Could you see yourself filing this screw all the way to its final dimension? During Calvin’s Ban—see journal entry 6 for reference—watchmakers actually made most parts by hand, filing and test fitting every piece.
This impressive feat demands extraordinary manual dexterity and skill, but made the rise in demand for watches in the 1730s challenging for Swiss watchmakers.
The high demand and farmers’ need to find indoor work during harsh winters organically created the Éblissage (French for ‘assemblage’) System.
The system consisted on forming specialized workshops, allowing Swiss watchmakers to train workers faster and minimize tool costs. Trained farmers could then work during winter and deliver parts in spring.
Competition between shops spurred innovation, achieving faster production and higher quality output.
This proved that decentralized cooperative work outperforms centralized work in both scalability and quality, making it one of history’s most impactful industrial innovations.
The fact that watchmaking had this kind of impact fascinates me and motivates me through these years.
RA.Gracioli