A new Chapter for Pequignet, with Full Focus on In-House Movements

Pequignet was based in 1973 by Emile Pequignet in Morteau, a French metropolis within the mountains subsequent to the Swiss border. The model developed rapidly within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties, however it has gone via its justifiable share of ups and downs in its 50 years of historical past. Within the early 2000s, Pequignet initiated the bold plan to turn into an built-in manufacture and the primary in-house motion, the Calibre Royal, was offered in 2011. It was adopted in 2021 by the Calibre Preliminary. The identical yr, Pequignet joined Enowe Excellence, a construction based by Hugues Souparis in a venture to advertise French know-how of excellence. With this steady and sustainable shareholder base, the model now continues its metamorphosis to concentrate on manufacture actions and higher-grade watches. There’s actually a future for motion manufacturing in France… and Pequignet is satisfied of this!

If France has a protracted watchmaking custom, the quartz disaster crippled the French watch {industry} with a drastic discount of the manufacturing. Nonetheless, among the many previous few years, we’ve got seen a sure renaissance of French watchmaking, but with utterly completely different enterprise fashions. Amongst these, Pequignet stands out with their ambition to fabricate actions in-house, a venture initiated some 20 years in the past. Nonetheless, the model was caught between two markets for years. Reasonably priced design watches powered by quartz or off-the-shelf actions on one hand, higher-grade fashions with in-house actions however. It was time to make a transparent selection, which has now been made doable by the arrival of Hugues Souparis and his want to advertise French savoir-faire and craftsmanship.

The concept for Pequignet is, due to this fact, to concentrate on watches powered by in-house calibers, moderately than counting on off-the-shelf actions – a matter of substance, independence and artistic freedom. This technique additionally goals to supply a substitute for different manufacturers (French however not solely) who supply actions from Switzerland or Japan – with arguments to consider. We had the possibility to get a preview of a few initiatives within the making… and these are fairly attention-grabbing. 

The event and roll-out of this extra upscale technique is being performed by Patric Zingg (ex-Swatch Group, Graham, SIGG), whereas Adrian Buchmann (Fuzion SA)has been tasked with the design of the brand new collections.

The model’s manufacture remains to be primarily based in Morteau with a 25-member crew making certain the event, design and manufacturing of actions and watches – with a community of suppliers basically positioned inside a 50-mile radius from the manufacture, in France or Switzerland. Right now, Pequignet’s motion portfolio consists round two households of calibres, every accessible in a number of iterations, with further problems and varied shows.

The Calibre Royal is a high-grade, giant calibre that has the specificity of incorporating a number of problems into an built-in structure with massive date, day, astronomical moon (requiring a correction of 1 day each 122 years) and energy reserve indications. The Calibre Royal is accessible in automated or handbook winding (with out problems) variations. There’s a model with a tourbillon regulator that was unveiled in 2024. Its design stands out with a big barrel delivering – a sturdy 4-day energy reserve and a 3Hz stability with gold compensation screws held in place by a full cock.

Introduced in 2021, the Calibre Preliminary is a smaller, thinner, extra versatile and extra conventional automated motion with hours, minutes, seconds and date indications. As such, it gives rather more flexibility than the Calibre Royal and its built-in problems, and has rather more potential to be provided to different manufacturers. It beats at a contemporary 4Hz and delivers a snug 65-hour energy reserve with a Pellaton-type reverser for the automated mechanism.

The primary Pequignet watches consistent with this extra upscale technique will likely be unveiled at Watches and Wonders 2025 – keep tuned, as we’ll make certain to cowl these on MONOCHROME. For extra data, please go to pequignet.com.

EPM01 Calibre Royal automated winding (2011)

• 13’’’ ¾ (Ø 31 mm)
• 5.88 mm thickness
• 3Hz frequency
• 96h energy reserve
• 39 jewels
• Hours, minutes, small seconds, massive date, day, moonphase, energy reserve
• 8 patents: 4 for the large date; 1 for the barrel; 1 for the reverser; 1 for a differential; one of many moon phases

EPM02 Calibre Royal Guide Winding (2017)

• 13’’’ ¾ (Ø 31 mm)
• 5.43 mm thickness
• 3Hz frequency
• 100h energy reserve
• 21 jewels
• Hours, minutes, small seconds at 6 o’clock

EPM03 Calibre Preliminary (2021)

• 12’’’ 1/2 (Ø 28.2 mm)
• 4.2 mm thickness
• 4Hz frequency
• 65 h energy reserve
• 21 jewels
• Central hours, minutes, seconds and date
• 2 patents: 1 for the handbook winding mechanism; 1 for the date mechanism

EPM04 Calibre Royal Flying Tourbillon handbook winding (2024)

• 15’’’ 1/2 (Ø 34.5 mm)
• 5.43 mm thickness
• 3Hz frequency
• 88h energy reserve
• 23 jewels
• hours, minutes, seconds on the tourbillon at 6 o’clock
• One-minute Flying tourbillon, titanium cage