After-Sales Service at Daniel Roth & Gérald Genta Haute Horlogerie S.A.
By: Bill (registered) Friday, June 1st, 2007After-Sales Service at
Daniel Roth & GéraldGenta Haute Horlogerie S.A.
Photos and text by Su JiaXian (SJX)
© June 2007 by Su JiaXian
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Headed by the able Jean-Marc (I am unable to reveal his last name due to company policy), the after-sales department of Daniel Roth & GéraldGenta Haute Horlogerie S.A. (DR & GG) is located in the lower level of the company's offices on the outskirts of Geneva. The department covers all aspects of after-sales service - repairs, restoration, records - everything is done in a space the size of a large flat. We will begin with the administrative and spare parts section, all of which are housed in one large room. To the left is a giant steel cabinet that stores spare parts by the thousands, all neatly labelled, packaged and shelved. Properly known as a vertical carousel, the cabinet is an automatic storage and retrieval system widely used in manufacturing and medical facilities. Multiple shelves are stacked up inside, and the required shelf can be called up by entering the shelf code on the keypad in the centre. This cabinet is quite a cool toy and a good deal of fun to use.
Inside the vertical carousel lies any conceivable component required for servicing.
There are equally numerous types of buckles available, deployants, tang buckles, and even clasps with a built in watch. Metal bracelets are also kept in stock. A screw anyone?
If you need a hand…
Watch cases are also kept in stock for servicing; I was surprised by the sheer number of them but even then sometimes the stock is insufficient. Jean-Marc recalled an instance of a customer who somehow managed to mangle the case of his Daniel Roth so badly it was beyond rescue. Because it was a chronograph made in very small quantities several years ago, no spare cases were available so Jean-Marc had to order a new gold case for the client. But because it is uneconomical to make a single case, the company had to order 20 of them. Needless to say, the lucky customer was only charged for the cost of one case. Be it a watch case or anything else, if DR & GG does not have it in stock, the company will either manufacture the component or order from a supplier - no customer will ever be told his watch cannot be fixed.
Whole movements and complication plates are also available for the rare occasion when a watch is in such terrible shape that replacing the entire movement or module is the only option.
Finally we come to the dials. DR & GG has a vast store of dials available in an amazing variety of materials. Most of the spare dials are GéraldGenta because MrGenta was a prolific designer who would unveil a new model and offer it in a huge number of dial variations. Jean-Marc noted that in the 80s, it was not unusual for GéraldGenta to create 300 or more new dial designs each year. Fortunately, spares for most of them are still available, and when they run out, the company will turn to a dial specialist like DonzéCadran for replacements.
In fact, the company has so many spare dials, there is also a safe across from the vertical carousel which houses even more replacement dials.
Located within the same room is the administrative section of after-sales, which takes paperwork concerning after-sales service. All watches sent to Geneva for servicing begin and end their stay at this desk.
Now we move on to the technical side of the after-sales department and visit the watchmakers in their workshop. Unfortunately, it was already late in the afternoon and the watchmakers had knocked off, save for one gentleman who is the head of the after-sales watchmaking section. Most of all the watches ever made by DR & GG return here for servicing as the company has a strict policy on after-sales servicing. Regional and national distributors can service watches only if their in-house watchmakers are sufficiently qualified. And because high complications made up a good chunk of annual production at DR & GG, most of the servicing is done in Switzerland.
The service department is fully equipped despite its small size. In addition to movement servicing, the watchmakers can also fabricate parts and polish cases. Making a spare part from scratch is not required too often as most of the time an existing part can be refinished, or a spare can be retrieved from existing stock. Usually only the high complications which do not contain off the shelf parts require use of the lathe.
Polishing is done in a small room separate from the rest of the watchmaking section due to the heat, noise and dirt generated. Polishing of cases is the grimiest job in watchmaking.
Now we bid goodbye to the watchmakers… And move on to the final part of the tour, the records of watches made and sold. Records of every watch ever manufactured and sold by either Daniel Roth or GéraldGenta up till the late 90s are stored in two large filing cabinets while more recent watches have all their details stored electronically. Jean-Marc and his team are in the process of scanning the record cards of the older timepieces and uploading them onto the electronic database (ouch!).
Like the rest of DR & GG, the after-sales department is small but well run. I was left with the impression of an organised and well supplied operation, perfectly equipped with the parts and skills necessary to deal with anything. This concludes the tour of the after-sales service department of Daniel Roth & GéraldGenta Haute Horlogerie S.A. Many thanks to Jean-Marc and his team for their hospitality. |
© June 2007 by Su JiaXian - All rights reserved
