Prenzel: In-house movements ensure a company’s independence. When the Swiss franc and Euro were uncoupled in 2015, many watchmaking companies that sourced parts or entire watch movements from Switzerland were negatively impacted. However, Nomos Glashütte remained relatively unaffected because we produce our own movements and almost all the parts for them without depending on third-party suppliers. The importance of self-reliance for the health and future growth of a watchmaking company was also underscored when in 2012, Nivarox started to reduce deliveries of essential watchmaking parts to companies outside the Swatch Group.

Wiederrecht: One problem today is that the term “in-house movement” is trendy and rather over-used. In fact, it seems to be as unclear and woolly as the phrase “manufacture”. I think it is important to question whether it is simply a marketing gimmick to justify the unaffordable prices of watches. According to Berner’s – the watchmaker’s Bible – the term “manufacture” can be used to describe “a large industrial factory [where watches] are manufactured almost completely”. For me, “in-house” and “verticalization” are new ways of saying the same thing. Therefore, “in-house” cannot be considered as a label of quality in itself, but as the ability to master the complete process of fabrication in what are necessarily large and complex structures. Since “in-house” needs large manufactures, surely we should be asking whether manufactures help solve the main problem facing horology today, which is arguably mass overproduction.