State-of-the-art equipment for prestigious movements

Specializing for 45 years in the assembly of watch movements, the Petitjean des Brenets company has delivered up to 400,000 movements per year to prestigious watch brands. Unimaginable volumes without the use of adequate tools. This is how, more than 30 years ago, a fruitful collaboration with the company Lecureux, established in Biel, began.

The fame of Lecureux SA owes a lot to the invention of the first electric screwdriver for watchmaking in the early 1960s. While the company has since expanded its product line, the screwdriver remains a bestseller and a benchmark in many watch companies.

Productivity and quality guaranteed

The meticulous work of assembling a movement includes picking up and screwing an average of twenty screws. Carried out by hand using tweezers, these operations are particularly delicate and above all time consuming. The use of an electric suction chuck screwdriver has significantly reduced placing and screwing time while significantly increasing quality.

Philippe Petitjean, director of the company, estimates that productivity has been multiplied by five thanks to this equipment. “Enabling assemblers to do without tweezers has been a major step forward. But Lecureux’s great strength lies in having associated various automatons with their screwdrivers, making them real production tools ”. Operations such as screwing, oiling or measuring shakes can thus be carried out in masked time.

Long accustomed to large volumes, the company from Les Brenets has regularly invested in Lecureux products and today has around 150 screwdrivers and 120 machines of all generations. This large fleet of machines includes two automation lines purchased a few years ago and which will soon be supplemented by a third, already on order. Substantial investments therefore, but the price / volume ratio is very interesting. “This equipment would not be suitable for small series or for movements incorporating single screws. On the other hand, they are perfectly suited to our volumes and to the movements in which several screws of identical size fit, ”explains Philippe Petitjean.

The importance of state-of-the-art equipment becomes clearer when we know that the company integrates, depending on orders in progress, up to 25,000 screws per day. “The main criterion is the strengthof the screwing and unscrewing torque. Once correctly adjusted, Lecureux screwdrivers will perform their function over time, without loss of precision ”.

Constantly evolving

Listening to its customers and quick to find innovative solutions, the Biel-based company keeps developing its products. “Lecureux has always improved its tools based on feedback from its customers. The new generation of screwdrivers, for example, allows better control of the screwdriving force and the quality of the bits has been improved. These changes greatly reduce the risk of damaging the screws. “

Ergonomic efforts are also made regularly, so as to make their use easier. “Using electric screwdrivers has to be learned. But once the handliness is acquired, they are quickly adopted ”. However, this search for innovation does not push the company to wipe out the past.

Thus, and unlike many current products which quickly suffer from obsolescence (programmed or not), Lecureux screwdrivers have the advantage of being repairable. There is therefore no question of throwing away a model dating from a few years ago. “From bit to socket, Lecureux guarantees spare parts, regardless of the age of the screwdriver,” confirms Philippe Petitjean. “With minimal maintenance, these products are extremely reliable, which of course has contributed to the reputation of their manufacturer.” And allowed Petitjean SA to meet for decades the high demands of its customers in terms of quality and deadlines.

Human relations and quality service are essential

Quality, reliability and price are obviously important components of a product, but the whole would not be complete without the notion of service. “We have always had very good contact with our supplier, whether it is with the management or the technicians. Their reaction time is excellent and the technical support very competent. If the problem encountered cannot be solved by phone, a technician will be with us in 24, or maximum 48 hours. Knowing that you are listened to and considered is a real “plus”.

The future seems to brighten up

Regularly subject to fluctuations, watchmaking has had to face this year, like many other sectors elsewhere, an unprecedented crisis.

Philippe Petitjean gives us his analysis. “Watch subcontractors are used to absorbing the changes that brands are facing. Periods of euphoria, resulting in a great need for vital forces, followed gloomy phases where staff reduction was unfortunately inevitable. The difficulty at such times is to meet deadlines with small teams while being ready to respond to new demands. We are currently in this demand situation, with a fairly marked resumption of activities since mid-August ”.

This augurs well for more years of collaboration between Petitjean and Lecureux.