For those who think Hublot merely buys Valjoux 7750 movements and case them as I did in the past, this should serve to convince you otherwise.
The machining workshop is undergoing significant expansion as the photos below illustrate. Several new machines have been delivered and many more are expected, as the tape outlines on the floor suggest. All of this brings Hublot to its target of becoming more vertically integrated as well as expanding annual production to 10,000 to 15,000 of the new UNICO movement.
Above left: Mathias Buttet, head of Confrérie Horlogère Hublot
That being said, Hublot already has much of the equipment one typically sees in a manufacture: CNC machines, bar-fed machining centres, spark erosion machines etc. These make everything from bridges to screws. These machines do not only manufacture parts for simple calibres, but also grande complications put together in the BNB workshop which is explored in-depth in another part of this report.
Below: Parts to be cleaned in an industrial ultrasonic cleaner
Above: A smaller ultrasonic cleaner
Below: Wire erosion machine
Above: Scrap wire from the wire erosion process
Above: Parts cut by wire erosion
Above: Bar-fed maching centre
Below: Rods of metal, including brass for bar-feeding, and the resulting parts
Below: More CNC machines and the components that emerge
This message has been edited by SJX on 2011-04-03 02:57:24