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Motivate users to give their opinion on the different projects in the future and also to become an investor to go a little further in collaboration and participation
WATCH CONFIGURATOR AND NEW WEBSITE (2022)
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[Projet started in January 2022]
[Projet finished in January 2023]
Seven years after the creation of Initium in 2015, we decided to undertake a major overhaul of our website for several reasons. A look back at this achievement. A look back at this achievement.
An improved digital experience
Firstly, we are committed to providing you with the best possible experience, also in the digital sphere. That is why we have decided to improve the usability, clarity, and organisation of our site so that you can find the information you are looking for even more easily.
A new attractive visual
Secondly, we have carried out a strategic repositioning aimed in particular at changing our brand image. The website, the brand’s showcase, therefore had to correspond to this new branding. The design has been redesigned, the tree structure has been modified and latest content has been created in order to give you a new and attractive look.
The implementation of the 3D configurator
Thirdly, we had the great novelty of implementing a 3D configurator on our site to allow you to create the watch of your dreams online.
Why a configurator?
With our 3D configurator, you can now create your Swiss-made watch directly from our website.
So, you can buy the watch you want directly pre-assembled and have it delivered to your home.
It is also possible to configure your timepiece that you assemble at home with the Kairos kit.
Finally, you can also explore the possibilities before making your watch in our Delta and Gama workshops. Indeed, the choice of the components of a watch to be created during the courses is always part of the in-situ experience.
How to use the configurator?
In order to offer you the watch that suits you, we invite you to answer several questions. In the second step, you choose the watch you like best from among those offered and configure it.
Like a watch designer, you can choose from a wide range of movements, cases, dials, hands, and straps. More than a million possible combinations are available to you in order to create an absolutely unique Swiss watch!
Development of our watch kits
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[Projet débuté en janvier 2020]
[Projet finalisé en novembre 2021]
After more than a year and a half of challenging work and energy, we are enormously proud to have developed the first all-in-one Swiss watch kit. Aimed at both novices and watchmaking enthusiasts, this unique assembly kit has been travelling the globe since November 2021! A look back at this achievement.
The origin: a desire for accessibility
At Initium, we are committed to wearing Swiss watchmaking proudly and promoting its history and technicality. This is why, since 2015, we have been offering introductory courses to design and assemble your manual or automatic watch.
Given the increasing demand from abroad combined with the impossibility for some people to visit our workshops in Switzerland, either because of the long distance or the sometimes-unstable health situation, we had the idea at the beginning of the year 2020 to make an assembly kit.
Thanks to the latter, which includes video tutorials, tools and components, anyone is now able to assemble their Swiss watch from home.
A succession of stages
Between the formulation of this idea and its realization, many steps followed one another.
Controlling the tooling
First of all, we defined, tested, validated and ordered a very large panel of high quality tools – screwdrivers, tweezers, movement holders, bells, etc. Not forgetting the famous Micros (watchmaker’s magnifying glass), one of the emblematic objects of the watchmaker, manufactured in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.
We have also developed two 3D printing tools for the installation of dials and hands to help the uninitiated to take up the challenge of assembling a watch by themselves.
The design of the case
Once the tooling was defined and ordered, we looked for suppliers capable of designing a quality custom watchmaker’s case.
After several prototypes, we got what we wanted: a top-of-the-range bag, in blue vegan leather or black imitation leather, with different compartments.
The creation of video tutorials
With the complete prototype of the kit defined, we set about the next crucial step in this project: the creation of video tutorials.
The challenge was to create tutorials that were precise enough, but not too long, so that everyone could follow the steps involved in assembling their watch.
To do this, we created a script taking into account each step to be carried out, based on our five years of customer experience in our workshops. Moreover, we opted for a rhythm allowing the “apprentice” watchmakers to realize the beginning of each step in parallel to the reading of the video.
We also hired a new watchmaker, fluent in French and English, for this innovative project. As the technical manager of the kits, he is also responsible for their evolution in order to constantly improve the customer experience.
Wishing to use an emblematic place as a setting for the videos, we made a part of them in the Watch Box Museum in Le Noirmont, in the Swiss Jura. The final result was obtained after ten intense days of shooting and almost as much editing!
