From Neuchatel I connect with the little "rattle trap" local train up the mountain to Ste. Croix.
I say "rattle trap" only in the context of the difference between the supremely smooth mainline trains and this little local one; when compared to the trains travelling up the peninsula to San Francisco, it is smooth! Whatever the Swiss do regards railways, it is the best I've experienced. The trains are on time, and one can get to villages that have stations, with very workable connections even from major cities. Caltrain and BART managers could do with some input...
I digress, so the 37min ride up the mountain was wonderful, winding through little villages, stopping every so often. This is the view looking up the gorge, which lies below the village of Ste.Croix, our destination.
Once up on the mountain side, we stopped for 5 minutes, no idea why, but I was able to snap pics of Yverdon-Les-Bains down in the distance at the south western tip of Lake Neuchatel.
Les Trois Villes, the halfway stop up the side of the mountain.
This is the walkers' sign showing times to local villages, Ste.Croix is 1hr 35mins from here, 10mins only on our train though!
Here is the view looking down at Yverdon-les-Bains sitting at the southern tip of Lake Neuchatel...
Arriving in Ste. Croix, I was greeted by Philippe and Laurence, two of Vianney's colleagues. Philippe usually resides in Paris and is responsible for the sales and marketing of Vianney's watches. Laurence is in the "habillage" dept. of the factory, finishing cases, dials and hands. Habillage , I understand from Philippe, has it's own diploma from Watchmaking schools, separate from watchmaking, as it is an area of expertise all of it's own. When one closely examines a Vianney Halter watch, it is clearly evident, that many many hours of time have gone into the finishing of the case.
So after a very good lunch outside, we head over to the factory of Vianney Halter.
I was not surprised to see Vianney fixing his baby, an older BMW 850i, the 12 cylinder beauty that was only produced for a few years in the 90's. Having replaced some gaskets, he was keen to make sure no oil leaks existed, so a steam clean of the engine was taking place. Always the tinkerer, Vianney does the work himself. More evidence was to be seen in the garage on the other side of the factory, a V6 Maserati engine from a Citroen, that was on an engine stand, with various additions a la Vianney!
We greeted each other and then he went inside, back to the watches. I was then given the "Vianney Halter Magical Mystery Tour" by Philippe. This started on the ground floor, which resembles a machine shop, with lathes and various other very industrial looking machines. These are used for making almost anything necessary for producing the amazing watches, from the tools the watchmakers may require to parts of the intricate Antiqua Perpetual winding box that they make.
Here is a large brass tube, from which they machine the bezel (sitting on the plastic bar beside it)for the Antiqua Perpetual's winding box front window:
And here on the shelf is the box amongst other parts they make, even going so far as to make the hinges, as the ones available by suppliers is too bulky and not made well enough, so yes, they make their own!
Machine shop:
This is an interesting piece of equipment, an upgraded CNC machine, having Vianney and his team add an aditional axis...
We then went upstairs to where the different workers who help Vianney craft his micro-mechanical art, were hard at work. Hand engravers bent over binocular microscopes creating the labels and the indices of the dials. Quite something to watch.
The second engraver:
The workshop:
The fact that the dials are hand done was not new news to me, however I didn't realise they were made of separate parts, which once engraved are then soldered together. The numerals are then filled in with a black lacquer.
Dial work before:
And after:
The hour time dial for a Trio:
The Equation hand for the Janvier Classic:
This level of craftsmanship is seldom seen in the watchmaking world, I can only think of Roger Smith, over in the Isle of Man, who does anything similar in terms of dial creation. Another reason I'm thrilled to have a Classic in my collection! Roger's one day though...I was also fascinated to see a couple of young lads turning tiny pieces on lathes, apprentices learning the art of watchmaking.
Vianney has a couple of workbenches, depending upon what he is doing.
Schematics of his pieces adorn the walls, great for me to see the inner workings blown up in proportion, so that one is able to comprehend better the intricacies of what is involved. The Janvier Classic has received some upgrades, one that I noticed immediately on the inner side of the mystery rotor, a bevelled edge, which will give the movement much greater contrast and will reveal more of the 3D aspect, especially of the equation of time mechanism. The Trio is featured heavily too on the walls.
The in-comparable Cabestan:
The final assembly takes place in a separate room off to the side of the main workshop, with 5 benches facing the big window. I can only imagine how pretty it must be in mid winter, when the snow lies all around the workshop.
Here the raw ebauche, and then the finished polished Mainplate with the perlage applied, prior to going to the assembly dept.
and now finished for assembly:
A big sweeping hill behind the workshop would make for a dramatic snow covered backdrop whilst working. One of Vianney's colleagues, a Japanese watchmaker was working on a Trio, when we walked in.
Up close:
In many ways I was lucky to see so much activity as this is traditionally the watchmaker holiday, and sure enough, this watchmaker was heading off to Japan for her holiday at the end of the day.
Vianney at his assembly bench:
Not to end the tour here, Philippe motioned me to follow him upstairs again, to the loft area. Here was a storage/warehouse for many of Vianney's other projects, many of which currently are clock movements from towers.
They are unfortunately being removed from their original towers in many a small village throughout Europe, to be replaced with modern contraptions, which require less maintenance etc. Vianney feels these are part of horological history and wants to preserve as many as he can. They also are a great teaching tool for apprentice watchmakers, who while learning restoration techniques, begin to fine tune their skills for watchmaking.
Well he has done quite a job, as there are probably over 20 of these in amongst the other items that hold Vianney's interest. While up here, the gong rang for the afternoon tea/coffee break, so outside we all went to enjoy the sunshine, that I understand is not terribly prevalent in Ste.Croix! After 15 mins of chit chat, most of which I didn't understand, being in French, however I did get Philippe to snap a few pictures of the team with me included.
After this we looked at the room where the Habillage takes place, an hour hand for a Trio was being carefully polished by Laurence, creating that lovely domed top surface, prior to being blued by hand.
Several pieces of an Antiqua case were visible under a glass dome too. The case work particularly on the Antiqua is possibly un-matched in the watch world!
This I think is one aspect of a Vianney Halter watch that often times is overlooked, and when considering his genius technical work inside, does get missed by some folk. In the Swiss watch world, under the definition of Habillage, might as well read "see Vianney Halter casework for superb example".
I bade the team at the factory farewell, promising to visit again. After this I was dropped off at the Hotel de France in the middle of town, prior to meeting Vianney and Philippe for dinner a little later.
The factory (on the right side of this image) in the village.
We enjoyed dinner together outside at the hotel and I managed to make my bed at a reasonable hour. Considering the previous evening festivities was with Irish lads, this was a welcome respite! I was awoken several times in the night to massive thunder storms, with lightning and much rain. In a way a good thing as it cleared the air for sleeping, which I enjoyed after a stuffy night in Neuchatel.
The hotel.
View from my room...
To be continued...