Ten years after opening its manufacture in Neuchâtel, Officine Panerai has announced that it will be breaking ground on a new factory. All the activities of development, production and assembly of the brand’s watches and movements will be transferred to the new production facility, set to open by the end of 2013. Located at Pierre-à-Bot, on the hills above Neuchâtel, the new facility will establish the Florentine brand as one of the most important producers of haute horlogerie sports watches in the world.
The new factory aims to optimize Panerai’s current production process in terms of both quantity and quality. Currently, all stages of development, including manufacturing the various components, assembly and quality control are all carried out by Officine Panerai internally, but all take place at different production sites. The unification of the various stages in a single, significantly larger location will yield higher production capacity, greater independence at all stages of production and better quality control.
The new Panerai manufacture will have an area of 10,000 square meters and house 290 master watchmakers and their highly skilled colleagues, 130 more than are presently employed at the current building in the center of Neuchâtel. In addition to the production lines being equipped with the very latest technology, the new manufacture will encompass all activities related to the prototyping, production, assembly and rigorous quality control of the components, movements and cases of Panerai watches.
The new Officine Panerai manufacture will have zero negative environmental impact in terms of carbon dioxide through careful integration of technologies for the recovery and recycling of resources, as well as devices for reducing emissions and eco-sustainable mobility policies for employees.


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