The Process
From idea to the moment it earns its place on a wrist.
It starts with a reason.
Every Monarte begins with one question: why should this watch exist?
Before the first line is drawn, we decide what we want the watch to be, what it should bring to the wrist, and what should make it worth choosing in the first place.
Only then do we begin shaping it.
The proportions, case, dial, hands, materials and smallest details all have to support the same idea. Nothing is there simply because it looks good on its own.
Every part has a reason to be there.
And if it does not belong, it goes.
The idea has to work in the real world.
The first prototype is rarely the final one.
We make them to find out what drawings and renders cannot tell us.
We wear them. We handle them. We live with them. We look at them under different light and on different wrists.
Then we change things.
A fraction of a millimetre can change how the case sits. A hand that is slightly too short can disturb the entire dial. A finish that looked right on a screen can feel completely different in daylight.
Colours change. Proportions change. Components are reconsidered.
And when useful, we put prototypes in front of collectors and watch enthusiasts we trust. Not to ask them what Monarte should become, but to understand what they notice when they experience the watch without explanation.
Their feedback becomes another perspective.
The final decision remains ours.
A prototype is finished only when there is nothing left we want to change.
Only then do we begin making it.
Once the final prototype meets the standard we set for it, the watch moves from development into making.
But quality control does not begin once the watch is finished.
It has already begun.
The components that will eventually form a Monarte are inspected individually before assembly. Hands, dials, cases, rotors and other visible components have to meet the same standard before they are allowed to become part of the finished watch.
If a component is not right, it is rejected before it ever reaches the watchmaker’s bench.
Only the pieces that pass this first inspection move forward.
Then the watch begins to come together.
- Movement.
- Dial.
- Hands.
- Case.
- Crown.
- Bracelet or strap.
Piece by piece, what existed first as an idea finally becomes a complete watch.
And once assembled, the process starts again.
Checked before. Checked again.
Every Monarte has already passed several checks before it becomes a complete watch.
Once assembled, we inspect it again as a finished piece.
Alignment is checked. The dial and hands are examined. The crown, bezel, clasp and bracelet are tested. Surfaces and finishes are inspected under magnification. Functions are checked individually.
Where required by the model, the completed case is also tested for water resistance.
This is where individual components stop being individual parts.
They now have to work together as one watch.
If something no longer meets our standard after assembly, the fact that it passed inspection earlier does not matter.
It goes back.
There is no shortcut to a well-regulated movement.
Every mechanical movement behaves slightly differently.
That is why every Monarte is regulated individually by hand.
The movement is measured, adjusted and measured again. Tiny corrections are made to the regulating system, sometimes at a scale almost impossible to see without magnification.
Then we observe the result.
Different positions can produce different behaviour, so the movement is tested again before another adjustment is made.
There is no fixed amount of time we allow for this.
Some movements settle quickly.
Others ask for more.
The work is finished when the watch reaches the standard we expect from it, not when a predetermined number of minutes has passed.
Perfection does not work to a deadline.
The last inspection is personal.
By this point, it is no longer simply one of the watches being made.
It is yours.
Your configuration has been assembled. Your movement has been regulated. The watch has passed its individual checks.
Before it leaves the atelier, one watchmaker looks at the complete piece one final time.
Not as a collection of components.
As a Monarte.
The dial. The alignment. The case. The movement. The feel of the crown and clasp. The details that will be noticed immediately and those that may take months to discover.
Only when everything comes together as it should is the watch approved, signed and prepared for its owner.
Then the name is added.
Everything before this was preparation.
What reaches your wrist is the result of every decision, rejection, adjustment and pair of hands that came before it.