Published on November 23, 2024 at 10:01 p.m. / Modified on November 24, 2024 at 07:56.
In the padded world of luxury, we don’t say “factory” but “manufacture”. The difference is subtle: the first conjures up, unfortunately for it, the outdated image of greasy machines serving vulgar mass production, while the second still says work by hand, a quasi-craft that better suits the exclusive image that major brands seek. Too bad, because in 2024, a factory, especially in an industry that has the means to design superb ones, can also be the remarkable expression of a certain human genius.
We enter Cartier’s in La Chaux-de-Fonds at night. Factory or manufacture? Thirty-three thousand square meters of an entirely glazed building with long, immaculate corridors, kilometers of piping under a cathedral ceiling height, laboratory cleanliness for a fleet of large machine tools, Tornos or Starrag, the Swiss precision serving French elegance.
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