At HORAGE we must operate between the borderlines of manufacture craftsmanship and industrial manufacturing to offer premium watchmaking at acceptable pricing. In other words we want to be known for the best watches money can buy. The only way to get there is by doing heavy engineering.
K1 - the movement that makes every HORAGE tick
Author: Andreas Felsl
Some facts about K1:
25.6 x 4.95mm
65 hours power reserve
Modular design featuring (Date, Big Date, Power Reserve Indicator, Small Second)
But it is not only about an outstanding spec or the technology inside of our watches, it also is about the way we are able to offer functionality for different budgets and tastes without inflating inventory. Everybody in business knows that inventory is the killing factor when getting out of control.
Having these fundamentals in mind, the team set out to develop this mechanical movement and named it K1. An “Industrial-Manufacture” automatic mechanical movement with a modular structure, being small in size and having a power reserve which gets you over the weekend… 65hours
Its modular structure in combination with its core functions (Big Date, Small date, Small second, Power Reserve Indicator) allows us to create 18 different functional watch faces across all our models.
Besides function K1 also needed to meet the rising expectations when it comes to serviceability or future traceability. Every skilled watchmaker should be able to service or repair our watches. Which of course we believe will not be happening all too often.
Since the beginning in 2008 K1 has undergone 3 complete redesigns with countless modifications and improvements. The laboratories have been its best friend during these years, BUT the best feedback which one could have never found in any lab came from our crowdfunding backers. Real-world users helped to figure out and improve K1 to what it is now and the K1 team is incredibly thankful for these people who trusted in the project early on.
Sure K1 can reach COSC standards, however, we have decided to observe the market first before adding such costly certification process to our watches. Anybody who has bought a HORAGE watch can confirm that we are living up to our promises when it comes to precision.
We think about K1 as “manufacture 4.0”… Traditional mechanical design and manufacturing enriched by the use of modern technologies and cloud computing. And we have just begun...
Thanks to Jonas Nydegger who has been the stable mastermind making it happen as well as to Florian Serex an outspoken movement expert guiding Jonas as a rookie. But the best leaders are nothing without their loyal and hard working team members and at this point, we want to specifically thank Marcella, Amanda and Lenny for their incredible passion and hard work they invested into K1. This is a true rockstar team rarely seen in Switzerland.
K1 is produced by our partner company THE Plus SA in Biel.
For more information check-out this page www.THEplus.tech