Officine Panerai is set to begin construction work for a new factory space close to its headquarters in Neuchatel, Switzerland, ten years after the Italian watch brand opened its first Swiss manufactory.
The new factory space will be dedicated to the development, design, production and assembly of Panerai timepieces, as well as its in-house movements.
It will also house a “rigorous quality control” centre where all of its components will be tested.
Panerai has said the new facility will be operating by December 2013. “Its birth will complete the progress which, in just a few years, has established the Florentine brand all over the world as one of the most important productive expressions of haute horlogerie sports watches,” said a release from the brand.
The factory will be located at Pierre-à-Bot, above Neuchatel and will bring together Panerai’s various manufacturing and assembly processes, housing them under one roof.
“The unification of the various stages in a single location which is also significantly larger will bring several benefits to the production,” said the brand. “The new Panerai manufacture will have an area of 10,000 sqm, in which there will be 290 employees, 130 more than the 160 who are currently employed at the building in the centre of Neuchatal”.
The brand has also made sure its facility will have “zero environmental impact” with a view to CO2, having integrated technology into the building that should recover and recycle resources while reducing emissions.
