Geneva (AFP) – The Swiss startup ID Genève is using all possible means to manufacture wristwatches that are as sustainable as possible, including using vegetable leather, steel melted in a solar oven, and heat-repairable composite materials.
Published on: 05/02/2024 – 15:13
4 minutes
It is not possible, for example, in this small institution to “use watch boxes made of Amazonian wood,” as co-founder Nicola Frodiger (35 years old) confirms to Agence France-Presse.
The watches have boxes that look like cast iron but are actually made of water-soluble algae and can be reused as garden fertilizer.
The company, which was founded in December 2020, has produced only 620 watches to date, but in this short period of time it has caused a great stir in the watchmaking sector in Switzerland, especially since the American actor Leonardo DiCaprio invested in it in October 2023.
The idea was born when Frodiger, who studied at the Hotel School in Lausanne, quit his job at Coca-Cola so that he could pursue a training program in the circular economy.
Frodiger showed his childhood friend Cédric Molozer, a watchmaker trained at the prestigious Vacheron Constantin company, who introduced him to his friend, the designer Singal Debéré-Mouche.
Alternative option
At the end of a concert, the trio laid the foundations of the project, and their ambition was for it to become “a reliable alternative in the field of luxury watches,” according to Froediger, with each of their watches being sold for between 3,600 and 5,000 Swiss francs.
To produce their first model, they used high-quality steel recycled from scrap from watch factories and medical equipment manufacturers. As for the movement parts inside the case, they were obtained from unsold and perishable stock from major watch manufacturers. For the belts, they turned to an Italian company that makes vegan leather from grape solids and a British startup that produces it from plant waste in London public parks.
The trio then thought about the energy footprint of the manufacturing phase, ran tests in a solar furnace in the Pyrenees, and came up with ingots of recycled steel that were melted without resorting to fossil energy. They used these alloys in their second model.
-As attractive as rose gold-
In March 2023, during the ChangeNow innovation fair in Paris, they met students from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne who had developed resin systems that allow rapid repair of carbon fiber materials using a heat gun, and they also founded their own startup.
Their technology, which can be applied to composite materials in the aerospace industry, wind energy or sports equipment, allows extending the life of parts that are often disposed of because “repairing them requires a very long time,” explains Amael Quadis, co-founder of this company called CompPair.
The two companies decided together to manufacture a material from the leftovers of wind turbine production to easily repair watches if they are scratched or damaged.
“We want to show that wearing a Compare watch is as attractive as wearing an 18-karat rose gold watch,” says Froediger.
He points out that these watches are currently attracting company managers and engineers specializing in environmental professions, who want “a piece of jewelry that expresses their values.”
John Cox, an analyst at Kepler Chevro, noted in a statement to Agence France-Presse that “part of the market is definitely looking for this type of product,” as he told Agence France-Presse.
IDGeneva quickly caught the attention of the British brand Watches of Switzerland, as “the new generation of buyers has become more aware of environmental issues than ever before.”
Watches of Switzerland confirmed to AFP that the watches were “sold out immediately after their launch” in the United Kingdom and the United States, and that the announcement of Leonardo DiCaprio’s investment in the company provided it with an additional boost.
Bernstein analyst Luca Solca expects this contemporary concept to attract new competitors in the coming years.
But he says, “ED Genève may have created a niche for itself” in the market and “it won’t be that small by then.”
The brand intends to accelerate its growth, hoping to manufacture a thousand watches in 2024.
© 2024 AFP
2024-02-05 14:13:05
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