{"id":38242,"date":"2026-03-14T10:10:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T09:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swiss-watch-passport.ch\/edito-jsh-dire-stop-a-la-machine\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T17:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T16:34:11","slug":"jsh-editorial-say-stop-to-the-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swiss-watch-passport.ch\/en\/jsh-editorial-say-stop-to-the-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"JSH Editorial: \u2018Say \u201cstop\u201d to the machine?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The day will come when only a perceptive and forward-thinking CEO will be able\u2014and indeed must\u2014stop the quest for improvement! So that there may still remain, here and there, particularly in a mechanical timepiece embodying industrial excellence, a touch of humanity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jo\u00ebl A. Grandjean, JSH Magazine & Swiss-Watch-Passport.ch’s editor in chief<\/em>
\nFollow us on Linkedin<\/a> \u2013 Facebook<\/a> \u2013 Insta JSH<\/a> \u2013 Insta SWP<\/a> \u2013 Subscribe to JSH<\/a><\/em>
\n\u00a9picture David Olifson @La Bagatelle Gen\u00e8ve<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

<\/div>
Browse the article in the Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie (JSH), end of 2024\u2013spring 2025 issue<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

I am referring here to large-scale production, not to all those niche markets that celebrate and elevate the handmade. For the intelligent machine uses AI to correct itself and adapt. It learns from its mistakes and eventually becomes so perfect that it risks giving rise to something cold and \u2018soulless\u2019. It imitates the operator so well \u2013 without the fatigue, the blisters and the lapses in concentration \u2013 that it is even capable of simulating their inescapable imperfections, the flaws of their human condition!<\/p>\n

\n

Just to prove that there\u2019s still a bit of humanity here and there, even in a mechanical timepiece born of Swiss industrial excellence\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This very real new danger looms over mass-production watchmaking, which, for the first time in its industrialization, must contend with the machine itself. This observation is not my own. I heard it from a boss in the watchmaking industry. He spoke almost against his will, as he had to go against his own engineering training\u2014someone trained precisely to eliminate, through the precision of his plans and programming, even the most imperceptible imperfections. According to him, it is urgent to focus on what can still be perceived as a \u201chuman touch<\/em>.\u201d Because the enhanced Industry 4.0 machine learns quickly! It has no qualms and even fascinates those who conceived it.<\/p>\n

Yet a watch remains a marvel\u2014one created by over a hundred components that interlock and work together to ensure the most precise timekeeping possible. Considered a genius of his time, an elderly watchmaker once confessed to me that it is far easier to figure out why a watch isn\u2019t working than to understand why it works! Implicitly, this master craftsman, this true \u201cgolden-fingered<\/em>\u201d artisan, acknowledged that part of humanity which, like a time-delayed treasure, lies dormant within the Swiss-made heart of every mechanical timepiece. The humility of the watchmaker\u2014so very much human…<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

\n

The Smart 4.0 Machine mimics the worker so well, without the fatigue, the blisters, or the moments of sluggishness, that it can even simulate the worker\u2019s inevitable imperfections!\u201d
\n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

JSH’s Subscription<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Donate to JSH (Paypal)<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>
\r\n \r\n \r\n