Pequignet was based in 1973 by Emile Pequignet in Morteau, a French metropolis within the mountains subsequent to the Swiss border. The model developed shortly within the Eighties and Nineties, nevertheless it has gone by means of its justifiable share of ups and downs in its 50 years of historical past. Within the early 2000s, Pequignet initiated the bold plan to grow to be an built-in manufacture and the primary in-house motion, the Calibre Royal, was offered in 2011. It was adopted in 2021 by the Calibre Preliminary. The identical 12 months, Pequignet joined Enowe Excellence, a construction based by Hugues Souparis in a challenge to advertise French know-how of excellence. With this secure and sustainable shareholder base, the model now continues its metamorphosis to give attention to manufacture actions and higher-grade watches. There’s actually a future for motion manufacturing in France… and Pequignet is satisfied of this!
If France has a protracted watchmaking custom, the quartz disaster crippled the French watch business with a drastic discount of the manufacturing. Nonetheless, among the many previous few years, we’ve seen a sure renaissance of French watchmaking, but with utterly totally different enterprise fashions. Amongst these, Pequignet stands out with their ambition to fabricate actions in-house, a challenge initiated some 20 years in the past. Nevertheless, the model was caught between two markets for years. Reasonably priced design watches powered by quartz or off-the-shelf actions on one hand, higher-grade fashions with in-house actions alternatively. It was time to make a transparent alternative, which has now been made doable by the arrival of Hugues Souparis and his want to advertise French savoir-faire and craftsmanship.
The thought for Pequignet is, subsequently, to give attention to watches powered by in-house calibers, relatively than counting on off-the-shelf actions – a matter of substance, independence and inventive freedom. This technique additionally goals to supply an alternative choice to different manufacturers (French however not solely) who supply actions from Switzerland or Japan – with arguments to take into accounts. We had the prospect to get a preview of a few initiatives within the making… and these are fairly attention-grabbing.
The event and roll-out of this extra upscale technique is being carried out by Patric Zingg (ex-Swatch Group, Graham, SIGG), whereas Adrian Buchmann has been tasked with the design of the brand new collections.
The model’s manufacture continues to be based mostly in Morteau with a 25-member crew guaranteeing the event, design and manufacturing of actions and watches – with a community of suppliers primarily positioned inside a 50-mile radius from the manufacture, in France or Switzerland. At the moment, Pequignet’s motion portfolio consists round two households of calibres, every obtainable in a number of iterations, with further issues and varied shows.
The Calibre Royal is a high-grade, massive calibre that has the specificity of incorporating a number of issues into an built-in structure with huge date, day, astronomical moon (requiring a correction of 1 day each 122 years) and energy reserve indications. The Calibre Royal is offered in computerized or guide winding (with out issues) variations. There’s a model with a tourbillon regulator that was unveiled in 2024. Its design stands out with a big barrel delivering – a sturdy 4-day energy reserve and a 3Hz stability with gold compensation screws held in place by a full cock.
Introduced in 2021, the Calibre Preliminary is a smaller, thinner, extra versatile and extra conventional computerized motion with hours, minutes, seconds and date indications. As such, it gives far more flexibility than the Calibre Royal and its built-in issues, and has far more potential to be supplied to different manufacturers. It beats at a contemporary 4Hz and delivers a cushty 65-hour energy reserve with a Pellaton-type reverser for the automated mechanism.
The primary Pequignet watches in keeping with this extra upscale technique shall be unveiled at Watches and Wonders 2025 – keep tuned, as we’ll make certain to cowl these on MONOCHROME. For extra info, please go to pequignet.com.
EPM01 Calibre Royal computerized winding (2011)
13’’’ ¾ (Ø 31 mm)
5.88 mm thickness
3Hz frequency
96h energy reserve
39 jewels
Hours, minutes, small seconds, huge date, day, moonphase, energy reserve
8 patents: 4 for the large date; 1 for the barrel; 1 for the reverser; 1 for a differential; one of many moon phases
EPM02 Calibre Royal Guide Winding (2017)
13’’’ ¾ (Ø 31 mm)
5.43 mm thickness
3Hz frequency
100h energy reserve
21 jewels
Hours, minutes, small seconds at 6 o’clock
EPM03 Calibre Preliminary (2021)
12’’’ 1/2 (Ø 28.2 mm)
4.2 mm thickness
4Hz frequency
65 h energy reserve
21 jewels
Central hours, minutes, seconds and date
2 patents: 1 for the guide winding mechanism; 1 for the date mechanism
EPM04 Calibre Royal Flying Tourbillon guide winding (2024)
15’’’ 1/2 (Ø 34.5 mm)
5.43 mm thickness
3Hz frequency
88h energy reserve
23 jewels
hours, minutes, seconds on the tourbillon at 6 o’clock
One-minute Flying tourbillon, titanium cage