The creation of the platform
Once the videos were created and edited, we had to build the web platform dedicated to the kit and hosting the tutorial videos – a technical step as much as it was important to get the videos to load properly from anywhere in the world.
The platform also hosts a “community” area including a discussion forum allowing those concerned to exchange with each other and to ask us questions in case of difficulty.
Knowing that the owners of the kits will assemble their watch remotely, it was essential to redouble our efforts and ingenuity to optimize the customer experience!
The development of the communication strategy
In order to market our kits, we developed an active 360° communication strategy targeted at potential customers from all over the world.
Communication during our courses, creation of blog content, digital advertisements, and press articles, all means were mobilised to achieve an efficient communication campaign to match our kits.
A new horizon of opportunities
Promising a horizon of developments and new opportunities, this project marks our ambition to continually push back the boundaries of watchmaking.
Will you take up the challenge of assembling your Swiss-made watch from your living room?
Please comment, we would love to hear from you!
New range of components
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[Projet débuté en mars 2022]
[Projet finalisé en septembre 2022]
Since 2015, we have been sharing the passion and expertise of watchmaking through our workshops where it is possible to create your watch alongside our Master Watchmakers.
While Initium is dedicated to passing on the heritage of mechanical watches, it is also driven by the desire to innovate by pursuing its quest for excellence.
Wishing to continue to surprise you and offer you the best, we have launched this year a new range of components produced in Switzerland, less than fifty kilometres from our headquarters in Le Noirmont. A look back at this achievement.
“All Swiss made”: an objective sought after since the creation of Initium
Since its inception, Initium has offered watches that meet the requirements of Swiss-made, i.e., a minimum of 60% Swiss value, the incorporation of a Swiss movement and the casing and final inspection in Switzerland.
Indeed, to be stamped Swiss-made, a watch must imperatively meet these various conditions according to the ordinance of 1 January 2017.
Driven by a vision of progress and evolution, we now go beyond Swiss-made with our new range of watch components designed, produced, and assembled in Switzerland!
Indeed, to be stamped Swiss-made, a watch must imperatively meet these various conditions according to the ordinance of 1 January 2017.
Driven by a vision of progress and evolution, we now go beyond Swiss-made with our new range of watch components designed, produced, and assembled in Switzerland!
Why didn’t you do it before?
Despite our desire to offer 100% Swiss made from the very beginning, combining all Swiss made with a wide choice of components for our participants was a sweet dream that could not yet be realised.
In order to take the Initium experience even further, 2022 proved to be the year of change for our component range. This began with the recruitment of a watch designer responsible for the creation, design and production management of new cases, dials, openwork dials and hands.
A project that would not have been possible without the support of our many Initiators. Indeed, watch design companies only manufacture a series of parts in enormous quantities. However, as a small company, storage and production costs were still too high. In particular, by counting the number of models of each component we offer.
It took us a few years, the setting up of our fundraising and therefore your participation, for us to succeed in passing this precious milestone.
Sustainable and local production...
We are now proud to have consolidated all our production in Switzerland, less than fifty kilometres from our headquarters in Le Noirmont.
Each person involved in the watch process – from designer to watchmaker – has been carefully selected for their skill, experience, and ethics.
Thus, with manufacturers based in Biel, La Chaux-de-Fonds, and the Jura, we benefit from the best local expertise while integrating a sustainable production strategy.
… For unique and personalised watches
Our watch designer, Léonard, has put all his expertise and his passionate creativity into creating new components with elegant and varied designs so that you can fully express your personality.
Anchored in its history by this ode to traditional Swiss art, the Initium range is also tinged with avant-gardism through its recycled steel case designs and bold modern dials.
Tradition and modernity come together in Initium watches, appealing to souls irresistibly drawn to a singular time that reflects their personality. In a retro-chic, classic and elegant, modern, and sober or sporty style, our new range of watches will express your singularity.
The new components project, which began in March 2022, will be completed in the autumn of the same year with the launch of our 100% Swiss-made range. However, this is only the beginning of the new products; our designer is already working on other ambitious projects such as the tourbillon watch!
What do you think of our new watch components?
Please comment, we would love to hear from you!
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