How long does it take to produce a watch? Part II

[MILGAUSS88]

I created one of these spread sheets and posted it 3 years ago, so I thought it was time to update it. And I added several more companies.

I find this interesting, and think it is a good indicator of how much is in house or how much finish is done to the movements.

Although there are several watch companies that buy large parts of the watches from other companies, or sell parts on the other hand. So, take that into consideration.

Disclaimer: All info was obtained through Google searches.
So it may not be the most accurate.

[WatchEater666]

Cool idea but having run a few manufacturing operations I know things can vary so much. I'm thinking about buying a competitor right now for example, and they take ~5x+ as long to make the same product we do, but with worse quality.

Our product at that company is rings, which aren't very technical compared to watches, so I imagine the delta there is even bigger if one company has access to something like machinery that makes things easier.

Being able to do bigger production runs of specific parts is usually pretty accretive too.

[Manofsteelpt]

Thanks for sharing.

[brandrea]

Where does this data come from?

[MILGAUSS88]

Originally Posted by brandrea

Where does this data come from?

Google searches, as stated earlier.

[Ichiran]

Just referring to the first line item, GF annual production is 260 in 2022 instead of 100. Could very well be more now. The number of employees is 140 based on the highest number I can find online.
https://watchesbysjx.com/2023/07/gre...nufacture.html

[MILGAUSS88]

Originally Posted by Ichiran

Just referring to the first line item, GF annual production is 260 in 2022 instead of 100. Could very well be more now. The number of employees is 140 based on the highest number I can find online.
https://watchesbysjx.com/2023/07/gre...nufacture.html

Again just did google searches, so I am not claiming information to be 100% correct. Just takes too long to find out more precise or confirmed numbers for 57 brands. I just did and quick search and spent about 90 minutes.

[1William]

Great information and a good starting point for research.

[Old Expat Beast]

Citizen produces 200,000,000 watches a year!? 40 times more than your Seiko figure? I wouldn't have thought even Casio makes that many.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

Citizen produces 200,000,000 watches a year!? I wouldn't have thought even Casio makes that many.

Won’t be long before everyone on the planet is wearing one

[77T]

Originally Posted by brandrea

Won’t be long before everyone on the planet is wearing one

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[djnick]

a lot of the data probably came from this article:

https://watchesbysjx.com/2022/11/wat...-map-2022.html

[MILGAUSS88]

Verbatim:
Citizen reputedly sells between 100-200 million watches per year, according to Revolution Watch. This high volume of sales makes Citizen one of the top watch manufacturers in the world. In the past, Citizen has reached even higher production numbers; for example, in 2001, they produced 308 million watches and movements, according to WatchTime.

Casio is credited with 100 million watches per year.

[FTX I]

[MILGAUSS88]

Originally Posted by djnick

a lot of the data probably came from this article:

https://watchesbysjx.com/2022/11/wat...-map-2022.html

Actually none of it. I think they copied the idea off of me, as my original post came out 10 months before their article.:

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=837072

[MILGAUSS88]

Originally Posted by FTX I

Hey, Flavio. Nice to hear from you.

[MILGAUSS88]

Another disclaimer from a previous thread, so I do not have to repeat myself:

You have to remember some of these numbers are skewed.
LF (which I love) does not make their watch from scratch, most of the movement and case? are made for them.
They may spend more time finishing them than Blancpain.
Likewise some brands make parts for other watch companies.
There was no way, I could adjust for that, so it is just raw numbers.

The other thing that can skew the numbers is how many complications they make, which I think is part of the reason GF is on top. Everyone of their watches are tourbillons.

[FTX I]

Originally Posted by MILGAUSS88

Hey, Flavio. Nice to hear from you.

[djnick]

Originally Posted by MILGAUSS88

Actually none of it. I think they copied the idea off of me, as my original post came out 10 months before their article.:

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=837072

got it. And when you say employees are you referring to actual watchmakers or just # of employees? Because that skews the data as well no ?

[MILGAUSS88]

Originally Posted by djnick

got it. And when you say employees are you referring to actual watchmakers or just # of employees? Because that skews the data as well no ?

Pretty sure it is all employees.
I did not search how many watchmakers.
Tried that on one brand and did not get any results.

[MILGAUSS88]

I did not do in depth research, I just used Google and typically the first result, unless they gave a range of employees like LinkedIn.