Chronométrie Bex | Mechanical watch manufacture, Bex

The manufacture

Bex sits at the point where the Rhône valley narrows. The house has occupied the same second floor since 1974.

Chronométrie Bex was founded by Henri Delessert, who had spent nineteen years repairing pocket watches for the railway and decided that a wristwatch could be made to the same standard if nobody was in a hurry. The first Type 01 left the bench in March 1976. The design has been altered twice since, both times by less than a millimetre.

Cases are turned in Le Sentier by a supplier we have used since 1981. Hairsprings, balance staffs, wheels and bridges are made here on machines that predate all of us: a Schaublin 102 lathe from 1959, a jig borer from 1966, and a rose engine that was already second-hand when Delessert bought it.

Output is capped at 240 watches. Not as a marketing position: that is what eleven people can finish properly in a working year.

The atelier interior with a row of watchmakers' benches under tall windows — The atelier. Eight benches, three machines, one window per bench.

Calibre CB-14

The middle calibre, and the one the house is judged on. In production since 2008, revised in 2017.

Macro view of a hand-finished mechanical watch movement showing bridges, jewels and the balance wheel — CB-14 before casing. Bridges are bevelled by hand at 45 degrees; the flanks are polished on a tin lap.

Calibre: CB-14, hand-wound
Diameter: 11.5 lignes, 25.6 mm
Height: 3.85 mm
Frequency: 21 600 A/h, 3 Hz
Jewels: 22, all set in gold chatons
Balance: Free-sprung, four inertia weights
Hairspring: Breguet overcoil, drawn in house
Power reserve: 58 hours from a single barrel
Components: 214, of which 96 are finished by hand
Assembly time: 6 weeks per movement, one watchmaker

Every CB-14 is regulated over ten days in five positions and leaves the bench inside minus one to plus six seconds a day. The timing sheet that comes with the watch is the sheet from your watch, not a specimen.

The collection

Three references, photographed on the pattern field. The dials are blank in these plates; the reference is set beside the picture, not on it.

Plate 01

A round wristwatch with a blank dial and a slim polished steel case, isolated on a plain field

Type 01 Secteur

The first watch the house made, redrawn in 2019 with a thinner bezel and a flat sapphire.

Diameter: 37.0 mm
Calibre: CB-11, hand-wound
Power reserve: 62 hours
Price: CHF 8 400

Plate 02

A round wristwatch with a blank regulator dial and a brushed steel case, isolated on a plain field

Type 02 Régulateur

Hours, minutes and seconds kept apart, so the minute hand carries the whole dial on its own.

Diameter: 39.0 mm
Calibre: CB-14, hand-wound
Power reserve: 58 hours
Price: CHF 11 900

Plate 03

A hunter-cased pocket watch with a blank dial, the cover opened, hanging from a steel chain, isolated on a plain field

Type 03 Réserve

Not a wristwatch. A hunter case on a steel chain, with three days of reserve from twin barrels.

Diameter: 46.0 mm
Calibre: CB-21, hand-wound
Power reserve: 72 hours
Price: CHF 14 600

Specifications

All figures measured on finished watches, not on drawings. Prices include Swiss VAT and are held for the calendar year.

ReferenceType 01Type 02Type 03

Case materialSteel 316LSteel 316LSteel 316L

WornWristWristPocket

Diameter37.0 mm39.0 mm46.0 mm

Height8.4 mm9.1 mm11.8 mm

Lug or bow18 mm19 mmBow, 6 mm

CrystalSapphireSapphireSapphire

Water resistance30 m30 mDust-tight

CalibreCB-11CB-14CB-21

WindingHandHandHand

Frequency18 000 A/h21 600 A/h18 000 A/h

Jewels192225

Power reserve62 h58 h72 h

Strap or chainCalfCalfSteel chain

Made per year9011040

PriceCHF 8 400CHF 11 900CHF 14 600

Steel 316L is bar stock, not cast. Water resistance is tested at the stated depth plus 25 % and again after any service. Lug width is quoted between the lugs, so a 19 mm strap fits Type 02 without persuasion. Type 03 is a pocket watch and is sealed against dust, not water.

Servicing

A watch made here is expected to outlive the person who ordered it, which only works if it comes back.

1
Send it back
Insured post or hand delivery at the atelier. We acknowledge receipt within two working days and photograph the watch before anything is opened.
2
Estimate
A written estimate follows within three weeks. Nothing is done until it is signed. Declining costs nothing beyond return postage.
3
Full service
The movement is stripped to 214 parts, cleaned, worn parts replaced, oiled, regulated in five positions over ten days and cased with new gaskets.
4
Return
Eight to ten weeks from signature. The watch comes back with its timing certificate and the old parts in a labelled envelope.

Interval: Every five to seven years of daily wear
Full service, CB-11 and CB-14: CHF 780
Full service, CB-21: CHF 940
Turnaround: 8 to 10 weeks from signed estimate
Parts availability: Guaranteed 25 years from delivery
Loan watch: On request, no charge, deposit waived

The watchmaker

Claire Reymond runs the bench. She joined in 2003 and has assembled roughly 2 900 movements since.

Portrait of a watchmaker in a light coat at a bench, photographed straight on in daylight — Claire Reymond, head watchmaker.
At the bench since 2003.

Reymond trained at the technical school in Le Locle and spent four years on restoration before coming to Bex. She sets the house standard for finishing, which is written down in a folder nobody has ever updated because it has not needed updating.

Three of the eleven people here were trained by her from scratch. The apprenticeship is four years. The first year is filing steel by hand until a surface is flat under a straight edge, which she considers the only test worth setting.

She keeps the timing certificates of every watch she has assembled in a drawer under the bench. If you send yours back for service she will find the original sheet and compare it.

Ordering

There is no shop. Watches are ordered from the atelier, in person or by post, and made in the order the list was joined.

Waiting list: Open for all three references. Current wait: 9 months for Type 01, 11 months for Type 02, 14 months for Type 03.
Deposit: 20 % on joining the list, refundable in full until the case is engraved.
Fitting: Bracelet sizing and strap choice are settled at the atelier, or by post if you cannot travel.
Delivery: Collected in Bex or sent insured. Every watch leaves with a timing sheet in six positions.
Guarantee: Five years, transferable, void only if opened by someone else.

Appointments are held on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and last an hour. Bring the watch you wear now.

Request an appointment

atelier@chronometrie-bex.example
+41 24 000 00 00, weekdays 09:00 to 12:00

Visiting

Second floor, no lift, forty-one steps. Tell us in advance if that is a problem and we will meet you on the ground floor.

Address: Rue du Jura 12
1880 Bex, Vaud
Open: Tuesday and Thursday, 14:00 to 18:00
By appointment only
By train: Bex station, 48 minutes from Lausanne
Nine minutes on foot from the platform
By car: A9, exit Bex
Public parking at Place du Marché, 300 m

Two hundred and forty watches a year, and no plans to make more.