Six years ago, the Swiss brand Eberhard & Co moved its headquarters from Biel to La Chaux-de-Fonds in the historic founding building.
This was coincidentally very close to an important supplier of the chronograph specialist, with whom there was already a long-standing business relationship: Sellita.
Incidentally, when general manager Mario Peserico talks about Sellita, he always refers to Eberhard & Co’s Manufacture AMT department for customer-specific and high-quality movements.
The brand’s portfolio is broad – from original creations such as the “Chrono 4” to the “8 JOURS”, the “Tazio Nuvolari” collection, the “Extra-fort”, the women’s collection “Gilda” to new editions of models from the past decades, such as “Scafograf”, the “Contograf” or the antimagnetic model “Scientigraf”.
Not everyone has a Sellita AMT heart, but for the prestige models, Mario Peserico relies on Miguel Garcia’s decades of experience. He had worked his way up from office worker to authorized representative and operations manager when he was handed over the company by Sellita founder Pierre Grandjean in 2003 – and then successfully developed it further.
This is one of the things he spoke about when I had the opportunity to speak to Mario Peserico and Miguel Garcia in mid-March this year.
But also about the de facto end of the delivery obligation of the movement supplier ETA, which is part of the Swatch Group, which occurred in 2018/2019. Sellita was ready to fill the gaps.
It’s no wonder the company, founded in 1950, specializes in assembling ETA movements for third-party brands. In addition, after the patent rights for the ETA calibers 2824, 2892 and 7750 expired, the company began to manufacture or reproduce individual components itself.
When it was announced at the turn of the millennium that ETA would no longer sell individual parts but only complete watch movements in the future, a new business model was needed. It consisted of producing almost all parts of a work in-house, in a new building just outside La Chaux-de-Fonds.
And it was up to Miguel Garcia to make this business model a success, including with ultra-modern, automated and industrialized production. And when it comes to the portfolio, success is no longer based, as many still believe, on replicating successful ETA works.
But it doesn’t bother him when people ask him about it because “it made us what we are today and it corresponded to what the market was looking for at the time. You have to remember that brands back then needed movements that were 100 percent interchangeable with existing movements. And identical movements were also required for after-sales service. However, this in no way reflects what we do and where we are today. But it will certainly take some time before the general public becomes aware of the development.”
“There have been many innovations, even if they are not always obvious at first glance,” explains Garcia. “Sellita now has a catalog of works with more than 130 pages, which contains many complications. All of our newly developed movements are completely original and do not follow any existing path. The clockworks, based on historical models, have also been modernized and massively improved in quality. Our chronograph now has 62 hours instead of 48 hours and the SW300 has 56 hours instead of 42 hours of power reserve.”
“The last movement,” reveals the Sellita boss, “that was completely redesigned is the SW200-1. Its successor, the SW200-2, will be released next year and will have a power reserve of 65 hours. It will be a game-changer that many of our customers are eagerly waiting for. At the same time, we are bringing a premium three-hand movement onto the market with the AMT2000.”
“There have been many innovations, even if they are not always obvious at first glance,” explains Garcia.
“Sellita now has a catalog of works with more than 130 pages, which contains many complications. All of our newly developed movements are completely original and do not follow any existing path. The clockworks, based on historical models, have also been modernized and massively improved in quality. Our chronograph now has 62 hours instead of 48 hours and the SW300 has 56 hours instead of 42 hours of power reserve.”
The sheer numbers show how important the SW200 is for the Swiss watch industry: Sellita produces around 800,000 units a year, which is around half of the total production.
And according to the Association of the Swiss Watch Industry, around every tenth Swiss mechanical watch exported is powered by this movement. But Sellita is much more than this reliable and affordable workhorse.
“In addition to our Sellita line, we have been building a second brand called Manufacture AMT since 2018. This is our premium brand that offers tailor-made solutions up to completely new movements. For example, all of our three-hand movements at Manufacture AMT have a power reserve of at least 72 hours up to 8 days. And at Manufacture AMT we also offer a column wheel drive flyback chronograph.”
There is also a wide range of customizations and decoration. “In principle, almost anything is possible,” reports the Sellita boss, “but of course it has an impact on the prices. Incidentally, more and more customers are currently asking for special bridge shapes. It started with the desire for specific rotors and now encompasses the entire look of the caliber. Another trend is increasingly slimmer watches with a higher power reserve.” One person whose requirements have been met to Sellita’s complete satisfaction for many years is Mario Peserico from Eberhard & Co.
