Hallo,
just almost returned from vacation time and from a trip in Europe to normal duty and with some new experiences...
As a collector of Minerva and in particular Minerva military watch I have
lately found a rare Minerva D655393H and suddenly realized that Minerva is one
of the last manufactures still in existence as the renamed brands such as
Helvezia, Excelsior Park, Felsa, Alpina,Cyma and others are no longer active or
have completely diverted from their past products.
I contacted the Minerva factory in Villeret and they kindly invited me to visit
wherever i was in the area which i did and it was a great surprice for me to
find myself in an ancient Swiss typical vertical organized watch manufacturing
building but equipped with the most modern machinery crafting exotic metals and
mastering high end watchmaking tecniques in the continuiing tradiction of the
strictly handmade timepieces of the past.
The new Italian management has kept the wellknown calibers and has introduced
such a number of technical improvements and finishings that show a tremendous
effort in engineering and processes of the kind that everybody of us would love
to acheive as outmost skill.
In the era of quartz and mass production it is remarkable to still find
skilled handcraftsmen and women with the pleasure of making handmade watches
and leaving the place I realized that I have been just there where my Minervas
were made long time ago!
As soon as I will complete the restoration of this bayonet case 48 equipped Minerva I will post the pics but in the meanwhile I post the latest Minerva edition of the famous 20ch!
rgds

]

Hi Enzo,

A walk through the Minerva factory. What a splendid vacation that must have been. I have heard of Minerva, and I understand there is a following of dedicated collectors of their watches. Did you notice any old fashioned equipment, such as hand powered pivot polishing lathes, mixed in with the new technology?

Thanks for the picture of the new chronograph movement. I'm glad such splendid movements are still being made in the age of cheap quarts watches.

Best regards,
Greg

Hallo Greg,

Yes, it was a nice visit and it was good to be in the Neuchatel area were all those famous watch companies are based.
Minerva owns any kind of equipment and they retained also the old toolings and the same wooden floor too!
Rgds
enzo