HABRING² UNVEIL FELIX AND A11 MOVEMENT

September 2014 see Habring² moving into an elite circle of watch manufacturers with the release of their 100% in-house made calibre movement, the A11 (“A” for Austria and “11” for the start of its development in 2011).

What makes this feat even more remarkable is the fact that Habring² are a company comprised of just seven employees. When taking into account that an in-house movement requires all components to be designed, developed and assembled all within the company’s workshop makes it even more remarkable. All components are individually manufactured, anchors are assembled by hand, hairsprings counted and curved by hand (this one task alone takes a full day’s work for a month’s supply) and wheel/pinion combinations are assembled by hand. Habring² have moved into a territory previously the domain of large brands with huge investment, therefore it can be comfortably said that Habring² is the first truly small manufacturer to take on the technically and financially demanding challenge.

The A11 movement will be first housed in a brand new release from Habring² this autumn; the name of this new piece is Felix and will be marketed as their entry model. Its design and construction is complete simplicity, it forgoes the former and familiar extendible screwed case of previous Habring models so therefore has a smaller case diameter of 38.5mm and a height of just 7mm. The aesthetic appearance is also clean and simple with the use of a fine grained, silver white dial with a print reduced to the bare minimum and black oxidised thread hands.

This year will be huge leap for Habring², from the release of their very first model in 2004 to Felix in 2014 a decade later; the company are now garnering attention from all over the world for their refreshing and alternative take on mechanical watch manufacturing. This year shows that Habring² are not just intent on making do with ‘off the shelf’ movements, but are prepared to invest in and ultimately stabilise their company for the long term, free from the pressure of external suppliers. this can only be a good thing.