“Many customers think that only a watch movement manufactured in-house can meet the highest quality standards. But that’s not correct. It’s about the level, the know-how of the people involved and the top quality of the machines and tools that constitute excellence. And all of this is available from Sellita in the highest quality and reliability.”
For him, industrialized production is by no means a sign of lower quality. “If you insist that only watches and movements made entirely by hand are good, and industrially made ones are less good, then you would have to conclude that big brands that make hundreds of thousands of watches every year do not deliver top-quality timepieces. But today it is no longer about the time-honored watchmaker with thick glasses who works on a clockwork at his workbench all day long.”
“Another important point that many people are reluctant to talk about is the price,” adds Miguel Garcia. “The prices for Swiss watches have continued to rise in recent years, but we have to get that under control. But this is only possible with a high-quality basic movement at a competitive price. This is extremely important for the Swiss watch industry. Of course, you can only work with purely manufactured watch movements, but in small quantities and at high costs. This only works for a very few companies in the Swiss watch industry.”
Mario Peserico is certain that without Sellita, the middle price segment in the Swiss watch industry would no longer exist.
“Sellita enables sustainable growth in the Swiss watch industry because it makes large quantities in this price range and this quality available in the first place. Also because Sellita is extremely reliable and often delivers orders before the promised date. This means we can also meet our production deadlines without any problems.”
In the interview, he explains what is special about Eberhard & Co and why German specialist retailers are well advised to take a closer look at the brand.
WatchPro: I still fondly remember the Gran Premio Nuvolari classic car race, which I was able to take part in as a journalist many years ago. Is Eberhard & Co. still active in vintage car racing?
Mario Peserico: Yes, we are still active in racing. We were one of the first watch brands with a close connection to classic car events and their community, which includes many watch collectors. Today, the collector audience has become younger and has diversified significantly since we began our involvement in classic car racing.
Not only has the customer base become younger, we are also noticing increasing interest from the female audience. We have updated our portfolio accordingly and, for example, redeveloped the diving watches area.
At the same time, we began our presence as official timekeepers at the Genoa Boat Show, one of the most important events of its kind at international level. In order to reach younger customers, we have decided to also support projects related to photography. In order to reach our target groups in their respective areas of interest and to get them excited about our watches and our brand, we also have art fairs on the agenda.
WP: What are the main characteristics of Eberhard & Co. watches?
MP: Our current collection clearly represents the two pillars of the brand. One is based on our historical roots, which serve as a source of inspiration for new watch designs. We began reissuing models from the past in a new interpretation back in the 1990s. We were certainly one of the first brands to do this.
Today the vintage segment is very important for the watch market. We recognized this very early on. The other pillar is our innovative strength on the technical side. You can see this, for example, in the “Chono 4” collection, the first chronograph with four subdials on one line. Its caliber EB. 251 12 1⁄2” is based on the ETA 2894-2 caliber, which we modified in such a way that a linear arrangement of four counters on the dial was possible for the first time in the world.
We have patented this. Another technical highlight is the “8 Jours” with the EB 896 caliber based on the ETA 7001. Thanks to a patented module, this timepiece offers a power reserve of 192 hours. Today we have a broad and clearly structured range that reflects our history and innovative technology.
WP: And what sets Eberhard & Co. apart as a brand?
MP: For example, that we are one of the few watch manufacturers that can look back on an almost 140-year, uninterrupted and independent history, with two important families that have shaped and continue to shape it.
The founding Eberhard family was followed by Palmiro Monti, who took over the company in 1969. His daughter Barbara has been managing director of Eberhard & Co. since 2005 and is the true heart and soul of the company.
I have been with the company since the early 1990s and now hold the position of General Manager and Marketing Director. Ginevra, representative of the third generation of the Monti family, has now started her career in the company’s marketing department.
We maintain a strong and trusting partnership with suppliers and dealers. Our customers can always discuss all their questions, wishes and problems with the same people. And this also applies in difficult times like at the beginning of the Covid crisis.
We have told our retail partners that we would not sell watches online while they had to keep their stores closed. Of course, we could have started offering our new products online via our own website – but we didn’t do that and we still don’t do that today.
We are moving with the times and it is obvious that e-commerce is important for us too, but we want retailers to take this part, not us as a company, so as not to “compete” with our trusted network.
WP: So Eberhard & Co. has always been a family business. What advantages and challenges are associated with this?
