Did You Know?

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Did You Know? - Initium
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There’s an excellent watchmaking school in Geneva, in the heart of the old town

Initium offers the chance for watch lovers to become watchmakers, complete with white coat and tweezers. The workshop was founded in 2015 by Matthieu Gigandet and Gilles Francfort to provide bespoke watchmaking training courses, as well as experiences for the general public, through an initiation into the wonderful world of watchmaking. Matthieu and Gilles have been friends since school. Their shared passion for watches and their visionary spirit led them to create Initium, with a view to offering a complete immersion experience. Initium, Latin for “beginning”, is well named. Courses are designed for experienced collectors, but they are equally suitable for the complete beginner. Three different courses are available. Alpha is a 3-hour session, led by a watchmaking instructor, combining theory and practice. The class focuses on the history of watchmaking, from mankind’s earliest attempts to tell the time, to learning how an automatic movement works. The masterclass ends with the students assembling and dismantling a mechanical movement.

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Gamma is the next stage on the journey, for students who are already familiar with watchmaking history. The goal here is for students to build their own watch from A to Z and take it home with them. They end up with their own completely unique model, because they can choose from a virtually infinite number of options – a standard or skeletonised movement, manual or automatic, case, dial, flange, hands and finally the strap.Delta: this is the pinnacle, combining the Alpha and Gamma levels. It comprises a full day of watchmaking immersion, plus lunch with a watchmaker. These three fascinating experiences are available in Geneva, the Zurich region and Le Noirmont in the Swiss Jura. 

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Initium has also expanded its offer, taking into account the current preference for remote experiences, to include a DIY kit. This portable watchmaking studio in a briefcase can be set up anywhere, on a desk or dining table. You simply select which components you want; the kit is then assembled with all the necessary tools and sent to you, anywhere in the world. You can pretend you’re a watchmaking apprentice, guided by a series of tutorials and guides, with the help of the forums available on Initium’s website. It makes a superb birthday or Christmas gift for any watch lover. And finally, because Matthieu and Gilles keep coming up with great ideas, it’s now possible to configure your own manual winding watch and order it online, without the need to take a course or buy the DIY kit.

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Prices from CHF 350 for the Alpha workshop – www.initium.swiss