Le prochain tournant: Sera-t-il celui de la montre connectée ?

Monsieur Krauss, vous faîtes une distinction entre " montres connectées " et " phone watches ". Pourquoi ?
L'Apple watch ou la Gear de Samsung sont un prolongement du smartphone, porté au poignet. In terms of miniaturisation, these are real technological gems, but compared with smartphones, their added value is limited for the user; the user-machine interface is poorly adapted, the autonomy insufficient and the design perfectible. En contrepartie, les montres connectées demeurent en premier lieu des montres, en regard de leur look, de l'émotion véhiculée et de l'autonomie. On pourrait plutôt parler d'une " montre augmentée ". Comme la " phone watch ", cette dernière offre la connectivité, mais seulement pour des fonctionnalités bien spécifiques et invisibles. A few examples: payment at a distance, monitoring of physical condition and/or health, access control and security.

Before buying a watch, the consumer studies its specifications. Quelles sont les qualités d'une montre quartz ?
They are summed up in two words: precision and autonomy. Today, the precision of a quality quartz watch is tending towards an increase of five seconds per year. The minimum battery life is two years, but the average is five years. Des efforts sont faits pour atteindre une autonomie de 10 ans. The quartz watches can be enhanced by additional functions such as complications (perpetual calendar), energy recovery (e.g. by photovoltaic cells) or remote control by radio. But at the end of the day, as with mechanical watches, the main feature of quartz watches is their beauty, the emotion that the technology has to serve invisibly.

En attendant, les grandes entreprises de luxe misent sur des smart watches. Quest-ce qui peut venir après la montre à quartz, sinon les smart technologies ?
The digital revolution is affecting all areas of industrial - and social - activity, such as healthcare and energy, and the watchmaking industry is not immune. With connected products, economic models are changing and, at the same time, offering new opportunities through the presence of a real ecosystem that is much more extensive than the traditional horology sector. Marked by a multitude of interveners from very different horizons and domains, this ecosystem offers new markets across a wide range of disciplines (healthcare, insurance, marketing, etc.). As I have said for a long time, smart technologies represent an opportunity rather than a threat for Swiss watchmaking.

What is the role of the CSEM in intelligent technologies ?
Its role is central, because its leading-edge competences in microtechnologies are at the heart of the current revolution. They allow for low-cost, filament-free, portable and autonomous solutions. Our mission is to transfer this knowledge, developed in technological platforms, to industry - starting with Swiss SMEs - in order to help them benefit from the technological changes underway.

Pouvez-vous nous dessiner la montre intelligente " Swiss made " du futur ?
The Swiss watchmaking industry must benefit from its quasi-unique ability to design watches with a high quality aesthetic appeal, featuring an original and elegant design and combining noble materials and visual attributes. La montre intelligente " Swiss made " va continuer de convaincre par ses capacités techniques en répondant à d'exigeants critères de haute qualité. Elle va intégrer les nouvelles opportunités offertes par la digitalisation (mesure et transmission de données) en restant une montre, plutôt qu'un ordinateur miniature porté au poignet ! This new business will be exploited within the framework of partnerships between the Swiss watchmaking industry and data management companies.