MP: There are advantages and disadvantages. A big advantage is that we can make decisions directly and quickly and preserve our long-standing values. Thanks to a harmonious, well-established decision-making chain, we transfer this smoothly into the present, i.e. from the idea through the project to the product.
But of course there are also challenges. Our direct competitors are often brands that belong to large multinational corporations and have much greater financial strength and visibility than we do. Our products are offered in the same stores and we have to and can prove ourselves there every day. This is also because we are an established family business with short decision-making processes and a lot of flexibility.
WP: In 2018 you returned to the historic premises of the company founder Georges-Lucien Eberhard in La Chaux-de-Fonds? For what reason?
MP: This magnificent building, where Eberhard & Co. was founded 137 years ago, is one of the city’s historic buildings, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The eagle that Georges-Lucien Eberhard once had placed on the dome is particularly impressive.
La Chaux-de-Fonds was and is the center and cradle of watchmaking. Six years ago we had the opportunity to return our headquarters here. We also have many suppliers in the immediate vicinity and can quickly clarify questions and get new projects off the ground.
For example, when we presented our hand-wound movement developed and manufactured by Sellita AMT on our return to La Chaux-de-Fonds in 2019, we were proud to announce that everything came from within a five-kilometer radius. This is the distance between Sellita and Eberhard & Co. And two exclusive calibers, also developed in collaboration with Sellitas Manufacture AMT, are the basis of the new watches that we will present at Watches & Wonders 2024.
WP: How do you manage to preserve tradition while being innovative and contemporary?
MP: The best way to understand this is to look back a few years. Palmiro Monti, who was president of Eberhard & Co. in the 1990s, designed watches that set new standards and anticipated various trends. For example, in 1996 we introduced a timepiece with a diameter of 43 millimeters, which was completely unusual at the time.
And we developed an eight-day power reserve when the industry wasn’t particularly interested in it. Then there was the strategy of reinterpreting our historical roots. And so, for example, in 1999 we brought the “Extra Fort” onto the market, a new edition of one of our most important chronographs from the 1940s.
To this day, we continue to build a bridge to our past with our products. You can have a vision for the future, and that’s good. But if you have a rich history and a vision, it’s even better. And that’s what we have.
WP: With this orientation, are you ready for a comeback on the German market?
MP: Yes, but that alone is not enough. We are rebuilding the network through a selection of a few strategic retail points and working with experienced professionals such as Jürgen Bestian for the commercial area and Stephanie Nickl-krieger for the communications area. Entering a market requires a very professional approach, especially for a niche brand like ours. It’s about presentation, visibility and relationships.
That’s why we work with real professionals to invest strategically in a market. Of course, we don’t have the financial strength of a large corporation. Instead, we can convince with our products, our history and our price-performance ratio. The German consumer is very sensitive, well informed, especially when assessing the relationship between quality and price and is also interested in the technical and aesthetic side of the product.
WP: I think watch lovers are increasingly interested in independent brands. A real opportunity for Eberhard & Co.
MP: That’s right. I think that’s what the pandemic has brought with it too. Customers had more time to take a closer look at watches and brands and realized how much more there is than the few big, well-known brands.
WP: How important is it for you to work with an expert on the German market like Jürgen Bestian?
MP: As an independent niche brand, it is important to have experienced employees who are able to convey the company’s special values and present the product correctly. With his experience and his feel for our brand world, Jürgen Bestian is exactly the right person. Our first presence at Watches & Wonders also pursues exactly this purpose with regard to the German market: to convey our products, together with our values and our history, to an audience of dealers and private individuals.
WP: Can you give a little preview of the new products that you will be presenting at Watches & Wonders?
MP: Among the most important innovations that we are showing for the first time at Watches & Wonders are two chronographs: a hand-wound model in a limited edition of 250 pieces and an automatic model in the “1887” collection.
This is a tribute to our founding year and embodies the unprecedented synthesis of Eberhard & Co.’s rich history and DNA in a contemporary form. Both timepieces are powered by two exclusive calibers that were developed in collaboration with Manufacture AMT and are characterized by a high level of technical and aesthetic sophistication.
Both chronographs are the result of an exciting “journey through time” that is based on intensive research and examination of the brand’s timepieces from the mid-1930s onwards. Every distinctive element of the new chronographs, whether technical or aesthetic, was inspired by the desire to reinterpret in a new form the characteristic features of the chronographs that have written the history of Eberhard & Co.