"Do you know how many processes we have to go through to create a single clock hand? I’m so sad that so many people say, ‘It’s just a clock hand’.” Each clock hand has to go through multiple processes and requires different materials for different parts. Watch factories in China or major brands in Switzerland have in-house manufacturing facilities capable of supplying most parts internally. In Korea, however, we have to execute each process - hour plate manufacturing, clock hand manufacturing, assembly, etc. - separately. Chang In-cheon, CEO of Sungwoo Precision in Seongsu-dong, referred us to Amitech in Incheon (CEO: Kim Ha-beom). When we visited Amitech, we learned that clock hands are not the company’s main business. “Frankly, the gap between overseas wristwatch manufacturers and Korean manufacturers is quite wide now.If you blindly jump into this game of chicken, we don’t have a chance. So we wanted to approach things from a slightly different angle. We actually specialize in cutting-edge, high-precision technology for semiconductor molds, medical devices, and automobile engine parts. But we’ve managed to gather a few people with previous experience in making clock hands. At the moment, we’re scaling up our clock hand business.”Amitech’s production equipment is capable of producing components for a broader category of products that require a higher degree of precision machining than clock hands, which means it has better facilities than companies specifically focused on clock hands. Kim says Amitech clock hands are more reliable in terms of quality. Advantages of our technology and manufacturing products in Korea “When producing clock hands, the most important thing is to find the correct weight balance for different shapes because clock hands are long length-wise along the central axis. You have to machine the thin clock hand down to make it even thinner, while making sure the shape and balance remain intact.” When companies outsource their production to factories in China, unless they request factories to produce an entirely new batch, they have to select from a pool of prefabricated options. That gives watchmakers the advantage of rapid supply and proven quality. Mass producing components using your own design, on the other hand, requires quite a lot of effort. To improve these conditions surrounding the watchmaking industry, Kim Ha-beom, CEO of Amitech, works every day to propose different designs for each company and to guarantee high-quality products no matter how small the order may be. “It might sound funny, but I think factories for overseas watch brands work 8 ~ 9 hours a day making clock hands. Compared to that, we’ve stayed on the job 24 hours a day at times to produce different types of products. We have virtually tried every shape and every design. I’m confident we’re second to no one.”Kim says that most clients in Korea tend to value production cost and on-time delivery over deviations that may be 1/100 off the required specifications. In contrast, clients in Switzerland don’t accept products if they are 1/100 off their specifications and inspect each piece visually. Kim believes suppliers in Korea have to learn from that, and always work on developing better technology with pride. In fact, when I visited Amitech, his staff was in the process of machining second hands for Rolex. We want to grow like this “I think creating watches, creating even a single clock hand is a form of art. We have the facilities and technology to take on different watchmaking processes in addition to producing clock hands, but we ‘can’t make money’ doing those things. That’s the problem holding us back. We need sustained levels of investment and demand.” At present, manufacturers in Switzerland and Japan can mass produce and supply movement components at reasonable prices, making it difficult for late-movers to break through the market. Consequently, watchmakers in other countries are falling too far behind in terms of technological capacity. Most of the market simply believes that other countries (countries other than Switzerland and Japan) should not even think about developing the main technical components behind watches and just focus on the cosmetic components. Making things worse is the fact that Chinese producers have gleaned watchmaking know-how from Korean technicians, propelling the Chinese watchmaking industry forward while its Korean counterpart languishes in the past. ”I think we have no chance of success if we blindly jump into this game of chicken when the gap has already widened so much. We should start with things we can do well. I think we should nurture those things one by one to make sure the industry carries on organically.”
