Pardon me for the most basic of questions, when it comes to watches I know nada.

I have always liked watches, but never been fanatic. A few years ago, my interest decreased somewhat after a friend of mine, who i assumed knew a little about watches said the following:

"apart from patek and rolex nobody makes their own movements 100% themselves, with any other watch you can be sure that they are sharing some components"

Not knowing any better I have accepted this statement as accurate and gradually saw my interest in watches decrease. Comparing this to cars I would be bitterly disappointed if a ferrari and porsche shared the same engine.

However a few days ago all changed... I noticed a lange and sohne advert that said that their watches were manufactured 100% in house.

So can someone tell me which other manufacturers do everything themselves please.

This will help me get excited about buying a watch again, but much more importantly I can tell my friend how wrong he is.

 

Everything themselves?
I don't think there is any other then Rolex, Urwerk and Seiko.

Even Patek/JLC sometimes outsources case/crystals/dials.

If you're talking only about movement, then there a couple more that may interest you.

 

ugh, too much to say. NO ONE makes everything themselves. The term "in-house" refers to movements that are designed by a manufacture and then created by them, but everyone buys some parts and generally outsources some work.

To quickly run down some of the brands mentioned:

Rolex is obviously a huge operation and has the capability to produce most everything themselves.

Seiko is similar.

Patek uses some in-house movements and some base calibers, most famously the Lemania calibres that are used in nearly all of their chronographs.

URWERK uses all base calibre ebauches from other manufactures and then obviously adds and modifies.

In the end, I guess the real question is - why does it matter and is that really the important criteria? Is an URWERK less horologically interesting than a time only GP because GP originally made the base movements for both?

 

Omega, Panerai, Breitling all make some of thier own movements

 

Thank you very much for your replies. So the guy wasn't completely wrong in saying only rolex and patek make everything in-house (apart from patek ), but my interpretation of what in-house means is a little off it seems.

Perhaps a little context to these questions. I had an AP RO chronometer which I had to sell when I realised that the hublot, panerai, IWC, blancpain etc. etc. chronometers might very well be the same watch disguised in another case. And frankly the thought of getting excited about one case over another, because one has gold and carbon, the other platinum and steel.... I am not in the market for jewellry, I will leave that for my wife.

I shall rephrase my question then.. which manufacturers use movements and components that are not manufactured by them but are exclusive to them?

 

My Omega Seamaster has a Co-Axial Escapement movement that I know is all Omega, and it's one of the reasons I bought from them.

 

Actually Panerai started making their own movements a couple years ago, I believe. Well, not "their own", but substantially modified standard movements, enough to call them Panerai. Compared to before, when they used plain old ETA, it's an improvement.

 

it's really not that simple, unfortunately. IMHO, the better way to look at it is to judge each piece individually for the movement that it has - who really cares who made it? For example, the Royal Oak Chrono that you mention uses an F Piquet movement that is easily one of the best automatic chrono movements ever made. Does it really make it less of a watch that Blancpain uses more or less the same movement in their great chronographs as well?

 

"it's really not that simple"... SteveH. In fact you could say it's complicated...

Thanks for your comments... I think you have managed to convince me that the fun in wearing a watch is increased greatly the more you understand how it works and how it differs from others. Not to disimilar to my interest in cars I guess.

I will spend the next few years milling this over and will let you know if I ever decide to get something other than a casio on my wrist.

Incidentally the MB&Fs look amazing, even to someone who knows nothing I can clearly see that their watches are the result of a genuine passion.

 

Ferrari has used a bunch of Fiat parts
Porsche still uses VW and Audi parts
Aston uses volvo and ford parts
Lambo, VW and Audi parts etc...

I wouldn't want to pay for a Ferrari with a Fiat engine but if it has a few components that will not matter to it's overall performance I wouldn't bother caring about it, same with watches IMO.