclaims Eric Moser, CEO of the Moser Group. Jürgen Lange, the chairman, adds: “The worst possible mistake is to make a tourbillon with an adjustment index!” It’s an aberration that PE’s customers or owners of Moser watches need not fear. The watch brand however emphasises its balance-spring links in models with a double Straumann balance-spring, which compensates for the displacement of the centre of gravity, thereby making the tourbillon redundant!

Back to Glashütte, where the patent delivered to Richard Lange by the German Reich in 1931 was still displayed on a workshop wall a few years ago. Richard Lange died two years after earning the patent, which meant he was unable to fulfil his ambitions and nor indeed were his immediate successors. It was not until 10 years after the 1994 rebirth of Lange & Söhne that production of balance-springs finally began. As an established customer of Nivarox-FAR, the Saxon company equips only some of its models with its own spring: those fitted with a large free-sprung balance, in particular the Double Split and Datograph chronographs, as well as the Richard Lange tribute watch. Does the German company deliver its springs to other brands of the Richemont group? Yes, but only to Jaeger-LeCoultre, which was for years an especially close sister company, with IWC, under the leadership of Günter Blümlein.

It is worth noting that by acquiring the Roger Dubuis manufacturing company, the Richemont group has also taken on board another potential balance-spring producer. Carlos Dias was determined to take his dream of total manufacturing independence to its logical conclusion, and had made substantial investments in Meyrin. We saw evidence that the company had taken a first step and was clearly developing its own balance-spring capability.

Another company in the Richemont group, Montblanc, has been entrusted with the treasure represented by Minerva, in Villeret, and has turned it into an exceptional applied research institute, a kind of living conservatory of traditional watchmaking know-how, which is also capable of producing its very own balance-springs.

A successful attempt
In 2005, Vaucher Manufacture made a spectacular entry into the extremely closed circle of balance-spring manufacturers by flinging wide open the doors of its Atokalpa subsidiary in Alle, a village in the Swiss Jura, where it revealed the fruit of five years of research and development: its in-house oscillator. Using its own casting of a dedicated alloy and having validated a pre-series of balance-springs with Swiss lever escapements, it was able to launch small-scale industrial production to equip some movements for Parmigiani and for certain clients outside the group. Of course, there was never any question of cutting off ties with its usual supplier, Nivarox, nor of seeking to compete with it. As in Schaffhausen, the goal is to focus on niche products that are selective, different and of exceptionally high quality. Four years later, we returned to Alle in the company of the Atokalpa specialists for an honest appraisal of the progress to date, lessons learned, and obstacles overcome. Reliability and complete mastery of the various processes cannot be programmed, but must instead be developed, tried and tested over time, while acquiring the ­corresponding know-how. In Alle today, the technicians who show off the range of components now made entirely in-house, wear the satisfied smiles of rugby players who have just converted a try.

A closer look at Technotime also called for two visits several years apart and in two different countries. First of all in Valdahon, France, where the Swiss-based company had taken over the industrial wasteland of France-Ebauches and had embarked on the production of balance-springs in partnership with the University of Besançon, which had designed the machines – in particular for the delicate rolling process. The equipment has since been transferred to Les Brenets, on the Swiss side of the River Doubs, so as to be closer to the technical departments, to the watchmaking expertise, and to the firm’s customers. There’s no problem with the raw material, which is stored in the form of bars, and spools of round or rolled wire. There is enough to last for years, based on simple calculations. The aim is to produce a few tens of thousands of springs within two to three years (10 million or so movements are produced annually), and it takes just eight grams of alloy to make 1,000 balance-springs.

And finally, two visits to STT (formerly Progress Watch), before and after its takeover by Bovet (under the Dimier label). The balance-springs of the Tramelan-based company were in fact initially produced in a perfectly ordinary-looking workshop in the suburbs of Biel, a rudimentary building almost lost amid anonymous urban surroundings. In the manufacturing facility in the Jura, we found a set of state-of-the-art machines along with their specialised “handler”, who is delighted that the new owner has invested in this strategic production facility and that production is now clearly targeting the high-end segment.

Shifting into high gear
One of the new players to be reckoned within in this field is the Festina-Lotus group owned by Miguel Rodriguez. It comprises the Candino and Perrelet brands, as well as companies directly involved in sprung balances such as DTH in the Joux Valley, which produces movements, and Astral in Porrentruy, which specialises in the production of balance-springs. Since last year and the stock market plunge of Peace Mark, the group has picked up a valuable partner in Soprod. While its leaders naturally prefer to keep a low profile and express modest ambitions, the group is undeniably shifting into a higher gear. Jean-Claude Schwarz, who is in charge of all its activities within Switzerland, is nonetheless determined to keep things in perspective: “The toughest part is to maintain consistent quality when you step up volumes. Industrialising the various processes is an important step, but there are always certain limits and in this case one simply cannot do without the régleuses the women traditionally engaged in fitting the balance-springs by hand.”

Until when? Nobody can tell, but it is still nice to know that at the very heart of the mechanical watch, a woman’s hand remains indispensable. This is certainly true for the adjustment of a balance-spring made from a metal alloy. It may however no longer hold for materials such as silicon or diamond, or the next generation of escapement systems under development. Does this mean we will one day do without the balance-spring, the demise of which is periodically forecast? But what will replace it? That remains a mystery, and even if it were discovered, it would certainly be advisable to keep quiet about it until the appropriate patents have been secured.